Mum-of-22 Sue Radford reveals she ‘would love to raise or adopt more children’ as she ‘fears’ an empty nest

Sue Radford has revealed she would ‘love’ to welcome more children into Britain’s biggest family.

The mother-of-22, from Morecambe, Lancashire, has opened up about the prospect of raising or adopting more children as her eldest leaves home.

Speaking with the Mirrorthe stay-at-home mom – who had her first child at 13 – said she is “terrified” by the thought of an empty nest.

She explained: ‘We love being around children so I would love to adopt or foster them.

“We don’t have one anymore, so it’s definitely something we would think about when ours is older.”

The most recent addition to Noel and Sue’s super-sized brood was Heidie, who was born in April 2020 – just five months before their granddaughter Ophelia arrived.

Together the pair are parents to Chris, 34, Sophie, 29, Chloe, 28, Jack, 26, Daniel, 24, Luke, 22, Millie, 22, Katie, 20, James, 19, Ellie, 18, Aimee, 17, Josh, 16, Max, 14, Tillie, 13, Oscar, 11, Casper, 10, Hallie, eight, Phoebe, seven, Archie, six, Bonnie, four and Heidie, three.

Sue then said that they are ‘proud to be Britain’s biggest family’, but admitted that she originally only planned to have three children.

She added: ‘We are addicted to children – but as addictions go, it’s not a bad one because it’s motivated by love. We have enough to go around.”

The mother then revealed she almost reached a breaking point in her marriage to Noel when they moved the family bakery to new premises and went bankrupt.

Sue described how it was a ‘sink or swim’ moment for them and revealed the ‘kids stayed’ [them] right’.

Earlier this year, Sue and Noel revealed they had moved to the countryside with their youngest children, while the older children remained in the house they grew up in.

The parents of Britain’s largest family had lived with several of their children in a Victorian house in Morecambe, Lancashire, for eleven years.

They tried to sell it three years ago but couldn’t get the price they wanted, and financial strains forced them to stay put.

After a slow start to their house hunting, Noel and Sue eventually discover a house in the countryside that they say is ‘perfect’.

“We’ve found our dream home,” says Sue as she looks around the 2,690 sq ft, five-bedroom mansion, which was on the market for £850,000.

The next day Noel decided to make an offer and is delighted when it was accepted.

But many children soon realize that even with two people in a room, there is not enough space for all the children.

This leaves James, 20, Daniel, 24, Luke, 23, Jack, 26, and Katie, 21, without a roof over their heads.

Daniel says he’s moving to Australia, while Luke – who recently came out as bisexual – says he hopes to move to a gay-friendly place and explore Manchester’s gay village.

Katie decides to find a ‘love nest’ with her boyfriend, but is dismayed at the price of rent in Morecambe.

The eldest three, as well as Millie – herself a mother of three children – already live on their own. The remaining 13 will move into the new house and share rooms.

“One child leaving home is emotional enough, but I have five children leaving,” she says through tears. ‘I came into this house with nine children, now we have 22.’

On a recent episode of 22 Kids and Counting, Noel and Sue clashed over their parenting approaches – after Noel let their youngest children stay up late and eat sweets, causing them to be late for school.

The disagreement begins when Sue discovers that three of her teenage children are awake at 2am gaming, which Noel says she “doesn’t mind”.

“Our parenting style is definitely good cop, bad cop, I’m the bad cop,” Sue says, with several children agreeing that she is stricter.

Sue is concerned that the children are not getting outside enough and books a caravan park in Northumberland to encourage more outdoor play.

‘I’m especially looking forward to seeing Max [their 14-year-old] because it’s really important to me to get him off his Xbox and get him outside with some fresh air and gadgets,” Sue says to the camera.

But when Noel arrives, Sue realizes he has let Max stay at home, causing a furious argument.

Max had told Noel that Sue had let him stay home, but Sue had said no such thing.

‘This is the first time Sue has let Max stay home while we go away. So hopefully he doesn’t burn the house down or anything like that,” says the clueless Noel.