For fans who have always admired David and Victoria Beckham but felt that emulating their luxury lifestyle was out of reach, Stacey Solomon and Joe Swash could hold the solution.
As the reality TV couple embrace a more rural lifestyle at Pickle Cottage, the surprising similarities between them and the Beckhams have become apparent – and Stacey’s delighted by the comparison.
An insider tells Closer, ‘This month marks four years since Stacey and Joe moved into Pickle Cottage and Stacey still has to pinch herself that this is her home. They spent the first couple of years doing up the house, but now it’s all about the grounds and the garden and fulfilling her dream of having her own sustainable farm.
‘She’s already got the ducks and they are laying eggs which she’s started to give away to friends and family – obviously she wants to do more of that. And now they’re getting bees and she’s so excited about becoming a beekeeper and making her own honey. There will definitely be a range of Pickle Cottage honey, along with eggs, as the start of her new venture.’
They continue, ‘Stacey has always wanted to live the “simple life” in the country and jokes that she and Joe are becoming the new version of Posh and Becks.’
Having documented her complete interiors overhaul of Pickle Cottage – which Stacey, 35, purchased in March 2021 for a reported £1.2million – the Sort Your Life Out presenter has more recently been turning her attention to the 2.5-acre garden of her Essex-based home.
Last week Stacey documented a ‘garden day’ on Instagram to her six million followers saying, ‘I'm going to rake the woods and try to get some things growing in here because I want to add a new family to Pickle Cottage.’
The mum of five – to Rex, five, Rose, three, and Belle, two, who she shares with husband Joe, as well as sons Zachary, 16, and Leighton, 12, from previous relationships – then detailed how she and husband of two years, Joe, 43, will be taking a bee-keeping course to teach them how to introduce a bee colony to their land. The former Loose Women panellist also revealed that she plans to plant more wildflowers for the incoming bees to collect nectar.
But should Stacey embrace country living and start producing – and potentially even selling, as Closer’s source suggests – honey, she may find herself facing some competition from fellow celeb-turned-country bumpkin David Beckham.
Having retired from football in 2013, David, 49, regularly dons a flat cap at his £12million home in the Cotswolds and gets to work in the garden - which boasts an outdoor swimming pool and a football pitch as well as a vegetable garden, chicken coops and bee hives. In July 2022, the star revealed that he’d been able to harvest honey from his bees, three years after building his first hive with son Cruz, 20, during lockdown.
And those aren’t the only similarities between the Beckhams and the Solomon-Swashes. Whilst Victoria, 50, works hard on her self-titled high-end fashion brand, Stacey has been producing looks for the masses for years through collections with Primark and In The Style. Meanwhile Joe is following in David’s footsteps and taking the lead in the kitchen, preparing Sunday roasts and cooking for the family. Both couples even share an affinity for spaniels with the Beckhams owning three – Olive, Sage and Fig.
Closer’s source says, ‘Like the Beckhams, Stacey wants her lifestyle to become a brand. She really admires Victoria and David and what they have achieved - she wants to have lots of business ventures like them and make millions in the process.
‘Joe is taking after David by having cooking lessons and cooking wholesome meals for the family, plus they’ve also got their reality show Stacey & Joe coming – Stacey and Joe loved Beckham and can’t wait for Posh’s Netflix series.
‘Stacey is also in awe of their Cotswolds mansion,’ the insider adds. ‘She says that’s what she aspires to have in the future - whether that’s by expanding Pickle Cottage or moving. She just loves how hard David and Victoria both work, but that family always comes first. That’s the same with Stacey.’