Ben.Fogle-New.Lives.In.The.Wild.S07E06.PROPER.540p.HDTV.x264-TVC
- 5 years ago
Jeff and Rose Burkinshaw live with their five daughters in the Canadian forest.They left suburbia in favour of building a cabin on a remote plot of land. They survive using solar power and hunting the likes of moose and birds for food. Their daughters, the youngest of whom is 10, can all hunt and skin animals. They were visited by Ben Fogle on tonight's episode of New Lives In The Wild.
A couple who grew tired of life in suburbia quit the 9-5 to live off grid with their five daughters deep in the Canadian wilderness.
Childhood sweethearts Jeff and Rose Burkinshaw left the demands - and comforts - of modern life behind to embark on a quest of self-sufficiency, buying a remote 40-acre plot of land in a forest 500 miles north of Vancouver.
The couple lived in a tent with their five daughters - the youngest of whom was just two at the time - as they constructed a eco-friendly home fit to withstand the unforgiving snowfall and -30C temperatures of the Canadian winters.
Now Jeff and Rose live almost entirely off the land, in a large part due to the help they receive from daughters Sarah, Abigail, Julia, 13, Christina, 11, and Keziah, 10, who spend the afternoons hunting, felling trees and skinning animals.
Their home, which has solar energy, wood burners but no running water, was visited by Ben Fogle on tonight's episode of Channel 5's New Lives in the Wild.
The adventurer and TV presenter spent time with the family in a bid to discover whether the unusual lifestyle is being enforced on the five girls by their parents, or whether it is one they truly embrace.
While Fogle was initially dubious, he was ultimately left feeling the Burkinshaws' set-up was the 'perfect escape from the rat race', adding he was 'somewhat in awe'.
It was 2011 when Jeff and Rose, who married at the age of 19, decided to sell up Jeff's engineering business and use the money to buy their own slice of forest.
The parents worked tirelessly on their home, building three bedrooms and a large open-plan living and kitchen space with large windows looking out to the forest.
Home videos show how their daughters were expected to help from a young age, sweeping debris or shoveling small piles of rubble.
There is a three-sided outhouse with views over the forest which the families use most of the year, with two indoor compost toilets coming into service during the winter months.
Ultimately the project cost less than $25,000 and left the Burkinshaws with a space where they could live and spend time together without the debts, mortgages and bills that burden so many families.
'I had a mortgage for quite a while and when I got rid of that mortgage, there was a huge part of my brain that was liberated from external responsibilities,' Jeff explained.
As Fogle approached the property by car, he noted that the forest was home to 'bears, moose and elk' but far away from 'any signs of human life'.
A couple who grew tired of life in suburbia quit the 9-5 to live off grid with their five daughters deep in the Canadian wilderness.
Childhood sweethearts Jeff and Rose Burkinshaw left the demands - and comforts - of modern life behind to embark on a quest of self-sufficiency, buying a remote 40-acre plot of land in a forest 500 miles north of Vancouver.
The couple lived in a tent with their five daughters - the youngest of whom was just two at the time - as they constructed a eco-friendly home fit to withstand the unforgiving snowfall and -30C temperatures of the Canadian winters.
Now Jeff and Rose live almost entirely off the land, in a large part due to the help they receive from daughters Sarah, Abigail, Julia, 13, Christina, 11, and Keziah, 10, who spend the afternoons hunting, felling trees and skinning animals.
Their home, which has solar energy, wood burners but no running water, was visited by Ben Fogle on tonight's episode of Channel 5's New Lives in the Wild.
The adventurer and TV presenter spent time with the family in a bid to discover whether the unusual lifestyle is being enforced on the five girls by their parents, or whether it is one they truly embrace.
While Fogle was initially dubious, he was ultimately left feeling the Burkinshaws' set-up was the 'perfect escape from the rat race', adding he was 'somewhat in awe'.
It was 2011 when Jeff and Rose, who married at the age of 19, decided to sell up Jeff's engineering business and use the money to buy their own slice of forest.
The parents worked tirelessly on their home, building three bedrooms and a large open-plan living and kitchen space with large windows looking out to the forest.
Home videos show how their daughters were expected to help from a young age, sweeping debris or shoveling small piles of rubble.
There is a three-sided outhouse with views over the forest which the families use most of the year, with two indoor compost toilets coming into service during the winter months.
Ultimately the project cost less than $25,000 and left the Burkinshaws with a space where they could live and spend time together without the debts, mortgages and bills that burden so many families.
'I had a mortgage for quite a while and when I got rid of that mortgage, there was a huge part of my brain that was liberated from external responsibilities,' Jeff explained.
As Fogle approached the property by car, he noted that the forest was home to 'bears, moose and elk' but far away from 'any signs of human life'.