I watch monkeys in the trees as I work...

KATIE HOLMES, 36, co-owns a digital marketing consultancy (redquokka.com) with her partner Carl, 38. They live in Wimbledon, Southwest London. She says: Three weeks ago, Barbados went into lockdown, but running along the beach at sunrise it’s easy to forget there are restrictions. I’d rather do lockdown here than in our London maisonette.

Instead of overlooking grey rooftops, we have a balcony with views of the ocean and a wildlife conservation area brimming with tropical trees and monkeys. Our spirits have stayed as bright as the colours of the flowers.

Thank goodness for the day last July when I heard that Barbados was offering the chance to live and work from ‘home’ on the island.

Carl and I looked at one another and said: ‘Let’s do it!’ Without children and with our parents in good health there was no reason not to.

When friends asked: ‘Why Barbados?’ we replied that it has sunshine and beaches, so why on earth not?

The application process was simple. Then we had a month to pay the fee — 2,000 US dollars (around £1,500) for an individual or 3,000 dollars (around £2,100) for a family.

We rented out our London flat, booked flights for £400 each in the BA sale and arrived at the start of November.

We’d found our apartment online and signed a 12month contract. The rent is £1,250 a month including bills, which is similar to our mortgage in the UK.

There were countless magical moments before lockdown was announced, including swimming with turtles, drinking sunset cocktails and watching shooting stars.

Carl’s joined a five-a-side football team, we’ve become friends with a couple from London who are here with their baby, and a lovely older British couple with a holiday home on the island have shown us around.

There have been a few wobbly days while we’ve adapted to life here, especially when we bought a car — I’ve never seen so much paperwork!

Finding food we want can be a challenge as most of it’s imported and supplies are inconsistent, and a lot more expensive than at home.

The other downside, if you can call it that, is that while we’ll occasionally do Zoom calls with clients on the beach, we mostly have to work indoors as it’s tricky to see our laptop screens in the bright sunlight.

Coming to Barbados is one of the best decisions we’ve made. We’re already considering extending our visas.

It feels like we’re making the most of life rather than trudging through the pandemic, which is what we were doing in London.