Whether it was sourdough baking or working out with Joe Wicks, many of us found that time on our hands during lockdown meant the chance to try something new.

For one adventurous couple from Folkestone, it meant taking the plunge in the world of selling adult content on OnlyFans - where they made a six-figure sum in the first month. We sent reporter Rhys Griffiths to meet them...

Sex or money. Which one is really the bigger taboo? While our love lives tend - for the the majority at least - to be played out behind closed doors, sudden wealth is usually harder to keep under wraps.

Two expensive motors parked up on the driveway are the visible embodiment of one couple's money-spinning foray into the world of adult videos.

But while some friends and family might have been shocked by Ben and Kirsty Stroud's lockdown decision to start selling x-rated content online, it's the sudden wave of cash that seems to have been most alienating for others.

"At first people were a little bit funny about it, but not many people," said Ben, a 44-year-old former prison officer.

"Our true friends were like 'good for you, I wish I had the balls to do it'.

"We've got more hate for earning more money than for what we do; absolutely guaranteed, more hate for that."

Having met 13 years ago while both working in prisons on the Isle of Sheppey, Ben and Kirsty went on to start up a gym in Cheriton, Folkestone, and work as personal trainers.

For both - their trim and toned bodies evidence of their passion for fitness - it was a dream way to make a living, until the pandemic struck and they were forced to close their doors as the nation was locked down.

"We were in trouble with the other businesses and stuff because we weren't really getting a lot of help from the government," Ben recalls of those uncertain first weeks and months of the pandemic.

"We were always off doing swingers parties and things anyway, and I watched a programme on this type of content creation and one of the girls was going 'I do this, I earn this much and this is what I have to do for it'.

"Kirsty looks a specific way - muscles and stuff - and I looked and I said you're literally sitting on a goldmine, what are we doing? Let's just monetise what we're doing. Eventually we said let's go for it."

They began selling pictures and videos of their sexual escapades online, primarily though the subscription platform OnlyFans, and swiftly discovered they could make in a week twice what Kirsty could earn in a month driving deliveries for supermarket chain Morrisons. And as their audience of signed-up subscribers grew, the amount of cash coming in soared even higher.

With fans paying almost £20 a month to view their explicit content, they were able to bank a six-figure sum in their first full month on the site.

"When we first met we didn't just start swinging," 33-year-old Kirsty said.

"We had a couple of threesomes, we had friends around for dinner and you know what happens, we were just playing games and before you know it you're naked, and it's all that.

"It kind of evolved from that and then we went to parties in London, private parties in big houses, and it kind of just went from there.

"And then sometimes we've had a couple of people over here and stuff. So when we went to OnlyFans, it being on camera and doing it in front of other people or our video person wasn't a massive thing.

"The main thing is is getting the new subscribers.

"So I've got 18,000 fans on my free page and then I've got like 450 fans on my subscription page.

"It's about getting the new subscribers in every day, so the promotion is really important, because I could lose 10 subscribers a day but then I need to try and gain 20."

"My family were always going 'when are you going to get a proper job'..."

While being able to monetise their adventurous sex life may not have felt like a big leap for the couple, it did take some getting used to for friends and family.

Although most have been accepting, some friendships have broken down - perhaps over the sex, perhaps over the money.

Kirsty said: "My family were always going 'when are you going to get a proper job' because I quit the prison service and then I was just coaching.

"We were in the gym. I love my job but they don't see it as my job - 'you don't earn enough', blah, blah.

"Now that I'm earning a lot they're like 'you're earning too much, you never do any work' and I'm just like, wow.

"But they are supportive. I did say to them don't go looking too much into it but this is what I'm doing and they said 'as long as you're safe and you're happy'."

It may not be everyone's conventional idea of a career, but working in the adult business via a platform such as OnlyFans is a time-consuming way to make a living.

As well as performing, editing and uploading content, creators are also expected to interact with their fans and respond to messages sent via the site.

"It doesn't feel like a chore or a job because we just have so much fun and I like that it comes across like that in our videos," Kirsty said.

"People do say it's quite authentic - it's not forced."

"I think swinging and this sort of thing could be for any couple..."

Both Ben and Kirsty say they value the way they are able to generate income this way, but there have been reminders that a lot of power - and 20% of their revenue - remains with OnlyFans.

In the summer of 2021, performers on the site were stunned when the company - which describes itself as a "subscription social network" - announced it was intending to ban explicit content from its platform.

For many, this would have seen their livelihoods, built up over months and years of developing a subscriber base, wiped out entirely.

The company later backtracked, but it had been a reminder to content creators that their relationship with those viewing their most intimate moments is still mediated by a third party.

Recalling the moment she heard the news of the mooted ban, Kirsty said: "We had been doing it for 10 months, and we'd made loads of money, and obviously when it came out on the news my heart sank.

"We adapted, and uploaded to other platforms. When they decided it was not going to be taken away we were already on the other platforms and I'm still on them now.

"But I still think if it [OnlyFans] was to shut down tomorrow that would be like a dagger.

"But yeah, that was a scary time. And a lot of the girls I was talking to were scared as well. It's out of your control.

"OnlyFans does take a lot of control. They can just take things off your page, but if you follow the rules though and are good with it then it's fine. But I don't want to feel like that again."

Could this kind of adventurous love life - and the potential financial rewards - be for other people too? Ben certainly thinks so.

"I think swinging and this sort of thing could be for any couple," he said.

"But the couple has to have certain proclivities doing it, and are open-minded, and have strict rules. You have got to have strict rules.

"We talk about it as well before. Is kissing OK? Is this OK? Is that OK? And you have to stick to the rules. Otherwise it's all f*****.

"There's rules in any relationship. Ours are just a little bit different because they involve other people sometimes."