Inside Britain’s biggest families: Parents reveal the fun and chaos of having a large brood

A new documentary is delving into the lives of some of Britain’s biggest families – including a couple with 11 children who spend half their weekly income on food.

Three sets of parents showcase what it’s like living with nine children or more on ITV’s Britain’s Biggest Families: 31 Kids And Counting The Pennies, which airs Thursday at 9pm.

Nicole and Joseph Sutton and their 11 children, from Cumbria, are on a food budget of up to £200-a-week, and admit they often don’t have the spare funds for family days out, while parents-of-11 Ben and Zoe Sullivan, from Lossiemouth, Scotland, spend £300 of their £600 weekly income on their shopping bill.

In contrast, business owners Fran and Layden Seymour and their brood of nine live in a glamorous home in Suffolk and have no limit when it comes to how much they’ll spend on groceries a month – but admit school uniforms cost them around £800.

Speaking to The Mirror, stay-at-home mother Zoe joked: ‘The milk we get through, we need our own cow,’ while adding: ‘There are things that we don’t do. We don’t really have holidays.’

A new documentary is delving into the lives of some of Britain’s biggest families – including a couple with 11 children (pictured) who spend half their weekly income on food 

Three sets of parents showcase what it's like living with nine children or more on ITV's Britain's Biggest Families: 31 Kids And Counting The Pennies, which airs Thursday at 9pm. Pictured, The Sutton family from Cumbria

Three sets of parents showcase what it’s like living with nine children or more on ITV’s Britain’s Biggest Families: 31 Kids And Counting The Pennies, which airs Thursday at 9pm. Pictured, The Sutton family from Cumbria 

Business owners Fran and Layden Seymour and their brood of nine (pictured) live in a glamorous home in Suffolk and have no limit when it comes to how much they'll spend on groceries a month - but admit school uniforms cost them around £800

Business owners Fran and Layden Seymour and their brood of nine (pictured) live in a glamorous home in Suffolk and have no limit when it comes to how much they’ll spend on groceries a month – but admit school uniforms cost them around £800

Ben and Zoe Sullivan wake up at 5am to begin their morning routine with the children, before Ben leaves for work as an RAF aircraft engineer at 7.30am.

In the meantime, Zoe takes Elizabeth, 15, Olivia, 13, twins Isabelle and Charlotte, 12, Noah, 10, Eva, eight and twins Leah and Erin, four, to school.

She then returns home to clean her one-bathroom house and take care of three-year-old Agnes May and Joseph, two.

Ben, 45, admitted it ‘wasn’t a conscious decision’ to have eleven children, but their kids insist that life in a big family ‘is fun, pretty crazy and noisy’.

Despite not going on many holidays, Zoe and Ben save all year for Christmas – spending around £3,000.

Ben and Zoe Sullivan (pictured outside their house) wake up at 5am to begin their morning routine with the children, before Ben leaves for work as an RAF aircraft engineer at 7.30am

Ben and Zoe Sullivan (pictured outside their house) wake up at 5am to begin their morning routine with the children, before Ben leaves for work as an RAF aircraft engineer at 7.30am

In the meantime, Zoe takes Elizabeth, 15, Olivia, 13, twins Isabelle and Charlotte, 12, Noah, 10, Eva, eight and twins Leah and Erin, four, to school. Pictured, the family together

In the meantime, Zoe takes Elizabeth, 15, Olivia, 13, twins Isabelle and Charlotte, 12, Noah, 10, Eva, eight and twins Leah and Erin, four, to school. Pictured, the family together

Elsewhere, Nicole and Joseph Sutton live with their 11 children – Rhiannon, 14, Lacey, 12, McKenzie, 11, Skylar, nine, Henley, seven, twins Cobi and Parker, six, Hadley, four, River, three, Ocean, two, and six-month-old Navy.

Nicole, 30, who had a tough childhood, confessed she only wants to have fun with her children: ‘If you can’t have a laugh with your mum, what have we got?’

The family live pay cheque to pay cheque on Joseph’s £400-a-week coach driver income, and thrifty mother Nicole makes sure every penny is accounted for.

Her weekly food shop includes four loaves of sliced bread and five boxes of cereal and is priced between £100 and £200 – but can even be cut down to £80 if it’s been a difficult month.

The mother, who works at a chocolate shop in Keswick on Sundays, revealed that if something is twice the cost than usual, she won’t buy it, with dishes being made up of what food is on offer.

Fran and Layden Seymour, who are parents to Taylor, 21, Oliver, 19, Morgan, 17, Ashton, 15, Jenson, 13, Tristan, 11, Gemma, nine, Xavier, five, and three-year-old Radley, have an unlimited food budget. Pictured, the family together

Fran and Layden Seymour, who are parents to Taylor, 21, Oliver, 19, Morgan, 17, Ashton, 15, Jenson, 13, Tristan, 11, Gemma, nine, Xavier, five, and three-year-old Radley, have an unlimited food budget. Pictured, the family together

A barbecue for the family (pictured) will contain around 60 sausages and burgers, while Fran can sometimes go through five washes and three dishwasher loads before lunch, and £800 is spent on school uniforms

A barbecue for the family (pictured) will contain around 60 sausages and burgers, while Fran can sometimes go through five washes and three dishwasher loads before lunch, and £800 is spent on school uniforms

£100 is spent on birthdays, while family days out don’t happen often.

In contract, Fran and Layden Seymour, who are parents to Taylor, 21, Oliver, 19, Morgan, 17, Ashton, 15, Jenson, 13, Tristan, 11, Gemma, nine, Xavier, five, and three-year-old Radley, have an unlimited food budget.

A barbecue for the family will contain around 60 sausages and burgers, while Fran can sometimes go through five washes and three dishwasher loads before lunch, and £800 is spent on school uniforms.

Fran, 48, and Layden, 50, who boasted he currently has more cars than children and a Rolex collection worth £70,000, own several businesses – such as a soft play centre as well as a pub.

They’ve spent £30,000 on electrical appliances for the family, while one of their children’s trainer collections includes a £450 pair he’s sported once or twice.

‘When you have a big family, you have to have a big wallet,’ insisted Layden, who admitted that his family were forced to stay in a friend’s caravan before opening their businesses.

Britain’s Biggest Families: 31 Kids And Counting The Pennies airs Thursday at 9pm on ITV