A headteacher has given up her stressful two-hour commute to school – to become a crofter on a tiny island off Shetland.
Helen Hart, 55, and partner Jason Tilbury, 57, are the owners of South Brough Croft on Yell, one of Shetland’s North Isles, where they tend to 26 acres of land, looking after 40 sheep and 15 chickens, and running a business selling rugs.
It marks a huge change from their life in Maidstone, Kent, where Helen ran a school and Jason was an ambulance driver.
Helen said: “The moment I came here, I just felt this overwhelming peace and sense of belonging.”
Alongside their duties on the croft, Helen works as an English teacher on both Yell and Unst, while Jason is a coastguard.
● The couple’s story is on Ben Fogle’s New Lives In The Wild on Channel 5 at 9pm on Tuesday.
