‘I commute to London from Spain – it costs less than the journey from Henley’

Superficially, Charlotte Ferguson’s long-distance lifestyle sounds incredibly glamorous. She runs her own luxury skincare business, Disciple London, and only spends between two and four days per month in its west London office.

The rest of the time Ferguson, 41, her husband John Quilter, 52, and their Doberman greyhound cross, Toast, live just outside Malaga, Spain. They spend their time on the beach, or enjoying the fabulous cuisine of Andalucia, and generally living the good life for a fraction of what it would cost in the UK.

Before the pandemic, Ferguson and Quilter were renting a home in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire.

“It was the second lockdown, it was getting a bit cold and miserable in the UK, and we just started talking about trying something else,” says Ferguson. “We looked at Airbnb, and we found this place in Andalucia. We decided to book it for three months, the longest we could go without a visa, and put our things in storage, packed up the dog and the coffee machine, and got in the car.”

The couple returned to reality, in a rental near Oxford, in January 2021. The winter lockdown was underway and they missed Spain so much they decided to move there. They now live in a four-bedroom house just outside Malaga.

Ferguson’s team can hold the fort in London, and every week or two, she makes a flying visit to the office, getting on a plane at 7.30am and reaching her desk by 10.30am. She then stays over with her parents, who live near Brentford, or in the Airbnb she regularly rents and which costs £80.

She uses her evening in London to catch up with friends or meet with journalists. The following day she is back at the office at 8am, and on a plane again in the early afternoon, getting home in time to enjoy a glass of wine in a beach bar.

Travel costs vary depending on the time of year, but over the winter if she books early enough, Ferguson can get a return ticket for around £50.

“It is less than my train from Henley used to be, which is bonkers.” In the high season she pays around £150 for the trip.

Meanwhile, rent in Spain comes in at £1,400 per month, and there is no council tax to pay, meaning living expenses are far lower than in the UK. The couple’s rent alone in Henley was around £2,200 per month.