Julie and Mark have ditched the rat race to live life at a slower pace.
Inspired by a popular TV show, a professional middle aged couple have quit their jobs, sold their £300k house and swapped life in the fast line for a slower paced existence, averaging 2-4mph – aboard a canal boat.
When mum-of-two Julie Weir, 47, was offered redundancy from her stressful position as a family support worker in 2016, she grabbed the chance to fulfil her dream of becoming a professional artist.
Then, watching an episode of the Channel 4 show My Floating Home – following homeowners who leave suburbia for homes on the water – one day with her estate agent husband Mark, 49, who is now a part time writer, the couple decided it was time to live the dream together on an 11ft wide, 65ft long widebeam barge.
So, Mark, who had seen his wife become happier and happier, quit his £40k job in 2017, they then sold their £300k house in Gosport, Hampshire, and invested in a £110,000 barge to live on.
Recalling how they had just £10k left, once they had paid off their mortgage, kitted out their boat and moved it from a marina in Reading, Berks., to one in Devizes, Wiltshire, Julie said: “Mark and I both knew we wanted to change our lives. We didn’t need a four-bedroom house now the children had grown up and moved away.
“I had worked for 10 years as a support worker, which was very stressful. The families I worked with had complex needs and there were often serious child protection issues in the mix.”
She added: “Then we watched this show and knew exactly what we wanted to do.”
Married for 27 years, the couple broke the news to their children, Christian 26, a digital HR specialist, and Bethany, 24, a trainee teacher, who thought they were “mad.”
“We knew they’d get used to it and we wanted a boat that was big enough for the family to come and stay and so we knew from the start we wanted something wider than a traditional narrow boat which is 7ft wide,” said Julie.
And, as far as she and Mark were concerned. even their name was perfect for a waterborne existence.
She laughed: “Our surname is Weir, which is also the name of the barriers built across a river to change the water levels.
“So, we had a bit of fun with it and called our boat, Weir On The Move.”
Now the couple have enjoyed an amazing year “continuous cruising” along southern England’s 87 mile long Kennet & Avon canal.
“We can moor in one place for up to 14 days and then we move off again,” explained Julie, who has turned one end of the barge into her art studio, while Mark – now an accomplished novelist – writes from a desk in the second bedroom.
“We’ll move the boat about four or five miles and then moor up again, so we get to see lots of the countryside and pretty little villages that you would normally miss when you’re driving on the main roads that bypass them.”
The countryside is particularly important to Julie, who paints landscapes, wildlife and pet portraits.
“We’re outside a lot of the time now, unlike in our previous lives, and the 360-degree views are spectacular,” she said.
And they travel in style, as their barge has an impressive array of mod cons, including a fridge, freezer, gas cooker and hob, washing machine, satellite TV, so they can still stream Netflix and watch their favourite shows, while their living space equals that of a lot of new-build houses.
Living on the water takes planning, though – especially as the couple have kept their Hyundai Santa Fe car, so they can only move the boat a few miles at a time, as they have to walk back and collect it.
Also, because they have no postal address, they have to designate a Post Office for people to send parcels to.
“The Post Office provides a fantastic and free service called poste restante,” said Julie. “They hold your mail at the Post Office of your choice until you come and collect it, so we use that.”
Admitting that her 72-year-old mum and Mark’s 74-year-old dad were a bit worried when they first heard the couple were selling up to live on a boat, Julie confessed that, while it will hold its value, they could struggle to raise the funds to return to bricks and mortar without conventional jobs.
“The older generation was worried about what we were doing. They seemed concerned about safety and dealing with the canal locks, but the kids just thought we were mad,” she explained.
“My son Christian said the other day, it comes to something when you have to use a map and a compass to find your mum and dad. We both loved that!”
But, moving at just 2-4 mph on their barge, Julie and Mark love the slower pace of life and have found far more time to enjoy it and make new friends.
She said: “We would say hello to our neighbours in Gosport, but we never really knew each other. It’s really different on the water – we all stop and chat and help each other.
“You start to see the same faces and boats going up and down and the other day someone knocked on the door and asked us to come and join them for a curry around the campfire on the towpath. They told us to just bring whatever we’d got, so we did.”
The other big change is that both Mark and Julie – whose painting of a hare was shortlisted as a finalist in the 2013 BBC Wildlife Artist of the Year annual competition – now work longer hours, but because they are doing what they love and feel passionately about, they are both happier.
With three published novels under his belt, Mark is now working on his fourth and Julie, a member of the Society for All Artists (SAA) starts painting at 8am and, after a long leisurely lunch with her husband, will often continue until 8pm.
“You’ve got one life, so why not live it to full?” said Julie. “It’s not always easy – we have to plan carefully. Because we’re both self-employed, that is a big change from our lives before, but we love this lifestyle and if anyone was thinking about doing the same I would say go for it!”
For information on the SAA and how to become a member, please visit www.saa.co.uk
