London leaver: ‘my country house costs half what I rent my London home out for’
Realising she was spending a fortune on weekends away in the countryside, Camilla Collins decide to move there and commute to London instead.
Life slowed down during the pandemic – and Camilla Collins found she liked it.
She spent successive lockdowns exploring local open spaces with her cocker spaniel Arthur, and started to feel like she would prefer a more peaceful, outdoorsy lifestyle than suburban north London could offer.
“I had much more time to walk – before everything was just rush, rush, rush,” she says. “I really enjoyed being outdoors and out in nature.”
After lockdown was lifted Camilla began booking regular weekends away, staying in Airbnbs and exploring the countryside west of London where she has friends and family.
“It ended up costing so much money I figured I might as well move out in that direction, and then commute back to London. I was also feeling really burned out with work, and very, very tired.”
Camilla began researching properties over Christmas 2023 and on Valentine’s Day 2023 she and Arthur headed off down the M4 for a new life in the Wiltshire village of Box, which sits at the southern end of the Cotswolds and is six miles east of Bath.
She has rented out her four-bedroom house in Woodside Park, London, for £4,000pcm – and rents a similarly-sized home in the country for half the price.
A makeup artist by trade Camilla, 37, is a serial entrepreneur. She has two make up companies, CJC Hair and Make Up and Glitter & Glo, and is also a speaker and life coach (camillacollins.com).
This means that she can work from wherever she is based.
Right now Camilla has no plans to buy a country property. She is happy with the flexibility her “double renting” scenario offers, and is currently looking for a slightly smaller home for her, Arthur, and new arrival Bibi, another cocker spaniel.
Leaving friends and family behind in London is a big decision for any aspirant London leaver but Camilla spends her time outdoors with the dogs, has taken up running, and has found it easy to build a new social scene by joining business networking groups in and around Bath.
She regularly visits London for work, but now finds being in the capital a jarring experience.
“I really feel the pain of the traffic, and the noise, and the general frustration,” she said.
“Everyone here is much more present. They are in less of a hurry, and that has made me calmer.”
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