Although I probably wouldn’t have admitted it, as a teenager I was inspired by the BBC TV sitcom series The Good Life, wherein on his 40th birthday, Tom Good gives up his job designing plastic toys that go into cereal packets, to live a more wholesome, self-sufficient life with Barbara in their suburban home. In pursuit of their dream, the couple dig up their front and back gardens for fruit and veg’, raise chickens and pigs, and even generate their own electricity from the animal waste, wearing clothes they’ve made themselves. Endeavouring to cut their money needs to a minimum, the pre-permaculture pair attempt to barter their surplus for the things they can’t make or grow at home. Nearly thirty years on, I’m still inspired an...

"The best place to find God is in a garden. You can dig for him there" - George Bernard Shaw I've long since dreamed of downshifting to a more self-sufficient, sustainable way of life. I've even made a few attempts. An urban spiritual community was the first, where - as it turned out - dysfunctional family issues soon took a hold in me even though there was no obvious mum, dad or siblings. A clear case of wherever I go, there I am! Then there was the "go west" sale, where my partner and I sold everything we owned outside our terraced Sheffield house with the aim of emigrating to Ireland. We made a few hundred quid, loaded up our Ford Fiesta with three kids, a dog and as much else as we could pack in/on and sailed for the...