In 2010, Susan Herdman had something happen to her that we have all dreamed of at one point or another- she won the lottery. Her dream came true in January when she won almost £1.2 million, changing her life forever. However, the former hairdresser didn’t just quit her job to travel the world like as many winners would do. Instead, she decided to simply get down and dirty on a farm!
Before she won the staggering amount in the lottery, the 52-year-old had been a single, hard-working mother who often counted change to get by. As a self-proclaimed hard worker, Susan stated that she made sure she always had a job and went to work every day. It is a trait she says she got from her hard-working parents.
When she was a teenager, Susan held various jobs at garden centers and riding stables before becoming trained as a hair stylist. When she turned 22, she got married. Two years later her son Jake was born. Unfortunately, her marriage fell apart when he was 12-years-old, forcing her and her son to move into a rental home to get by.
Susan worked hard in her hair salon for the next couple of decades, often struggling to pay the heating bill. While it took some time, she was able to secure an interest-only mortgage for a house at 40-years-old. Then one night, a client offered to read her Tarot cards. After turning over a few of the cards, her client insisted that she needed to go out and get a lottery ticket because she would win.
After posting the prediction to Facebook, Susan decided that it was worth a shot. After hearing the newscaster announce the numbers, she called the phone number on the back of the ticket to find out what to do. The woman who answered informed her to write down a secret code word and to wait for a call in the morning. Susan was so hyped up that she went out to karaoke with her friends, keeping her news a secret for the moment.
She got a call from the lottery office the next morning, confirming that she was indeed a winner. Susan said that she didn’t get hysterical when she heard the news. Instead, she simply felt a huge relief that she would no longer have to struggle to pay the bills and put food on the table. She even stayed on at her hair salon for the first six months after collecting her winnings. Why? Because the salon had been her rock through all the hard times she went through. She didn’t want to just let it go.
Susan began seeing a pig farmer named Andrew about nine months after she won the lottery. Since he lived 220 miles away on his family’s thriving pig farm, Susan planned to move to him if the relationship went well. It did, so she sold her salon in August and relocated.
Susan now lives a happy, wholesome life on the farm, getting up at 6:30 a.m. and taking care of the animals. She believes that even though she has lots of money to tide her over, she still needs a purpose to get up and moving every day.
When the pandemic happened in 2020, Susan gave away thousands of free potatoes from the farm to support the local Yorkshire community. Susan even helped by delivering the vegetables to some of the elderly and vulnerable people in the area.
She realizes that she has to look after her money carefully in order not to blow it all. However, Susan has admitted to having some really nice holidays since she won the amazing amount. We can’t say that we blame her for it!
Her advice to anyone who wins the lottery? Don’t blow it all at once, and make sure you are careful about what you purchase. We’re glad to see that she has taken her own good advice!