Our winter clothes are still in the suitcase

WILLIAM O’SHEA, 57, is an IT consultant and lives in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, with his wife Eva, also 57, a housewife, and daughter Dexia, 17, who was due to take her A-levels this year. William says: OUR daughter’s doing her A-levels this summer and, in normal times, we’d never have considered an adventure during the most important academic year of her life, but it’s working well.

Dexia missed five months of school during the first lockdown, so had become used to remote learning, and her friends are studying at home again now. It’s not that different for her doing the same but from the Caribbean.

She’s using work provided by her old school and, just like her friends, she’s waiting to hear how A-levels will be assessed after exams were cancelled.

Like others, our plan was forged last summer after we saw an advert for the Welcome Stamp visa with seductive photos of beaches and the headline: ‘Come and work in paradise!’

The winters in North Yorkshire are harsh and we knew a lockdown then would be tough — and inevitable.

After a family discussion we decided it was too good an opportunity to miss, given that I was working from home, and received our visas within a week of applying. We arrived in September.

We’re now renting a lovely twobedroom house 150ft from the beach, with front and rear patios, a barbecue area and a communal pool, flanked by tropical plants and trees. We spend 80 per cent of our time outdoors and laugh that we packed winter clothes ‘in case it gets cold’ — they’re still in the suitcase as the temperature is around 80f (27c) most days.

Working from an office inside the house, my day starts at 5am so I can keep to UK hours and finishes at 1pm, which means we can enjoy the beach in the afternoons.

Dexia misses her friends but keeps in touch via video calls and has made new friends here — as we all have.

We have tennis and golf lessons, and joined a beach club where we go snorkelling and kayaking.

We’ve eaten delicious meals in restaurants by the sea — although I do miss Harrogate fish and chips! — and the sunsets are so spectacular that my friends are tired of the photos I send.

Our five-bedroom Victorian home in Harrogate is rented out until September, when we plan to return.

Locals are optimistic that the current lockdown will be eased soon and we can’t wait to resume our adventures.