Once it might have been a flashy car or designer clothes. But now, the status symbol for UK families is a large brood of children.

Statistics revealed this week how Britain has become home to some of the biggest families in Europe: 9.5 per cent of babies in the UK now have three or more siblings - nearly double the number six years ago, with increased affluence one of the primary reasons. Sadie Nicholas met three of the new UK super-families...

WE WORKED HARD AND ARE RIGHTFULLY PROUD

The Steel family: Daisy and her husband Jonathan, both 43, centre middle, top row from left Jasmine, 18, Joe, 9, Poppy, 20, Jack, 23, and Ben, 13. They live in Frome, Somerset

Daisy Steel, 43, works in television and lives in Frome, Somerset, with husband Jonathan, also 43, a software developer, and their five children Jack, 23, Poppy, 20, Jasmine, 18, Ben, 13, and Joe, nine. Daisy says:

My desire to have lots of children stems from my parents trying for 15 years before they conceived me. During that time they adopted my two brothers, fearing they would never have a child of their own.

Assuming that I might be beset with the same fertility problems Mum had, it felt like a gift when I fell accidentally pregnant aged 19, not long after Jonathan and I had met at school, and produced our son, Jack.

Fortunately both sets of parents offered to support us - Jonathan's father is a retired High Court judge and his mother is an equestrian eventer, while my parents used to own a graphic design company.

I went off to study at the University of London and had Jack while I was there, putting him in the crèche while I attended lectures - I left with a first in English. Meanwhile, Jonathan was at university in Buckingham.

Becoming parents so young spurred us on to work hard. We wanted to give Jack the best life we possibly could and we were determined to provide for him ourselves.

Poppy was very much a planned sibling for Jack, and we married in June 1996 when they were both very small. Jasmine was our honeymoon baby and we then left a longer gap before having Ben and Joe, to focus on our careers and building financial stability.

Mother-of-five Daisy was worried she had inherited fertility problems from her mother

But why so many? Well, I'm incredibly sociable and loved the idea of a house full of children, noise, laughter, squabbles and their friends coming and going.

Although between us we earn around £200,000 a year, Jonathan had reservations about us having so many children because of the expense, not least when we found out I was pregnant with baby number five - at the time we were living in a four-bedroom terrace house in Wandsworth, South-West London, which was quite a squeeze.

Our choice to have a large family has meant sacrifices, the greatest one being that Jonathan lives in a bolthole in London during the week to be close to work, while the children and I are in Somerset. I instigated the move here in 2011 because I wanted space and fresh air for the children and a safer environment than London.

We rent out the Wandsworth house now as it's worth around £1.2 million and we know that London property prices will continue to rise. In Somerset we pay £3,800 a month to rent a six-bedroom farmhouse where we have land and horses.

Now the children are older it's definitely more expensive. Jack has just graduated from Edinburgh University with a degree in economics. Poppy is at Bristol University and Jasmine is about to study art in Bournemouth, so we've had to find around £700 for each of them for deposits on accommodation for the new term.

We couldn't afford to privately educate all of the children at £4,000 per child, per term, but Jack and Jasmine went to private school and Joe is to switch to one next month.

Deciding who to privately educate was easier than it sounds. We agreed that Poppy and Ben, the most confident of the five, would thrive just as well at state school - Poppy got three A stars at A-level, which is better than Jack did being privately educated.

I'm incredibly sociable and loved the idea of a house full of children, noise, laughter, squabbles and their friends coming and going

Our recent two-week holiday to Ibiza cost £10,000 for flights and a villa big enough to accommodate all of us. Jonathan is taking the younger two children skiing in the French Alps next February - the older three have had similar treats over the years so there are never any quibbles about fairness.

In Somerset quite a few of our friends have four children. I think it's due to increasing numbers of middle-class families moving away from the cities to more affordable rural areas and then having the space to accommodate more children, prompting them to think, 'Why not?'

Jonathan and I are extremely fortunate to have been blessed with so many children and a lovely lifestyle to boot.

But we've had to work exceptionally hard to earn enough money to pay for it all, and are rightfully proud of our achievements. And that's what raising a large family is: a huge achievement.

FRIENDS ENVY OUR HUGE BROOD

The Cambouropoulos family: Fiona, 47, and Nick, 50, with, from left, their elder sons Theo, 13, Alistair, 17, and Felix, 15, and, in front, triplets Clio, Guy and Jed, all 11

Fiona Cambouropoulos, 47, and her husband Nick, 50, live near Bodmin in Cornwall where they own Coombe Mill, a 30-acre farm and holiday cottages. They have six children, Alistair, 17, Felix, 15, Theo, 13, and 11-year-old triplets Guy, Jed and Clio. Fiona says:

The trend for middle-class couples having larger families seems to coincide with a growing desire for a rural idyll instead of hectic city life. Where once it was deemed that poor people lived in the country and the rich in the cities, a rural life is now seen as aspirational and I can see that having lots of children is part of that.

But Nick and I didn't have a large family to jump on a bandwagon. As an only child I had always dreamed of having lots of children so none of them would feel the loneliness I sometimes did.

We met on Tesco's graduate training scheme in 1992, married in August 1995 and lived an executive lifestyle in a five-bedroom house in Surrey with a holiday home in Devon.

Fiona dreamed as a child of having lots of children, so none of them would feel lonely as she did

But by the time I was pregnant with our third son, we had decided a rural life in the South West was what we wanted for our children. We'd got a luxury home, a gardener and a nanny, but we worked 12-hour days and never spent time as a family. So, in 2002 we left our high-flying careers, sold the houses in Esher and Devon for £700,000 and £300,000 respectively and bought our 30-acre farm with 12 holiday cottages and Scandinavian lodges in Cornwall for £1.3 million to run as a holiday business.

Home is now a three-storey house on the estate, with six bedrooms and five bathrooms.

When we moved here the three elder children were only small. We'd always planned to have four children, but nature had its own plans, and I discovered I was expecting triplets - conceived completely naturally.

But actually six children just slotted easily - and wonderfully - into our life in Cornwall. Numerous times people who've stayed with us have told us they wish they could afford more children, but that the expense of living in towns and cities means they can't.

We feel so fortunate. Being able to afford a family this size is an achievement of which we are fiercely proud. Even had we not had triplets we'd probably have tried for a fifth child and maybe a sixth.

Our income is less now than it was when we lived in Esher and earned between £50,000 and £100,000 each per year. But that's because we plough the money back into the farm.

Our monthly shopping bill is between £800 and £1,000 just for the basics. We rear our own meat, and I bake a cake a day and all our bread.

Although the children had private tuition to supplement their education when they were at primary school, they attend state school. We couldn't afford to educate them all privately and the schools here are good.

Fiona and Nick's food bill is at least £800 just for the basics. They rear their own meat and Fiona bakes daily

Nick was privately educated, but I went to state school and have always believed that it is parental support not education which determines how well children do.

As for holidays, we used to go to Greece, taking the three elder children for a week while the triplets stayed with family at home, and then the reverse. It cost around £3,000 in term time.

Now, we are going to the South of France for the third consecutive summer as Nick's cousin has a large house there. We'll still spend around £1,500.

But you can't put a price tag on the memories the children will have: laughter and freedom within a family where they feel very loved and secure. We count ourselves extremely lucky.

I ALWAYS WANTED A 'WALTONS' FAMILY

The Morrison family: Mandi Morrison, 39, and her husband Asa, 43, from Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. Their children from left: Viggo, 22 months, Xene, 17, Lochlan, 15, Neva, 12, Kaide, 9, Eowyn, 6 and Tyrus, 4

Mandi Morrison, 39, is a breastfeeding practitioner and lives in Burgh Castle village in Norfolk, with husband Asa, 43, a consultant to the tourism industry, and their seven children Xene, 17, Lochlan, 15, Neva, 12, Kaide, nine, Eowyn, six, Tyrus, four, and Viggo, 22 months. Mandi says:

I remember being on a walking holiday in the Lake District when I was pregnant with our sixth child and a passer-by hissed at me: 'Haven't you ever heard of contraception?'

There have been countless other spiteful comments from strangers too, such as 'Do they all have the same father?' or, even more viciously: 'Why don't you get a job?'

It's tempting to tell these people the reason we can afford our brood is that we've worked hard and are blessed with a high income. Earning up to £6,000 a month between us, we're far from the feckless benefits scroungers normally associated with large families.

Mother-of-seven Mandi always wanted a big family

We own a four-bedroom farmhouse with half an acre of land, paid for by our hard work. Our eldest child, Xene, is about to apply for a university place for next year, and dreams of becoming a theatrical costume designer.

What better badge of honour could there be for parents? Our boisterous band of well-mannered, happy children marks us out as successful far more than any ostentatious show of material wealth ever could.

But of course, that wasn't our reason for having so many children. My taste for a 'Waltons' family life came in my late teens - while studying childcare at college I babysat for a lovely family with five children.

I found the chaos and chatter in their house magical and adored the way the children played together and looked out for each other. Thankfully Asa shared my aspirations. He was brought up in Surrey with one sister, and my parents raised my own sister and me in Yorkshire before we moved to Norfolk in my teens. It was here that I met Asa when he got a summer job at a leisure centre immediately after he graduated from university in 1996.

We married in September 2001, by which time we already had Xene and Lochlan.

Friends have been very supportive of our decision to have lots of children, but we have had some negative comments when we've announced 'yet another' pregnancy.

And yes, you do have to make compromises. Children are expensive and we never would have been able to have so many if we lived in an expensive city.

We have friends in Surrey who paid more for tiny flats and terrace houses than we did for our spacious farmhouse. Many envy our life in Norfolk and a few have confided they wish they could afford more children, which makes me feel sad.

Just like the Waltons: the Morrison family live in Norfolk and the children are thriving and learning life skills

We bring in plenty of money, but our outgoings are just as sizeable: the weekly food bill is around £300, and our electricity bill astronomical. New school shoes and uniforms for the eldest six children will cost more than £1,000.

Parked on our driveway next to our car is a nine-seater Ford Tourneo which cost £6,000 second-hand. And mostly we holiday in the UK, hiring cottages in the likes of Scotland and the Peak District.

The only downside is we can't afford to privately educate all seven. That's another reason for living in the sticks, where we are spoiled for choice with good state schools.

All of our children are thriving and have life skills money could never buy. They are witty, compassionate, and can happily socialise with anyone, of all ages.