Leap of faith for a life in the North

Over on our social media pages, we recently shared a story which was televised by Channel 5’s ‘Make a New Life in the Country’ with presenter, Ben Fogle. This particular episode in the series followed Cara Young who gave up her life in London to relocate to the North Coast of Scotland where she would call John O Groats, home. John O Groats is just 20 miles along the road from us here in Thurso. To help you get your bearings, see the map below. Thurso is the most northerly UK mainland town and is the only town along the North Coast of Scotland. Along to the east, is the village of John O Groats.


John O Groats is the well known village which marks one end of the ‘End to End’ route from Lands end. It’s hugely popular with visitors all through the year and has seen significant investment inĀ  recent years making it a more attractive village to live in and to visit. We were thrilled to see an announcement just last week that a micro whisky distillery will open next year while the John O Groats Brewery team are busy preparing to open their visitor centre and brewery in the village in time to welcome the visitors this season.

As well as being hugely popular with visitors of course, there are people who live and work in the village all year round and Cara Young, is one of them. Cara left her life as a London based nanny and bought Puffin Croft Petting Farm in John O Groats. With little experience, she took on the adventure with both hands and thankfully, has never looked back! The petting farm has grown over the years as Cara learned she needed to diversify to make things work. She now offers a B&B on site as well as the petting farm and farm shop. You can catch up on the episode using this link. If you’re interested in taking a similar leap of faith and would like information on relocating to the North Coast of Scotland, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us to ask any questions, we’re always happy to help.

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