Stacey Solomon stunned her fans earlier this week when she announced that she and her family were moving out of their beloved home, Pickle Cottage.
The 36-year-old and her husband Joe Swash, 44, appeared in a video together in which they announced their surprise decision, and explained the reasons why.
Stacey revealed: “Leaving Pickle Cottage was a massive decision for us; we had a lot of people we needed to speak to, we needed to get the kids around to the idea and speak to all our friends and neighbours in the area.
“We have just waited until someone amazing came along and fell in love with the cottage.”
Why did they move?
She continued: “Pickle Cottage is our dream house. As soon as we moved here, we fell in love with it, and I still love it so, so much. It’s a really special place to us. I gave birth to both of the girls there; we got married there. It’s just so special to us.
“But for a little while, we have always wanted to rescue more animals, grow more vegetables, so we have always been thinking if there was ever a chance to get a bit more land, then we would consider it.
“We saw somewhere, and I was like, we could have a massive vegetable patch, and we could offer our land to animals who need it and stuff like that. We could bring the horses back there, the ponies, and we went to see it, and we fell in love.
“It wasn’t an easy decision. We built our lives together at Pickle Cottage, but now we have found somewhere where we can see our family growing and really flourishing, and this is the place.”
Then, on Saturday, there came a major update.
The admission
Stacey shared an Instagram story showing a photo taken inside their new home, with her daughter Rose, four, standing next to a beautiful fireplace. And she made a candid admission.
She wrote: “Feels so strange not waking up in Pickle Cottage. But so excited taking it all in & wondering what to do with this place.”
In a follow-up story, she continued: “I can’t wait to properly have some days off work & show you all around…. I’m not going to show the outside of the house this time around.
“Just for security and privacy reasons… we had some issues at pickle cottage in the end & it’s safer to just not show the building itself.
“I am so excited though to take you into the rooms & get inspiration from you all. There’s so much to think about & so many fun things to do. I will need help with this project because it is huge. I need all your tips, tricks and ideas!
“I’m going to really take my time and live here and work out what to do with each room because I don’t want to rush it!
“But I can’t tell you how excited I am to sink my teeth into this project with you all.”
On Friday, the TV presenter took to Instagram to share a photo of her family on the doorstep of their new home, with the caption: “‘Home is wherever I’m with you… Pickle Project, Here We Go.”
Joe and Stacey are proud parents to Rex, seven, Rose, four, and Belle, three. Stacey is also the mother of sons Zachary, 18 and Leighton, 14, while Joe is the father of his son Harry, 19, from a previous relationship.
A fond farewell
The family moved into Pickle Cottage in 2021, and saw many milestones at the property – from Stacey and Joe’s wedding in the grounds in July 2022, to the births of their daughters Rose and Belle.
She shared a montage of her favourite memories from living in Pickle Cottage on Instagram, writing, “Thank You & Goodbye Pickle Cottage.
“A little montage of some of the best years of our lives… We will forever be grateful for the last 5 years at Pickle.
“What a special place & how lucky we’ve been to have lived there. Memories that will last forever…
“Wishing all of the love & happiness to the new family who get to love pickle cottage. And here’s to the next chapter…”
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