Amid all of her life’s drama, Coleen Nolan has described her idyllic farm as her ‘happy place’.

It has become a haven following her split from her second husband Ray Fensome. She loves tending to her 30 animals, which include horses, goats and chickens, and has embraced the rural life.

But now it can be revealed that the Loose Women star has stunned friends by putting the Staffordshire property on the market – because she is planning to move to London to be closer to her toyboy lover Ryan Brockbank, 41.

Friends say that the 61-year-old is willing to sacrifice her bucolic existence because she is ‘desperate’ for the romance to work. While it is unlikely she will make much of a profit on the home, those close to the former singer say that ‘none of that matters now’ because she is head over heels in love with her new man.

However, London-based Ryan isn’t the only reason she wants to relocate, according to a source. She is also fed up with the long commutes to the capital for work.

‘Coleen has been trying to juggle her work and personal life as well as her farm,’ says a friend. ‘After a few heart to hearts with her family and boyfriend, she decided to put the farm up for sale.

‘She is besotted with Ryan, she wants it to work, she can’t bear not to be with him. The age gap is rather big, but good for her.

‘Coleen has had her heart broken so many times. Of course there are elements of the relationship that worry her nearest and dearest but she’s determined, and when Coleen wants to make something work, she will make it work.’

The spacious three-bed stone house has two reception rooms and three bathrooms. There’s a separate one-bedroom annexe, too, which features an open-plan living and dining area. Her daughter Ciara currently lives there with her partner and their son.

The farm is where Coleen records her Nolans Uncensored podcast with her son Shane Jnr and Ciara. It also played host to a hot TV date – not with Ryan but Mike, her suitor on the E4 show Celebs Go Dating.

The episode, in which Coleen put Mike to work cleaning out the stables as part of a double date with reality star David Potts and his match Andy, aired in May. Mike confessed he had ‘immediately fallen’ for Coleen, and while she didn’t want to ‘force’ the chemistry, she did warm to him eventually. But a relationship wasn’t to be.

Coleen is not shy in talking about her love life, but fans say the Blackpool native has been more guarded about her blossoming age-gap relationship.

She did reveal, however, that it was Ryan – who is a programme manager at the Fashion Retail Academy, a college in London – who made the first move. He’d messaged her on Instagram to ask her out for a drink earlier this year after watching her fail to find love on the E4 series.

My source added: ‘It’s going really well with Coleen and Ryan. They are smitten and just love being in each other’s company. The distance is a bit of a headache but they are making it work.’

In August, she went public with their relationship by sharing a selfie with him, along with the simple caption ‘R’ and a red love heart emoji.

Smitten she may be, but Coleen has clearly discovered that love comes at a price – namely, her rural home.

And Coleen’s farm, in the village of Dilhorne, six miles from Stoke-on-Trent, is more than a home – it’s a cash cow, too.

OK! Magazine paid for the exclusive tour of the property in December 2024, following her move that summer.

And the farm has been a source of freebies, too. In January last year, she posted a video of new fitted bedroom wardrobes to Instagram, installed by the firm in return for a plug on social media.

Furthermore, the farm has been a staple of her YouTube channel and her life there was featured in a miniseries on This Morning this summer. The videos shared include Coleen and Ciara’s tearful goodbye to Paddy, their 24-year-old horse who had to be put down earlier this year due to tumours.

So, selling the property is going to be both an emotional and financial blow for Coleen.

And every penny counts, as last year she revealed to Woman’s Own magazine her ‘worries’ that in her household ‘mine is the only income coming in’.

‘All I wanted when I grew up was to have my own farm,’ she has previously said.

And now, says a friend, ‘she is selling it after having got it just as she wanted, and having been so very happy there’.

Life on the farm has, it seems, been as fleeting as some of her relationships.

Before striking up a romance with Ryan Brockbank, Coleen had been using dating apps such as Tinder.

It is there she met Michael Jones, a supermarket logistics manager, in 2021. But she called time on their three-year relationship after realising they were better off as friends.

It was her first romance since divorcing guitarist Ray Fensome, to whom she was married for ten years before the pair separated in 2018. Ciara is their daughter, while EastEnders actor Shane Richie is the father of her two sons Shane Jnr and Jake Roche. They were married from 1990 until their bitter separation in 1999, after Richie admitted he’d cheated on her.

‘Coleen has had a torrid time when it has come to her love life,’ says a friend of hers. ‘This is her chance to be happy.’