“There were several reasons we decided to quit the UK, including the increasing pressure in Britain to have money, be successful and keep up with the Joneses. We also wanted somewhere safer to live. Crime was on the increase and children had less and less freedom. I wanted our kids, William who’s 14, Charlotte who’s eleven, and Tom who’s three, to enjoy a childhood like Jonathan and I did, where you could ride your bike to the park for the day without worrying.

Another factor in our decision was Jonathan’s job. He’s a garden designer and landscaper and spent years building Mediterranean-style gardens in London; he had a dream of building gardens, not in southeast England, but the Med itself, so when we heard a garden maintenance company was for sale on Menorca, we grasped the opportunity for a new life. We visited the island and although we realised the business wasn’t right for us, we spotted a gap in the market for garden designers and landscapers.

Jonathan launched his own company nearly seven years ago, and thankfully he’s been busy ever since. I take care of the admin and there’s plenty of that, particularly as we employ four workers on contracts and several self-employed staff. Many of our clients are Brits; the locals aren’t big gardeners, perhaps because they don’t normally have large gardens and use allotments to grow fruit and veg.

When we’re not working on other people’s gardens we’re busy maintaining our two-acre plot. We sold our 1950s three-bedroom semi in Banstead for £200,000 and bought a four-bedroom detached property on the outskirts of Alaior for £123,000, although when we first moved in there were only two bedrooms, and as one was unsuitable for the children to sleep in all of us ended up sleeping in the same bedroom!

Built by a priest in 1896, it resembles a miniature church and has appeared in numerous books and magazines about Menorca: even our bank manager has an oil painting of it on his office wall! It’s a listed building and there’s a parapet around the upper part of the house. Walking around it, admiring the views from every angle makes us realise how beautiful the island is. The front of the house overlooks the town and Alaior’s large church while the back is open countryside. Being built high on a hill means we can see for miles beyond the one-bedroom casita at the bottom of our land, which we rent out to holidaymakers.

The countryside is beautiful around here. Menorca is very green and in spring the fields are covered with wild flowers. The coastline is spectacular, too, and with over 173 sandy beaches there’s plenty of room for everyone. In the evenings, when the temperature is cooler and most of the tourists have left the beaches, we’ll often drive to our local beach, Son Bou, for a swim. It’s a great way to unwind after a busy day at work.

But if we don’t fancy driving, we’ll relax and swim in our own pool. We’re one of the only houses in the town with a swimming pool so it’s not unusual for our pool to be full of our children’s friends.

Read the full story in our February 2008 issue: click here to subscribe.