‘‘If you’re doing what we’re trying to do, you have to give up some things to make it happen.’’

When Richard and Rosie Hutchinson moved to New Zealand eight years ago, they never wanted to live in the city. But it’s taken that long for them to make their country-living dream come true.

The English couple and their two children, aged 10 and 12, are trading in their comfortable life in Auckland’s North Shore for the world of the small business owner in rural New Zealand.

The family bought the Black Dog Cafe in the tourist town of Matakana six months ago, and just a few days before Christmas will finally make the move to their new life.

‘‘We’ve always wanted to do something like this,’’ says Richard. But it hasn’t been easy: Taking the plunge has meant selling the family home and losing the security of two incomes after Rosie quit her job at Auckland Zoo to focus on the cafe. They’ve been renting houses in both Auckland and Matakana and commuting between the two.

‘‘There are always financial concerns,’’ says Richard, who describes his family as ‘‘reasonably OK’’ financially since emigrating.

‘‘Now we are just relying on one income and what we can get out of the cafe, if we can run it successfully, whereas before we had regular, once-a-month money coming into the bank and once that stops . . . well it’s things like that we have to work our way around.’’

Richard says he knew there would be sacrifices to make but the decision wasn’t about money, it’s about lifestyle – although he admits the cafe has a demanding workload, especially as he has continued with his day job in consultancy. ‘‘You get a few people asking ‘Oh, why are you doing it? You’ve got good jobs and you’re paid reasonably well.’ [But] if you are doing what we are trying to do, you have to give up some things to make it happen.’’