Stacey Solomon spent days cleaning out her empty swimming pool in order to get summer-ready with her five kids.
Proudly showing off the results of her hard work, the Loose Women star took to Instagram over the weekend to reveal a video of her pool at Pickle Cottage looking inviting as the sunshine hit the surface of the water. Sitting in the shade, Stacey had the perfect view of a table and chairs next to archways opening up to the garden, where large rattan seats with white cushions and matching loungers were positioned around the pool.
At first glance, the cream tiles, textured rugs and glistening pool could be mistaken for a luxurious European boutique hotel, but Stacey was lucky enough to have the space to herself. We do not doubt that her husband Joe Swash and kids Zachary, Leighton, Rex, Rose and Belle would have fun cooling off in the water, too!
© Instagram/Stacey Solomon"Time for the first Pickle Cottage pool day of 2024," the Tap to Tidy author captioned the video, adding: "Sooooo happy I spent all week cleaning out here because it's FINALLY hot. Hello summer!"
The video comes just days after Stacey divided fans by sharing a video of her pet ducks swimming in the family pool. The mum-of-five wrote: “It’s their pool now. We let the ducks have the first swims in the pool before we put the chemicals in [and] clean it.
"Hope this brightens up your feed today…I could watch them play all day it’s so beautiful. Joe’s fuming the ducks get better poolside snack & drink service than him."
© InstagramHowever, some of her followers expressed concerns about the chemicals used in the pool, with one writing: "With chlorine in the pool not a good idea," while another person wrote: "How will you stop them going in once you're all in it? They'll be desperate to come play."
She revealed her solution was to keep a mini paddling pool at the side of the patio where the ducks could splash around in their own water, without getting in the pool.
Family life at Pickle Cottage
Stacey and Joe purchased their home, thought to be worth £1.2 million, in 2021. While Stacey couldn't hide her excitement about moving into her Tudor-style country home, she seemed apprehensive about the pool initially.
"This is the boys’ favourite part of the garden but it’s actually my worst nightmare. It scares the life out of me. It’s a swimming pool!
© Instagram"It’s not full up at the moment so there’s no water in it but it still really creeps me out. I just want to get a barrier around the whole thing and get an electric cover but I have no idea where to go or what the hell to do," she said at the time.
As well as transforming the pool, Stacey has also invested plenty of time in her vegetable garden.
© Instagram"The hardest thing about the garden is that I just don't have the time," she told House Beautiful. "It would be my absolute dream to just get out there and make amazing flowerbeds and have a huge greenhouse, but that's a full-time job in itself.
"Rex and I have been growing our vegetables. We started with tomatoes, and last year we added lettuce, carrots and onions to the veg patch. This year, I'm planning on building some raised beds so we can grow more. We love growing produce. Rex loves it," she added before confessing her carrots did not turn out perfectly on her first attempt.
