We left Somerset for a Greek island – our kids love to roam our five acres of land

Around half a million people leave the UK to live abroad each year. A survey by the British Council showed 72 per cent of 18- to 30-year-olds would consider living and working overseas, with cold weather, the high cost of living, extortionate childcare, a lack of work-life balance and even poor romantic prospects among their motivations for leaving the country. The i Paper’s Expat Files follows Britons who have taken the leap and settled elsewhere, detailing the ups and downs of their journeys. Sarafina Blass-Pierson, 43, moved from the Somerset-Dorset border to Greece 10 months ago with her husband and their five children, 15, 13, 11, 9, and 2. They left the UK “hustle culture” for slow living and share a home with their in-laws. Here she shares why she has never looked back. My husband’s mother visited Skiathos a few times with her four children and they fell in love with it; it felt like home. For her 50th birthday, she bought land on a credit card, unsure how she was going to make her dream of living there come true. Then, when she met her husband shortly after, it became possible, and they built a home on two acres of land. They have been living here for 20 years. My husband, kids and I have always visited them. We always considered moving with them but the timing was never right. In 2021, we bought a five-bedroom Victorian house for a steal on the Dorset-Somerset border. I didn’t really want to live there, but it was at the end of COVID and a good price. I’m a stay-at-home mum and it wasn’t until I started homeschooling our sons, in their teens, due to one of them not getting a place in our chosen secondary school, that I started to break away from the system. But then last year, my eldest, who was 14, went to stay in Greece for three months and was spending priceless time with his grandmother. The conversation about relocating started to come up. My mother-in-law had started to feel that the four-bedroom house she lived in was too big for herself and her husband (who was in his eighties) and they could do with some support. It was a dream that we would come out and live with her and build a life. Shorts We sold our home, which took nine months. It then took seven months to get our residency here. We’ve cut our ties from the UK completely by selling most of our belongings. Our outgoings as a family are a fifth of what they were in the UK. In the UK it felt like we were in a cage. The UK grind isn’t a quality of life, it’s like being a fly in a box. My husband worked away a lot and so I was the one running the house, the family, doing all the jobs, homeschooling four children, looking after a newborn and working from home. The taxes were also high as my husband ran a small construction company. We live on around two acres in the mountains and we all live in the house together. Our three older boys are in a room together and our daughter has her own bedroom. We’re actively building an extension to give us an extra bedroom for the boys soon. We’ve set up a little business where people can stay under the olive trees here in tents or their vans. It hasn’t made us a lot of money yet; we’re breaking even, but we’re hoping it gets more profitable. Our dream is to find an old beauty of a camper van and set it up as a static guest space so those who don’t own their own van can still come and enjoy the experience. My husband has been doing lots of upgrades on the property; it takes a lot to maintain the house. The family are extending the house on their many acres The working hours here are much friendlier and it’s a tiny island so he’s never far away. Our in-laws’ local friends had predicted it would take him around three years to absorb into the community and find work but he didn’t find it difficult at all, he’s in high demand. He’s done steel fixing, carpentry and concrete work and his skills have been invaluable. The economy in Greece is not like the UK; it’s time over money. We used to feel like we were living to work, now we’re working to live. In Greece, family comes first, second, third and fourth. People look after the families and their elders, so what we’re doing isn’t unusual. We all eat together around the table, which is a lovely time of day and my mother-in-law loves cooking, so she does that. We grow our own vegetables; we have lots of chickens and we have at least 24 different fruit trees in the garden. Greece is very self-sufficient. It’s a different way of eating, especially as a lot of Greek food isn’t expensive to make, especially when you have your own chickens and vegetables growing. Food is a similar price as it is in the UK, as you’re earning less here but our outgoings are much less. We’re surrounded by nature which has been amazing for our wellbeing. In the UK, it would be so expensive to entertain the kids; I’d tell them to get a raincoat on and we’d go to a National Trust. Although there were some lovely walks, the weather really was depressing. The cinema or bowling would mean spending hundreds of pounds which was ridiculous; it’s not a quality of life. It’s also much more laid-back and feels safer here. In the UK, I couldn’t take my eyes off the children, but it’s part of the culture here to have children running around. Nobody is worried because we live on a little island that’s very safe; it’s like a big village with around 6000 people in the winter and so everybody knows everybody. They have the freedom to be kids. I feel like I’ve taken them back into the 90s where they amuse themselves with simple things in life like riding their bike. My boys were recently riding from one end of the island to the other, they go down to the beach on their own. It’s like they can breathe. We’re all just so much more relaxed. ‘I feel like I’ve taken them back into the 90s,’ says Sarafina In the summer, there can be 100,000 people because of tourists. The colder months are completely peaceful and we can still walk along the beach in 20-degree heat on Christmas day. It feels like you have the whole island to yourself, while summer is the opposite; it’s packed, everyone has quad bikes, and it’s very hustle and bustle. It is really lovely for the youth as the harbour is filled with yachts, fishing boats and the boys went to a sailing club. It’s lovely, but you wouldn’t want it all year round. The kids have started to make friends, and my in-laws have a lovely group we’ve come to know over the years. It hasn’t been on our mind yet to socialise as we’ve been trying to get settled and start the business, but I’m sure it will come naturally. I do miss the familiarity of the UK sometimes and my friends, but generally speaking we’re much happier. We are really trying to build a life and hopefully – soon – feel properly absorbed into the community.