I moved to Algarve to ‘world school’ my kids – rent is £420 a month including a pool… I’ll never go back to miserable UK
WITH acres of land, a spacious house with a pool and 300 days of sun a year, Biba Tanya is living her dream life – without breaking the bank.
That’s because the British ex-pat and her two children, Tabitha, 10, and six-year-old Lola, live in Algarve, Portugal, where the cost of living is far lower than in the UK.
Since relocating abroad, the 43-year-old mum has slashed her rent, now paying just over 500 euros (£420) a month for a three-bedroom cottage with a swimming pool, a waterfall and an orchard of orange, lemon and cherry trees.
Her tranquil home, in a desirable area of the popular region, is just a stone’s throw away from a sandy beach.
Biba doesn’t have to pay council tax and thanks to Portugal’s warm climate she rarely puts the heating on.
While she paid over £600 on household bills back home in Clitheroe, Lancashire, she now pays nothing.
“Our electricity is free using solar panels. Our water is from the well on the property. I pay nothing for heating, water or power. I used to pay £600 or more in Britain.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun, she says: “We used to live in a pokey three–bedroom terraced house in Clitheroe with no garden and spent £750 a month on rent.
“Our cottage in Portugal is three times the size and is half the cost. We have also signed a ten-year lease on it, putting us in control, not the landlords.
“I used to spend £500 plus a month on groceries in the UK. Now I spend less than £100 a month. Everything is cheaper and tastier here.
“We try to live seasonally and grow all our own fruit and vegetables in our acreage. We have goats, pigs and sheep for meat. We only need the absolute basics from the supermarket.
“I raise and slaughter my own livestock. The 15 chickens provide us with eggs and meat, the three pigs provide enough organic meat for eighteen months and the goats we milk daily.
“My daughters know how to slaughter a chicken and love our self-sufficiency.
“I don’t care if people are shocked by that. It’s a life skill.
“We have half an acre of orange, lemon, cherry and fig trees. We grow squash and other vegetables.
“I can cook a family meal for less than a pound because we raise our own livestock and grow our own fresh vegetables.”
Family meal out for £35
Life coach Biba says living “off grid” with her daughters means they are much better off.
“Before the move, I was struggling to make ends meet on £300 a week in Britain,” she says.
“It was a hand to mouth existence. There was no garden at the house, the weather was miserable and I was constantly in debt.
“I could never make an impulse purchase. I’d wake up daily with anxiety about debt and not being able to afford the groceries I needed,” she says.
“Moving to Portugal means I have cleared my credit cards of £1,500. I always have £2,000 in the bank. It means we can buy what we need.
“I wanted us to be self-sufficient. Having a ‘mini farm’ has cut our costs dramatically and now I can treat the girls to a meal out.
I can cook a family meal for less than a pound because we raise our own livestock and grow our own fresh vegetables
Biba Tanya
“A posh three course meal for three will cost less than £35. In Britain it would have cost me £120 and I’d have to use a credit card.
“Tabitha is starting sailing lessons. I am paying £35 a month for them. In Britain the same set of lessons would cost £200.
But there are some things Biba says are out of her price range.
“My girls had a craving for baked beans. I tried to buy a can of Heinz Beans in a British supermarket here. The price was £5.99 for a tin instead of 90 pence back home. I was gobsmacked.
“I refused to pay almost six quid for a tin of baked beans.
“The import tax on British items means British staples are unaffordable. Items which might cost a quid in Britain cost five times that here. We have learnt to find local solutions.
Biba has also found a canny way to save money on transport in Portugal.
“I don’t own a car. I rent one. I pay 280 euros a month.
“People might think renting a car is ridiculous. It’s not.
“In the UK many car repayments alone are £300 a month.
“Here the 280 euros covers the car rental, insurance and road tax. If it breaks down, I get a new car. It’s cheaper to rent a vehicle long term. If it breaks down, I call the agency and get a new one instantly.”
Lockdown life change
Biba made the decision to move abroad after the first lockdown ended in 2020.
“I split with my long-term partner during lockdown,” explains Biba. “My oldest Sebastian, 17, has left school and stayed in the UK. I knew my two younger kids and I needed a new country.
“I wasn’t going to hang around and be forced to make my kids sit in front of zoom classes and follow what I feel is an out-of-date formal curriculum during the Pandemic.
“I was terrified by the food and water shortages in lockdown. I wanted to be more in control of every aspect of my life.
“I left Britain with three plane tickets and £500 in the bank. It was scary. People told me I’d be back within weeks. They were wrong.
“Now we have a mini farm, savings and are bossing the cost-of-living crisis.
“Instead of stuffy classrooms my kids have the world as their classroom. We’re outdoors all day.
“The kids don’t wear shoes or uniforms to learn. My girls are learning at a faster rate than children double their age in the United Kingdom.”
Biba tells how she wakes up every morning and meditates naked in the garden.
“Moving to Portugal was the best decision I ever made, financially and physically,” she continues. “I feel healthier, lighter and happier.”
After initially leaving the UK, the family spent time travelling throughout the Mediterranean before Biba found the perfect ‘forever home’ in Portugal.
The family now live off-grid and don’t use a TV, iPad or smartphones – although Biba has a laptop for work.
“We’ve gone screen-free,” she continued. “My kids are outdoors every day. Their imagination is on fire. We don’t need Netflix or other expensive streaming subscriptions.
I left Britain with three plane tickets and £500 in the bank. It was scary. People told me I’d be back within weeks. They were wrong.
Biba Tanya
“I don’t remember the last time we bought new clothes. The kids don’t wear uniforms. There isn’t the pressure to keep up with the Joneses. Labels are not important here. It’s amazing.”
Biba says giving her children a better education was one of the key reasons she left the UK.
“I have allowed my daughters to learn using world schooling or global education,” she explains.
“Instead of pouring over textbooks my kids have learnt Portuguese. They have learnt geography by travelling, their spelling is above their age range because we learn as we go.
“Road schooling allows kids to absorb what they experience. Forcing information on children in classrooms is literally ‘old school’. It doesn’t work.
“My ten -year-old can cook a three-course nutritious meal and my six-year-old knows so much about nutrition and cooking.
“I haven’t forced a curriculum on my kids. They are choosing to learn. They can both name different types of rocks and minerals. They have a vast knowledge of sea life and wildlife and learn by experiencing not by sitting in a standard classroom.”
Biba says her daughters are “fitter” than most kids in the UK.
“They don’t spend hours playing computer games or on tablets or phones,” she explains. “We wake up in the morning and plan our day depending on what the kids want to learn and do.”
Biba is not the only parent choosing to quit work and ‘road school’ her children.
The number of pupils moving to home education has risen by 22 per cent in the past year.
Freedom of Information requests showed UK councils received at least 49,819 notifications in 2022-23 from families wanting to home educate a child.
This means that one in every 100 children is being homeschooled.
And it’s parents like Biba who are quitting jobs in Britain and taking their children overseas for ‘world schooling’ who are leading the way.
On Facebook, world-schooling groups including We Are World Schoolers and World Schooling home swaps have amassed over 100k in followers.
“I have lost track of how many British parents who contact me wanting to leave the UK and do what I have done,” says Biba.
“It’s not just about educating your child; it’s about saving money and living a healthier life.
“British kids are being held back by a failing education system, the cost-of-living crisis and poor health.
“I wasn’t prepared to let my kids go through that.
“My children have a much broader experience of life here. They have many friends of all different nationalities and cultures. The kids see themselves as global.
“I know people will criticise my decision. They’ll say my kids aren’t socialised because they are not in a so-called normal school.
“That couldn’t be further from the truth. The world schooling community is amazing. Our lifestyle here nurtures our family bond. We just spend all our days chilling, playing and learning.”
Biba says her career has also flourished since quitting Britain.
“My life coaching business is doing really well and I have made more money since leaving Britain than I did living back home.”
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Forever home
As well as her work as a life coach and world schooling expert Biba, earns money through marketing on her Instagram page @biba_tanya.
“I have learnt how to do collaborations with companies from everything to sunscreen to water filters. Living in the sunshine allows that. It has allowed me to blossom.
“The Algarve is one of the most expensive places to visit as a tourist. I have shown through sheer will and determination you can save money and make your dream a reality, not get pulled into a tourist trap.
“You have to want it. We went back to basics and the savings are amazing.
“I have seen people come here and end up back in Britain. You need to want it to work.
“I am lucky I found my world schooling tribe and life coaching colleagues to help build a business together.
“I am not a hippy mum, I am an off-grid mother with business brains.
“I miss my son and best friend terribly. But they both visit regularly. This is the only thing I miss about Britain.”
Despite never having set foot in a British school Biba says if her daughters want to get a GCSE qualification it’s simple.
“We apply for them to sit the equivalency test and they can sit it at a nominated testing site.
“People who think home-schooling doesn’t get your kids qualifications are wrong.”
She adds: “I am proof getting onto a plane can be life changing. You have to want to change and want to create a better life. I won’t be coming back home.”