Yes chef!

Birmingham-born Lisa Sellers has risen to become one of the Caribbean’s top chefs, after landing her dream job on the privately-owned Peter Island in the British Virgin Islands

“I was born and brought up in Birmingham. Before moving to the British Virgin Islands (BVI) I was based in Barbados for two years, as Senior Pastry Chef for a Relais & Chateaux Hotel.

I’d heard about the job at Peter Island through my recruitment agent in the USA. After spending 10 years as a pastry chef, I was looking for a new challenge, and the position of Executive Sous Chef sounded great. I had spent time in the BVI in the past, as it’s where my partner is based, and to me Peter Island had more of a Caribbean flavour than any other island I had visited.

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A whole new beat

32-year-old policewoman Stella Hartley swapped Barnsley for a new life Down Under, and things couldn’t be more different for her

“I needed a change, simple as that. I wanted a better quality of life and was in desperate need of some sunshine. It really was all about me. I had no real commitments in the UK, and although the decision to leave my family and friends was tough, it felt right.

I knew that when I moved I would stay in the police force. I saw that the South Australia Police was recruiting at the time and had seen some TV shows about Adelaide and it looked great, so that’s where I set my sights. Prior to the beginning of the recruitment process I had no particular links with Adelaide, let alone Australia; I had never even visited the country.

I went along with the recruitment process like it was any other job interview at first, without alerting my family and friends to my intentions in case I fell at the first hurdle. Then, all of a sudden, it became a reality: I was offered the job and had to consider if it really was the right thing for me.

After weighing up my options, I realised there was nothing to lose. My visa application was supported by the police, which made the visa process much easier and quicker than if you try to move without having employment already arranged. Before I knew it, my house in the UK was packed up and that was the last I would see of my ‘things’ until November. Relocation experts Crown Relocations organised my emigration and packed up my belongings. They were great; they really looked after me and my possessions.

The team was really experienced and totally understood how I was feeling as I packed up my life. I was a bit choked when I saw my house totally empty with all my belongings packed on the van. I was left with two suitcases for the trip, and although I felt like my left arm had been amputated because I had nothing, it was also quite liberating.

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It’s all Greek to me

When Simon Morgan took a sabbatical to go sailing in the Greek islands, he quickly fell in love with the lifestyle and dreamed of bringing up children there. 22 years on, his dream has come true

Sailing has always been a major part of my life; my dad was an Olympic silver medallist back in ’64 and I’ve won a couple of National Championships in catamaran classes. Whilst living and working in London, I used to disappear to the South coast every time there was some decent wind.

Finally, I decided to take three months off and spent six weeks of that driving to Greece in a VW van with a catamaran on a trailer. I went to this place called Vassiliki on the island of Lefkas, where I’d heard there was a good wind every day. I stayed there on the beach a month and decided that I wanted to change my life – that here, rather than London, was a better place for kids to grow up, where they could be more in touch with nature.

This was back in 1987, and the following summer I started up my beach-based sailing holiday company, Wildwind. At that time I was living on the island in the summer and returning to London for the winter months.

In February 2002 I met my wife to be, Varvara, who sat next to me on a plane from Heathrow to Athens. I was going to spend a month at an intensive Greek language school and she was going to surprise her mother who was living out here (her mother is English, her father Greek).

We fell in love at first sight, and by summer 2003 had decided that we would both move from London and try and start a life together in Athens. We haven’t looked back since.

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Eternal Flame

Gary Simmons has lived all over the world, but it’s in the south of France, running a candle-making school, that he’s discovered true contentment. Words Katie Wood

“I left England when I was 21 and a hairstylist, and moved to Los Angeles where I eventually opened a salon on Sunset Blvd. It was the early 80s and I enjoyed a wonderful life over there.

After ten years I became increasingly disillusioned with the fast lifestyle and decided to go back to basics. I’d always had the dream of living on an island, so I bought land in the Caribbean and a friend of mine in California taught me what I now do – candle designing.

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