Time to cut down

PEOPLE have been talking about quitting the rat race for decades. Remember Tom and Barbara from the Seventies sit-com The Good Life? They jacked in their jobs to follow a life of self-sufficiency in suburbia, complete with pigs, hens and a goat in the back garden.

Thirty years on and the desire for a less hectic lifestyle is so prevalent that it has prompted its own vocabulary.

Downshifting is the term used to describe people who take their lives down a gear. They aim to work less so they can pursue other interests or spend more time with their loved ones. Often, they will be earning less money, so they need to tighten their purse strings. This curb on materialism can have dividends for the environment because downshifters tend to consume less and recycle more.

It is estimated that by 2007, 3.7 million Brits will have downshifted - two million more than a decade earlier. This expansion has led to a flourishing of books and websites offering advice.

The life of the downshifter has been documented in depth on TV, with numerous reality shows following families as they strive for a new life, often abroad. The food writer Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has also made the life of the downshifter seem appealing with his River Cottage TV series in which he runs a smallholding and restaurant business in rural Devon.

A leading champion of the downshifting movement is Tracey Smith, a writer and mother of three - Alex, seven, Ryan, six, and Abby, four - who uprooted her family to France three years ago. Husband Ray gave up his job as a communications engineer and now works on restoring their 200-year-old farmhouse.

Tracey said: "The biggest benefit is that we have been able to bring up the kids together. As a result, our kids are so confident and ready to face the world. In England, Ray would be away from seven in the morning until seven at night and I volunteered in a charity shop on Saturdays, so we only had Sundays together."

So evangelistic is Tracey about the benefits of slowing down and getting the most from life that she has established the first National Downshifting Week, which runs until Friday.

A website has been set up with suggestions on how to take the first steps towards downshifting such as cutting up your credit card to growing tomatoes on your window ledge.

Although Tracey and her family live self-sufficiently in France, she stresses that downshifting is not just about keeping animals in your back yard.

She said: "I am determined to dispel the myth that you have to keep pigs in the back garden or up-sticks and move to the country."

The best approach is to change your lifestyle slowly: "National Downshifting Week has been designed to 'dip your toes' into a lifestyle with a slower pace."

Case study

FOUR years ago, businessman Rob Davies quit the rat race of the advertising world to run a bed and breakfast in Ryedale.

Rob, 54, owner of the award-winning The Orange Tree at Rosedale, where he lives with 13-year-old daughter Becki, said he decided to change his life as he approached "the big five-0".

"The seeds began to sew in my head after my wife died in 1997 when Becki was six," he said. "It made me think a lot more about life and choices and what I wanted to do. I always had a dream of owning a bed and breakfast in the country and it evolved from there."

In 2001, Rob bought The Orange Tree with his new partner Jan - and days later the foot and mouth crisis broke, forcing the couple to re-think their business plan.

Originally, the couple had hoped to attract walkers seeking a weekend break, but with the countryside out of bounds they decided to offer a range of relaxation treatments and therapies and turn the B&B into a retreat.

Today, the business is a soaring success. Last year, a national newspaper named The Orange Tree as one of the best ten retreats from modern living in the world. No wonder, then, The Orange Tree is fully booked for 50 weekends of the year.

Rob has relished the challenge of running his own business and adapting to a new lifestyle in the country. "When we first moved here from Leeds, Becki was nine and it was paradise," said Rob. "It was safe in the country and there were horses and it was so rural and beautiful. Watching her playing in the fields or down by the stream was fantastic."

Fast-forward four years, however, and Rob is looking for a new challenge. He and Jan split up two years ago and since then he has been running the business by himself. "I've never worked so hard," he said.

Also, now that Becki is a teenager, Rob feels it is time to move to a less isolated spot, perhaps Malton, so that Becki can still attend her school in Pickering.

In the near future, he hopes to set up a new business, but still work from home so he can be there for his daughter.

He said: "Like everything in life, there have been upsides and downsides. A downside is that living and working at The Orange Tree means I'm here 24-seven. But the upside is that I'm here when Becki goes to school and when she comes home and that has been fantastic. I've seen a lot more of her than I would have had I been working in Leeds when I left home at seven and came home at eight."

Financially, Rob admits there has not been too much hardship, although he adds: "you have to cut your cloth".

One large and unexpected expense, however, has been petrol. "Every time I go out, I do a 200-mile round trip! In my first year here, I clocked up 25,000 miles," he said.

Overall, Rob has no regrets about downshifting. If anything, it has given him the confidence to face the next journey in life.

He said: "I've really enjoyed working for myself. I enjoyed developing a completely new business and it's given me the confidence to go back out there and try something completely new again. There's no way I'm going back to the world I've come from."

:: Ready, steady downshift...

TO give a taste of a simpler life, Tracey Smith has drawn up a list of activities as part of National Downshifting Week. The suggestions are split into three categories. Can you be tempted...?

Individuals

Book a half day off work to spend entirely with someone you love

Cut up a credit card

Donate a bag of clothes, toys or useful items to a local charity shop

List your usual weekly expenditure and eliminate three non-essential purchases this week

Tonight, turn off the television, switch on the radio, play a few games and talk

Companies

Contact your local recycling centre and organise bins for tins, plastic, paper and other waste

Find local vendors of fresh, healthy snacks and drinks and re-think your dispensing machines

Organise and implement a travel plan and car-share scheme

Set up a keep-fit room with equipment, or organise local instructors to offer lunchtime classes

Organise a Charity Sports Day for your employees and their families and donate funds locally

Children and schools

Cultivate a square foot of garden and grow a few vegetables and soft fruits

Encourage re-use and resourcefulness by holding a fundraising event at school

Enjoy the enormous benefits of keeping a few chickens, preferably ex-battery

Save paper, postage and time by emailing parents with school information

Visit a recycling centre and encourage children to recycle too

Want to know more?

Find out more about National Downshifting Week at

www.downshiftingweek.com

Another mine of information is in the book Downshifting by Polly Ghazi and Judy Jones, republished last year by Hodder Mobius, priced £10.99

Updated: 09:23 Tuesday, April 26, 2005