Escape To The Country couple's move ends in family tragedy
BBC Escape To The Country couple Steve and Jenny finally fulfilled their dream of turning their back on urban life for a countryside lifestyle.
Their plan was to buy a three-bedroom country pad, with land for Jenny's horses and a separate two-bedroom annexe for Steve's elderly parents. But the couple's joy soon turned to heartbreak as Steve's mother sadly passed away before the move and his father, passed away eighteen months later. Speaking of the heart-wrenching turn of events that rocked the pair, Steve explained: "Unfortunately my mum died just before my father moved – she never got up here unfortunately. "
Escape To The Country's Steve and Jenny reveal heartbreak following moveHe added: "My dad joined us but he was never the same after my mum died. We tried to give him the best life we could here but he just wasn't the same person without my mum." Steve's dad George was apparently never the same after his wife passed away despite all efforts by Jenny and Steve to make him feel comfortable and at home.
In 2021, the BBC show decided to revisit the couple to see how they were getting on with their countryside lifestyle - four years after first appearing on Escape To The Country. Led by property expert Jonnie Irwin at the time, the couple were originally shown three properties but it was the second house that generated an emotional response by Jenny.
At the time, Steve said his goal was to "give back to my parents what they gave to me when I was young." and live in a multi-generational home. And so fast-forward four years, presenter Sonali Shah headed to the country's home but soon realised they were not living in any of the properties shown to them.
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Sadly, George passed away just a few months before Sonali and the crew had a chance to visit. The couple bought a farmhouse in 2019 worth £780,000 which was £120,000 under their budget. Both Steve and Jenny inherited a barn and vast land and animals including chickens, two cows, turkeys and ducks.
Speaking about her joy at finally fulfilling her dream, she said: "I've been talking about this [lifestyle] since I was in my late 20s – wanting a smallholding, wanting a rural life. It's a relief. It's very tiring but it is very rewarding. Now we're far busier now than we ever were in the emergency services." But Steve and Jenny are unfortunately not the only couple to face tragedy, so too have Neil and Angela. The show went to revisit the couple but sadly found out that Neil had passed away in 2021, following their move.
She said: "Unfortunately, after we'd been here about two and a half years, I lost Neil, his health deteriorated and I lost him, and it was hard after that, I couldn't plan things, it was like my brain had fried. But we'd planned to do the bathroom and one day after I'd got into the shower and the door fell off for the umpteenth time, I thought, 'that's it, I've had enough, I'm going to do this bathroom!', and I was so pleased, I didn't think I could plan anything like that, so I was really pleased with it when it was finished." Angela continued: "When we went out and looked around the town and saw things that were beautiful along the riverside walk we thought, 'Oh this is lovely' and Neil being by the railway - he was in his element.”
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