In search of the Good Life Richard and Helena Eccles decided to live off the land in the Czech Republic, as they explain to Sarah Robertson
“I have never been a material person,” Richard says. “I came here because I wanted to escape the humdrum of my life in the UK. Taking on a ruined Bohemian farmhouse changed my life completely!“When you move abroad, you have to believe in a dream. I dreamed of this genuine, natural lifestyle. Today even my Czech gardener is a Buddhist. I am not one myself, but I could be, because the challenge of renovating 16th century building occasionally required the patience of a saint!
“When I decided to leave the UK, my wife Helena, who is Czech, was concerned about moving back. She thought the culture shock might be too much, living in a farmhouse in such remote countryside, seventy miles from Prague. “I initially met Helena in the mid 90s. I was doing an MA in Slavonic Studies and I was studying in the Czech Republic, improving my language skills. We fell in love and Helena moved to the UK. I was a supply teacher in West Yorkshire whilst Helena worked with asylum seekers. “We would frequently go back to visit Helena’s parents and that is when we started to explore the countryside. I knew then I wanted to live in the Czech Republic because I could see it was such a different, original place. The Czech Republic has this energy and optimism, which I find so refreshing after the cynicism of the UK. “People take you at face value, class doesn’t matter to them and they are the least pretentious nationality I know. At the same time, when I first started visiting here, it felt like the country was going places after the end of Communism.“There is still that feeling of excitement about the country today and I am so grateful for it. You get the best of New European optimism mixed with traditional village life."
Read the full article in our November 2008 edition.
