I could say it started recently with the dog, but that wouldn’t really be true.

Emma has already written about her motivation for finding our Secret Acre. For me I guess it started watching The Good Life television series at an impressionably young age, which helped foster a lifelong passion for our environment and living a happier, more self-sufficient life.

Now fast forward to the dog. Unexpectedly inherited, along with a wake-up call that life is too short to wait until retirement to put yourself first. Plus, if you live in a terrace house in Bristol with a five foot square concrete backyard, then you need to find a house with a garden for the dog, don’t you?

Fast forward another 12 months, and hundreds of properties across Devon, Cornwall South Wales and Gloucestershire, and we found our Secret Acre. The one that finally seemed to tick most of our unreasonably long list of ideal requirements. Enough land to grow our own veg like Tom and Barbara, but without a massive house that we don’t need and couldn’t afford. A former smallholding with a tired bungalow seeking loving hands to return it to its former glory.

So why are you doing this, ask our friends in slightly jealous tones? I blame the dog! I blame Felicity Kendal! But deep down I know the way we live has to change, will be forced to change by environmental limits.  Because in the fight between Capitalism and Climate, our climate is always going to triumph over human hubris.

Plus I want to learn new practical skills that don’t involve sitting at a desk. To step off the damaging rat race and put happiness first instead. We all should.

Of course Emma has her own reasons for sharing this journey, and at least she has lived in small rural communities before. For me, a confirmed city boy, it’s a case of following your heart, jumping in at the deep end, kill or cure. Will we survive armed only with a Box set of The Good Life? Follow us here to find out!