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She once relied on milk tokens and a weekly giro to survive as a single teenage mother studying for her A-levels.
Now Stacey Solomon has marked her extraordinary ascent as one of television's most bankable stars by moving into a £2.5million country manor set in 30 acres of rolling Essex countryside.
The Daily Mail can reveal that Stacey, 36, and husband Joe Swash, 44, have left behind their much-loved £1.3million 'Pickle Cottage' for an imposing Victorian retreat - complete with stables, a coach house and even its own lake.
The sprawling red-brick mansion extends to more than 8,000 sq ft and boasts panoramic rural views. Property experts have enthused over its high ceilings, large sash windows, sweeping staircase and elegant fireplaces.
The exclusive address is a world away from when Stacey first auditioned for The X Factor aged 19, living as a single mother and working part-time at a chip shop to support one-year-old Zachary.
And in a fitting twist for the mother-of-five - who has turned decorating, decluttering and DIY into a £10.1million powerhouse business - her grand new residence is far from finished.
Stacey Solomon is pictured with her husband Joe Swash and their blended family on the doorstep of her new home - their new 'Pickle Project'. The 'clean-fluencer' who has amassed a £10million fortune with TV appearances and endorsements
Stacey and her husband sold their old house Pickle Cottage recently for £1.3million and have taken on a huge renovation project with their new one. The star has been teasing fans on Instagram with pictures and videos of the new property
From her social media posts, it's clear that there is a lot of work to be done on the £2.5million do-er upper that is set in 30 acres of land with a floor space of more than 8,000 square feet
It is, in fact, something of a 'doer-upper'.
Builders' vans have already become a familiar sight outside the property - formerly home to a renowned newspaper journalist - while chicken coops have begun appearing in the grounds.
During a virtual tour for her fans on Instagram, Stacey showed a huge bedroom with a sauna, walk-in wardrobe and an en-suite with a circular 'Grecian' bathtub.
Other rooms appeared ready for a refresh, with the star's son Zachary playfully labelling the cluttered upper levels as like a 'ghost house'.
For Stacey, the move is the latest chapter in a remarkable rags-to-riches success story.
After finishing third on The X Factor in 2009, she was victorious on I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! a year later - quickly cementing herself as a favourite with ITV bosses.
Her fortune this year passed the £10million mark - and is still rising rapidly.
Companies House filings reveal her main company, Key Map Entertainments Limited, recorded net assets of more than £10.1million in accounts covering the year to June 2025, up from around £7.3million the previous year.
She had investments of £3.8million in 2024 and added a further £3.5million in 2025, plus the value was 'adjusted' up by £122,000. On top of that she has £1.6million in cash and is owed £1.7million.
She has also expanded into property, setting up Key Map Prop Limited in April, of which she is the sole director.
The company bought a large plot of land immediately north of her new home near Chelmsford for £210,000 on June 12, records show.
She also owns 25 per cent of a firm called Capello Limited which trades as beauty business Rehab, which was worth £3million in 2025.
Stacey has also built an audience of some six million followers on Instagram - making her an attractive prospect for commercial partners.
She has fronted multiple womenswear and children's ranges with high street giant Primark, promoted homeware collections in supermarket Asda, and lucrative social media deals with the likes of Jet2 and In The Style.
She has also created a range of cosmetics called Belle & Rose - after her two daughters. Stacey signed documents at Companies House to incorporate the firm.
All this has happened in parallel with her TV career.
As well as X Factor and I'm A Celebrity, she became a regular on ITV daytime panel show Loose Women.
But her crowning moment perhaps was landing her own primetime BBC show, Sort Your Life Out, in which she shared storage tips and helped declutter family homes.
Other shows in the same vein followed, including another BBC show, Craft Christmas, and Renovation Rescue for Channel 4.
There were also spin off books.
Also key to her brand has been her relationship with Swash who she met when she won I'm A Celebrity in 2010 and the former soap star, who had won it himself two years earlier, co-hosted the show's spinoff programme.
The couple's blended family is also front and centre of their appeal with their children often appearing in posts.
Despite the trappings of success, Stacey has spoken candidly about life growing up in Dagenham, east London, where she was told that she was on a 'road to failure' as a teenage mother.
Speaking to OK! in 2024, she described being reliant on benefits after falling pregnant with Zachary, aged 17.
She said: 'I tried to hang on to my social life and I just couldn't do it. I realised immediately that if I wasn't meticulously organised, I couldn't get my milk vouchers.
'I had to pick up my giro at a certain time every week, I had to get the baby into nursery and out of nursery at a certain time - there was so much for me to remember and think about.'
She added: 'If I didn't get my a**e in gear, I wouldn't have survived. I wouldn't have passed my A levels and I wouldn't have kept my baby alive.
'It shocked me into it. Every time I slipped back from that organised self, I would just feel like I couldn't cope with life.'
Stacey confirmed last week that the family had left her previous home, sharing a photo from the doorstep of their new property online with the caption: 'Home is wherever I'm with you... Pickle Project, Here We Go.'
The mother-of-five is obviously proud of her new home which she purchased after the previous owner - a renowned newspaper journalist died - and took fans on an internal tour of it
Stacey and her husband now have stables for horses and also recently purchased another patch of land nearby. She showed fans this walk-in wardrobe which will be refurbished
During a virtual tour for her fans on Instagram, Stacey showed a huge bedroom with a sauna, walk-in wardrobe and an en-suite with a circular 'Grecian' bathtub
Tudor-style Pickle Cottage, a 2.5-acre listed home in Essex, is where Stacey gave birth to daughters Rose, four, and Belle, three, and where she married Joe in 2022.
The couple also share Rex, seven. Stacey is also mother to Zachary, now 18, and Leighton, 14, while Joe has son Harry, 19, from a previous relationship.
Explaining the decision to move, Stacey told fans that the family had long dreamed of having more space for animals and growing their own produce.
She said: '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.'
She added: 'It's a project, we're moving somewhere really really different and it does need a lot of love and I'm excited to do that all again.'
Local residents praised the couple after spotting them around their village.
One neighbour, a pensioner, told the Daily Mail: 'Stacey's very friendly. She's a really nice person.
'She came over to introduce herself recently after moving in. It was lovely to meet her.
'It is a really nice place to live. I've been here for 50 years. It's very nice, as you can see it's a beautiful view here.
'We have nice fresh air and you will notice at night time you can see all of the stars and everything. This isn't something you would get in a town so that's a bonus.'
She added: 'There's plans to build hundreds of homes nearby. But luckily it's not going to be built right here and local people are opposing it. I'm only hoping they don't go through with it.
'The place has already changed a lot in my 50 years here.'
Stacey said it was strange to be in a new home after so many years living at her beloved Pickle Cottage (pictured)
Another local resident, Amy Frankland, 52, said: 'Word did spread around town pretty quickly. They are welcome here, they're lovely.
'I have seen Stacey out and about in her car. There's a lot of work being done at the property, with a lot of vans going up there.
'They're a great family, and it's a beautiful home. Best of luck to them.'
Part of the village's appeal is its rural charm, with locals seen clay-pigeon shooting.
In recent years, the village has drawn in TV stars and influencers, including cast members of The Only Way Is Essex (TOWIE).
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