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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Courtney Pochin

Radford family's whopping 17 holidays in 20 months - Lapland, New York and the Maldives

It's no secret that the bigger your brood gets, the more expensive it is to take everyone on holiday.

But that doesn't stop the Radfords, with Sue and her husband Noel having treated their 22 children at a staggering 17 holidays in just 20 months.

The couple are parents to Chris, 33, Sophie, 29, Chloe, 27, Jack, 25, Daniel, 24, Luke, 22, Millie, 22, Katie, 20, James, 19, Ellie, 17, Aimee, 16, Josh, 15, Max, 14, Tillie, 12, Oscar, 11, Casper, 10, Hallie, seven, Phoebe, six, Archie, five, Bonnie, four and Heidie, two, and a son named Alfie, who was tragically stillborn in 2014.

Since December 2021 they have been away at least 17 times, visiting everywhere from Cornwall to Walt Disney World in Florida.

Their first trip took them to Lapland in December 2021 for a magical Christmas break, with 13 of their kids enjoying husky rides and meeting Santa.

The couple treated their kids to a trip to Dsineyland Paris for Christmas (Instagram)
The family loves a theme park adventure (Instagram)

Then in June the following year, Sue surprised her daughter Hallie with a weekend away at Legoland for her 7th birthday. During this break, the kids were overjoyed by their pirate-themed bedroom at the hotel and were taken out for a lovely dinner.

Just a month later in July 2022, the family got to enjoy some time at another theme park as they spent some time at the Cbeebies Land hotel at Alton Towers, which Sue has claimed they "absolutely love". The Radfords returned once more for a weekend in October 2022 to enjoy the park's Trick or Treat town at Halloween.

Alton Towers wasn't the only break in October 2022, with Sue and Noel jetting off to the Maldives without the kids to mark their 30th wedding anniversary.

The couple enjoyed some much-needed alone time on the luxurious trip, with Sue saying: "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."

Sue and Noel jetted to the Maldives to celebrate their 30th anniversary (The Radford Family /Youtube)

A few months later in December 2020, it was time for another theme park trip, with the couple deciding to treat their kids to a trip to Disneyland Paris for Christmas, instead of buying loads of presents.

"We decided to do the same as what we did last year with Lapland," Sue explained.

"We thought it's better to do a nice little Christmas trip away for them, making memories rather than getting present they probably won't even play with, don't even want."

And Sue and her older daughters also enjoyed a second getaway over the Christmas period, as Noel booked them a surprise trip to New York where they went on a bus top tour, visited the Rockefeller Centre to ice skate and shopped at Macy's.

They enjoy trips in their motorhome, Betsy (theradfordfamily/Instagram)

As 2023 got underway, the family had a relatively quiet start to the year, before embarking on their first trip - an adventure holiday in France.

It comes after Sue recently opened up about the downside of her big brood. In a YouTube video on their channel, she and Noel answered questions from their fans, including what the most difficult part of raising their children was.

Sue said: "The worst thing I think is just like…"

Noel quickly interjected with "housework", before Sue added: "Yeah… And washing. But no, I think it's like planning holidays and going out on day trips and stuff and making sure everybody is all together. I think that's probably the hardest part."

Meanwhile, Sue and Noel revealed in an episode of their show, 22 Kids and Counting, that they'd become concerned about their son Josh's behaviour, so hoped an adventure trip would help improve his confidence.

Noel and Josh had some father and son bonding time during their time away, with the dad sharing important life lessons with his son, saying: "You've got to knuckle down and get your education, rather than dossing about.

"There's two paths in life, you can go the right way or the wrong way. The wrong way seems more of a laugh, but you've got your whole life ahead of you and it's not always going to be like that. Make the right choices while you're young and everything will be better when you're older."

Sue and Noel admit planning holidays for all their kids is difficult (Youtube/The Radford Family)

A month later in March, the couple enjoyed another outdoor trip, taking some of their youngest kids on a trip to Scotland in their motorhome. The family were wild camping for a night near Edinburgh and according to Sue it was "brilliant".

"Our first wild camping night in Betsy, our motorhome went brilliantly. We were so cosy and we woke up to the most stunning views"

Their very first trip in the motorhome came in May 2022, when they went to Holgates Holiday Parks in Silverdale, just south of the Lake District. They returned to the Lakes again in October 2022, November 2022 and May 2023 as it makes the perfect place to get away, as it's only a short drive from their home in Morecambe.

Getting further away from home, the Radfords couldn't resist another theme park trip in April 2023, with the family venturing off to the 'most magical place on Earth' - Disney World in Florida.

The family went to Disney World three times between April 2022 and April 2023, sharing snaps in front of the Tree of Life at the Animal Kingdom and posing in front of the iconic castle.

Their most recent trip was to Cornwall in May 2023, when they used the half-term holiday to enjoy a seaside break, alongside Rebecca and Jamie Walker and their 10 children. The two families had a great time playing crazy golf, doing archery and tucking into BBQ food on the beach.

And after all that travelling the family is still keen to go on more holidays soon, with Sue recently confirming they have another Florida vacation planned and that they're considering visiting Miami in the future.

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