A FORMER radio DJ has recovered from her heartbreak to enjoy more sleep and dream of sheep.

For six years Nicola Hume was one of the voices of the Heart Sussex breakfast show, before losing her job, along with colleagues Tom Evans and Jack “The Lad” Hayes.

Fans across Sussex tuned in to hear Nicola, Tom and Jack every weekday morning – but in June they were fired by Heart’s owners Global, as part of the company’s plans to nationalise the breakfast show.

The three presented their final show at the end of May and for Nicola it ended six years of broadcasting on the airwaves in Sussex.

Nicola is now doing freelance work and enjoying some quality time with her husband of nine years, Scott.

But despite the more relaxed work/life balance, she says she would jump at the chance to return to radio.

She said: “I’d say the only thing I appreciate is having a normal body clock.

“Naturally it’s nice to feel awake. Regardless of how much sleep you get, it’s never normal to get up at 4am every morning.

“As much as it’s nice to be home during the mornings, I am quite a driven person career wise and if there was another shot at a breakfast show I’d absolutely take it.

“I totally miss being on air and having those daily creative juices flowing.

“I was extremely lucky to be in the position I was in so I’d be stupid not to do it all again.

“But hey, I’ve been having some exciting meetings so watch this space.”

And much like her former Heart colleagues, Nicola was overwhelmed by the outpouring of support that came with the news that the trio would be leaving the station.

She said: “We’ve seen everything that came in, all the comments have been amazing.

“We all spoke between us about how insane it is.

“You expect people to think it’s a shame and move on, we didn’t expect so much love.

“It’s nice to know we had that impact on people’s lives.

“If we were going to leave, this is the best way it could have happened.”

Nicola is a London girl at heart, born and raised in Edmonton Green, but now calls Horsham home.

She has lived there for four years and is loving countryside life.

She said: “Horsham is such a gorgeous town and the people are really friendly.

“I’ve gone from a north London city girl to country bumpkin.

“It was a shock to the system seeing sheep from my window for the first time that’s for sure.

“Although I’ll never get used to that farmyard smell. Give me a whiff of fumes any day.”

Nicola joined Heart in 2013, at a time when Tom and Jack were firmly established on the breakfast show.

And she said landing the role was a dream come true.

“I always wanted to be in the entertainment business,” she said. “I originally trained as an actress but it seemed presenting was my way forward. I recorded around three demos with Tom and Jack before they gave me the job, and I loved every minute of those six years on Heart.”