Fearne Cotton and husband Jesse Wood bid emotional farewell to his son Arthur

It's been an emotional week for many parents who have seen their children leave home for the first time.

Fearne Cotton and her husband Jesse Wood experienced an array of emotions on Saturday as they bid goodbye to his son Arthur, who headed off to university.

The 39-year-old penned a heartfelt tribute to her stepson on Instagram, sharing two photos of them embracing – one from Arthur's childhood, and a similar image to highlight his 'rapid growth spurt'.

Captioning the photos, Fearne wrote, 'This chap is off to uni today and I couldn’t be more proud.

'Cool, calm and collected as always as he starts a whole new chapter of life.'

She jokily added, 'Swipe to see the most rapid growth spurt known to man. My destiny being to end up as the shortest member of our family within the next decade.

'Good luck Arthur my lovely step son! You’ve got this!  #offtouni.'

MORE: Fearne Cotton reveals ‘fiery’ rows with husband Jesse Wood as lockdown puts strain on their marriage

Arthur's dad Jesse also uploaded a photo from his childhood alongside one of them in the back of the car on the way to university.

The proud father wrote, 'Proud dad alert!!! Today this fine young man on the right, my son Arthur, is off to university! Wow that's gone quick! Enjoy every minute my son!! I love you.'

Back in 2018, Fearne credited being a stepmum to Arthur and stepdaughter Lola, for helping prepare her to have her own children with Jesse. The couple share daughter Honey, five, and son Rex, seven.

She told GoodtoKnow, 'It doesn’t necessarily prepare you for having your own kids, but it prepares you for an element of parenthood which is about time management and learning how to keep your relationship afloat within family life,'

Fearne continued, '‘It is important you keep things rolling and you stay on-board with your partner   – and that you still have fun as a couple, and that you feel comfortable and treat each other kindly.

'Step-parenthood was a good initiation into that because you know you’ve got lunches to make for school or school uniforms to wash, or car journeys to take them on to clubs at the weekends, and that was a real swift introduction.’