Fe and Adie Wisher tell Joanna Davis how they left the rat race behind to set up a business in the sun

A COUPLE who upped sticks to move to Portugal from Dorset say they have found their very own bit of paradise.

Fe and Adie Wisher, who moved from Crossways, near Dorchester, to central Portugal 18 months ago, describe their rollercoaster experience as 'The Good Life meets Carry on Camping'.

Fe, 58, a former NHS worker, and Adie, 58, a former Sunseeker worker, bought what they call their 'little slice of heaven' in the village of Nogueirinha (meaning village of little walnut trees) for 52,000 Euros.

With the 1930s-built home not having been lived in for 10 years and with no bathroom, the couple had taken on the tallest of tasks and their renovation project is still underway.

They are also in the process of setting up a yurt accommodation business with the first yurt available for hire from May next year.

The decision to search for a place in the sun came about when the daily grind in Dorset turned into 'a waking nightmare', Fe said.

"We were a perfectly ordinary family beavering away at the coal face to pay for those special treats. In 2016, Adie, who is never ill, was diagnosed with skin cancer and that was the beginning of a waking nightmare.

"When we got the all clear from the Big C, don't get me wrong it left us ecstatic, but going back to the rat race of night shifts and rushing about getting caught in traffic jams, worrying about bills and ever increasing costs left us feeling that there must be something more to life.

"It is said 'you get one life' and just waiting for your two weeks' summer holiday every year to do that something special appears to be extremely bad time management," she added.

With the couple too young to retire, they decided to move to Portugal - where neither of them had visited before - and set up a holiday business.

The hardest thing about moving overseas, Fe and Adie said, was leaving their son Ryan, 21, behind as he was training as a landscape gardener.

Last year they headed to Portugal to explore the central and northern regions and fell in love with the country. They then met an English couple living in Portugal and house sat for them to get to know the area.

Enduring a protracted process to sell their home in Crossways, the couple put most of their belongings in storage and set out to start their new life in March of last year.

"On March 22, 2017, we were sat on board the Santander ferry with no job, no home and and car in the hold bursting with all the necessaries like 22 boxes of tea bags and my much loved kitchen aid whilst Adie had packed all his tools ready for a new home in need of some DIY.

"We could have powered the ferry with our excitement - we were like a couple of five-year-olds."

Around a month later Adie and Fe saw their dream Portugese home in an estate agent's window.

Fe said: "It looked like the ideal property with 7,000sq m of land and a stream at the bottom of the meadow. It was a house that looked a bit like a Cornish chapel with two ruins and three gigantic cellars or man caves that were making Adie go dewy eyed just thinking about them! The house was in a terrible state not having been lived in for 10 years and also suffering from a raging infestation of wood worm. The plumbing was one tap in the kitchen - there was also an old rusty heap of metal that I was reliably informed could be used for cooking on!"

After finding a team of 'excellent' builders, Fe said, work began apace and the house was gutted and redesigned inside, two bathrooms were put in and it gradually started to resemble the house of the couple's dreams.

Outside, Adie has built a gazebo, bathroom facilities, a hen house, rebuilt dry stone walls and started a pig sty.

Fe said: "During the work sometimes we stayed over. I remember lashing a hammock to scaffolding in the house and looking up through the space where we now have a roof gazing dreamily at the stars while being rocked to sleep. We have had many moments like that and each time we say 'this is what we signed up for.'

"I think we've got it right coming here. It's a beautiful place and the locals are really friendly and we get on well with them. They leave little parcels of food outside for us. One of our neighbours brings us gorgeous bread, another gives us fruit and another gives us wine."

The pair say one of the biggest challenges has been learning Portuguese.

"It's quite a complicated language," Fe said.

"I did a lot of waving around with my hands when we first got here and I didn't even know how to ask where the toilets were. But we've got there and we can manage now. We've also learnt the word for 'cup' in Portugese which is quite important as we are always being invited to taste wine!"

And Fe would offer the following advice to anyone thinking of leaving the rat race.

"Think carefully - do the maths and follow your heart. If you've got grandchildren that you can't bear to be apart from for two weeks, it's not for you but if you know people will be able to come out to you regularly then go for it - you've only got one life."

*To enquire about the Wishers' yurt accommodation, email fionawisher@yahoo.co.uk