Want to build a new life in the country? Well the folks at Chilli Farm did and now TV show "Build a New Life in the Country" are looking for other hands-on volunteers who are moving to an idyllic part of the countryside to start work on a property renovation which can be featured on their fantastic TV show; Build a New Life.

The Build a New Life team are looking for people planning to exchange cramped city flats or standard semis for a country move to buildings that capture the imagination: potential homes such as ruined barns and old farmhouses; large scale and unusual buildings in the vein of piers, windmills, lighthouses, water towers and power stations; quirky and hidden properties like redundant barges and overgrown railway stations.

In addition to building your dream home you could also be adjusting to a new life in the country and a new environment by starting a new job or setting up your own business in the heart of the countryside.

Chilli Farm

I am a big fan of the Build a New Life in the Country series and I loved watching the Nuttall family on the journey to build a new life with the Chilli Farm development.

Image: Chilli Farm before and after

The Nuttall's dream was a simple but one that was by no means easy to achieve. They loved the standard of living Adrian's I.T. Work enabled them to lead but were fed up not having the time together as a family to enjoy it as he was always away working. So when his wife, Denise, calculated he'd missed half their youngest daughter's life they decided something had to change. This is where the build a new life in the country journey started...new home, new chilli farm business and a new beginning for all the family!

The Nuttall family gambled everything on the chilli farm. They bought a rundown garden centre, barn and farmhouse set on 11 acres of stunning Suffolk countryside and planned to open a chilli farm, a shop and a restaurant serving everything from Mexican spicy nacho's to chilli ice-cream and doughnuts.

So, before their chilli farm dream could take flight, there was some serious work to do. With no building experience, Adrian and Denise had to renovate a Suffolk barn and turn it into a restaurant fit for up to 60 diners and the grand opening was planned, in just six months!

Building the Chilli Farm

The Nuttall's building experience ran from home décor to building tree-houses for the kids. But they took on a ramshackle barn that was currently little more than a shell. With an £80k budget they had ambitious plans, including a commercial kitchen with 'Wagamama' style open counter and a mezzanine level with a glass floor, but they had no idea where to begin...

To fund the chilli farm they took out a mortgage of £300k enabling them to buy their dream home and future chilli famer business. So... It had to work and to meet the monthly repayments Adrian continued working as an I.T. Consultant until the business was making money. Luckily, he found a six-month job working for a company in Switzerland, where he could work from home. But that meant working on the build in the day and his day job in the evenings...

They had just five months to restore the barn into a thriving restaurant, renovate the dilapidated green houses and poly-tunnels, grow their stock crop of 150 different varieties of chillies and run a normal family life. Adrian and Denise were determined to hit their August deadlines because that's when the chillies are at their best. It was a tall order but with the help of the build a new life team they did it!

Before the chilli farm there was nothing like this in England. Their idea to Build a New Life in the country was a big gamble but it's paid off after a lot of hard work and determination.

Build a New Life series

Every year over 100,000 people are moving from cities to the country. They are looking for easy access to nature and the countryside to improve their quality of life. Statistics back them up; rural people tend to live longer and have better health than urban dwellers. Also many people combine their move with setting up a new business - it is estimated that over half of new countryside ventures are started by people moving into the area.

If you make it onto the Build a New Life in the Country series, you'll be guided every step of the way and provided with seasoned advice and vital moral support as you work towards achieving your new life.

Each programme begins with meeting the contributors and learning of their dreams and aspirations for their new home and life. Some choose to live in a caravan in the garden, while others live in the house they are restoring.

Where possible, the programme will follow them as they finalise designs, hunt down local builders and get their projects underway but it's once the build gets going that the programme really gets into full swing. It follows progress through to completion as well as watching people juggling their new life-styles, their work and the build.

To apply for Build a New Life, contact the producers on 0870 726 8871 or build@shinelimited.com and inspire others like the Nuttalls who created Chilli Farm.