Looking to 'get away from it all'? Why Fair Isle could be the place for you

In the garden at Fair Isle Primary School | NTS

For some, the idea of ‘getting away from it all’ is a dream that will likely remain a distant one. However, one family from North Yorkshire – teacher Katy Phenix, her partner Josh Moore, an electrician, and their two children, aged six and 11 – is now living the dream, as they say, after moving to Fair Isle.

“We had been feeling for a while like we were stuck in the rat race with our jobs and tied to a big mortgage, and we wanted a better life for our kids and more quality time with them... although it’s a very big change, it felt like what we were looking for, so we took a leap of faith,” Phenix said. Since moving, they’ve been “adapting to a slower pace” and enjoying the “freedom” and the “beautiful landscape on our doorstep”.

Lying between Shetland and Orkney, Fair Isle is the most geographically remote inhabited island in the UK – or, in other words, about as far away from ‘it all’ as it’s possible to get. And if you’re starting to think about your own dream, another Fair Isle house has just become available...