DESPITE having 22 children to care for and feed, Sue Radford often makes people green with envy thanks to her ridiculously luxurious life.
In the last year alone, the Lancashire-based mum has enjoyed 11 holidays – including three trips to the USA – a new £27,000 garden ‘treat’ and even a sun-soaked trip to the Maldives.
Sue, 46, and her husband Noel, 51, who live in Morecambe, famously don’t rely on benefits and are supported by their pie shop business.
They live in a 10-bedroom ‘millionaire mansion’ and this year bought an enormous hot tub ‘swimming pool’ – it’s so big it had to be craned into the garden and the kids can swim laps around it.
In December, Sue jetted off to New York to shop designer handbags.
And, just days after returning, she was sipping hot chocolate at Disneyland Paris.
From an idyllic escape to the Maldives to a caravanning trip that was memorable for all the wrong reasons, Fabulous takes a look back at the Radford family’s 2022 holiday photo album…
Sue and Noel are parents to Chris, 32, Sophie, 28, Chloe, 26, Jack, 25, Daniel, 23, Luke, 21, Millie, 20, Katie, 19, James, 18, Ellie, 16, Aimee, 16, Josh, 14, Max, 13, Tillie, 11, Oscar, 10, Casper, nine, Hallie, six, Phoebe, five, Archie, four, Bonnie, three, and Heidie, two.
Sadly the couple’s 17th child Alfie was still born on July 6, 2014.
Earlier this year, the Morecambe-based couple splashed out on a swanky new motorhome, with Sue gushing how she couldn’t wait to “make memories” with her husband and their children.
Since then, they’ve whisked the kids off on several UK mini breaks in their camper – including one in May, and then again in August – just one month after returning from a holiday to Florida.
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Taking to Instagram, Sue’s shared numerous snaps of the family enjoying cosy film nights in the van and tucking into delicious pancakes together.
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But while many of the trips went smoothly, one turned into a total “disaster” when the vehicle refused to start.
Posting on the family’s YouTube channel, Sue vented: “So our weekend away in the motorhome was an absolute disaster.”
Despite estimating the family would be arriving at their destination by 7pm, disaster struck on their journey.
“Oh well it looks like we’re definitely not going anywhere today – the camper’s just not working,” Sue said.
“The battery is completely broken on it and even with the jump leads, it’s still not starting.”
A frustrated Noel added: “But to be fair Sue, I’m really annoyed.”
“I do feel, where we got it from don’t seem to care. How long have we had this for now – six weeks?”
“They’re just still not sorting it, they’re just not interested.”
Despite their frustrations, the couple did manage to get the camper up and running again and have enjoyed numerous jaunts with the kids.
In April, the Radford family left their 10-room house in Morecambe to jet off to sunny Florida.
After escaping the chaos and queues at Manchester airport, the bumper brood were seen making the most of their time in the sunshine state.
In videos shared to the family YouTube channel, the kids enjoyed time splashing about in the pool, tucking into giant hot dogs and visiting Disney and Universal theme parks.
Parents Sue and Noel even managed to gather everyone together for a group snap at Magic Kingdom.
They also made sure to give six of their daughters a trip to remember by forking out over £1,000 on a lavish Disneyland princess experience.
Sharing a sweet snap of the girls dressed in colourful princess dresses on Instagram, Sue penned: “This was just THE best experience ever the girls absolutely loved every second of it.
“Tillie came out gave me a massive hug and said thank you so much mum that was just amazing.”
While prices start at £86 per child plus tax, they can range up to £390, plus tax, meaning if the family opted for the most expensive package, it’s likely Sue would’ve spent over £2,340 on the memorable day.
To accommodate their ever-growing brood, Noel and Sue hired a holiday villa which came with at least nine bedrooms – which included single beds and bunk beds.
Glimpses of the accommodation revealed it was decorated in an ocean theme, with sharks and dolphins painted on the walls – and came complete with a pool table to keep the kids occupied.
However, the mum-of-22 was left fuming when their Florida neighbours’ bad behaviour threatened to ruin their vacation.
Taking to Instagram, she raged: “Next door are a little bit noisy with the music.
“It was going on til 2am this morning then started at 10am and is still going now.
“And people think our family are loud – never would we ever do that!”
And it seems things went form bad to worse as a few days later she followed up with another post which read: “Only 4.30 in the morning FFS,” she wrote over a video in which the music next door could clearly be heard.
“They finally shut the music up after shouting at them to turn it off just after I took that video.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous and defo won’t be staying on story lake again.”
The Radford family are huge fans of Alton Towers theme park – and visited several times last year.
So it’s no surprise Sue and Noel decided to kick-start the clan’s summer holidays by taking them there.
In July, Sue took to Instagram where she shared snaps of her kids enjoying several fun activities – including mini golf and face painting.
One adorable photo showed Sue and Noel’s daughter Heidie holding a golf club as the busy mum joked: “Heidie taking mini golf very seriously.”
She added: “This was so much fun.”
In other pictures, her children could be seen enjoying dinner in a restaurant and exploring CBeebies land hotel where they stayed.
And the trip also marked a very special occasion as it was the couple’s daughter’s sixth birthday.
Shared a photo of birthday girl Phoebe, they wrote: “The birthday girl has had the best day and we are currently watching the bedtime story in CBeebies.”
Childhood sweethearts Sue and Noel decided to mark their pearl anniversary by heading off to the Maldives to spend some quality time together away from their children.
But the decision didn’t come easy, with Sue admitting she was “hesitant” to leave the kids behind.
Writing on Instagram, she penned: “It’s also our 30th wedding anniversary in just over 2 weeks. 30 YEARS.
“We’re so close to booking a break away for 4 nights just the two of us but I’m so hesitant at leaving the kids. Should we just go for it. We’ll book it on yes or no so GOOO.”
They added a poll to the Instagram story and a huge 97% voted ‘Yes’, the couple should go away together.
Shortly after, Sue revealed to her followers that she and Noel had booked their holiday with the help of @escape_savvy.
Writing on Instagram stories, Escape Savvy penned: “Wow! What a day helping the amazing the @theradfordfamily book the most unbelievable, deserved and special break for their incredible 30th wedding anniversary!
“Honoured to help you with such a special trip.”
During the luxurious getaway, the loved-up couple uploaded a sweet photo from a candlelight dinner they had together.
Sue gushed: “We had the best day yesterday celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary.
“We finished the day off with a beautiful meal in the most beautiful setting I’ve ever seen.”
The mum-of-22 also shared a sweet montage of the delicious food she tucked into during the once-in-a-lifetime trip.
“Couldn’t not post these food pics as they are the reason I came home 7lb heavier,” she quipped.
At the start of December, Sue and three of her daughters were given the trip of a lifetime by Noel.
The doting dad and husband paid for the foursome to go on a magical holiday to New York, where the girls enjoyed ice skating at the Rockefeller Center, went shopping for designer handbags and enjoyed drinks at the top of a skyscraper.
Sue dubbed her girls the ‘next Dancing on Ice stars’ and enjoyed plenty of hot chocolate and churros in the Big Apple.
There was, however, a bit of drama to contend with.
The ladies’ luggage was left in London and they missed a connecting flight.
Nevertheless, the girls still enjoyed shopping for clothes and essentials, riding the Dyker Heights luxury bus tour and spotting the best Christmas decorations in the city.
Days after returning from New York, Sue was stamping her passport once again.
The busy mum shared a sneak peek of her break at Disneyland Paris on her Instagram stories.
In one clip, she asked her young son Casper if he was enjoying his hot chocolate as they watched the Big Thunder Mountain roller coaster zoom by.
Sue asked if Archie would like a go on the big roller coaster, but he shook his head violently and was seemingly content tucking into his popcorn.
