For the Summer of 2021, Libbear Barton became home to Channel 4’s hit reality TV programme, The Simpler Life. In May 2021, production company, Five Mile Films, descended on the farm stripping it of every modern luxury including lights, sockets and appliances in prepperation for the arrival of one Amish family from Ohio and 24 Brits ready for a simpler way of life.

Their challenge was to live like the Amish without technology and completely self-sufficiently for the next 5 months. Skills like veg growing, animal husbandry, bee keeping and washing by hand were quickly learnt. By the end, the remaining members had a life transforming experience that they will never forget. You can watch it all on All 4 here. https://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-simpler-life

Is modern life bad for us? A major new six-part Channel 4 series, The Simple Life will explore this question, following 24 Brits as they come together to live by the rules of a community who chose to disregard the majority of modern values – the Amish.

The 24 contributors include a social media content creator, a Norfolk rapper, a former soldier, twin brothers from South London and a gay couple – one of whom is head of nursing operations across three NHS hospitals and the other an ex-army media – with their two adopted children. They will be joined in an idyllic countryside backdrop by an Amish family of five from Ohio, home to the largest Amish community in the world.

The community will live off-grid on a 40-acre farm complete with a lake and a wood but without their phones, any form of technology, mains electricity or gas. They will be required to raise a barn and build a pig ark for the impending arrival of their livestock in addition to harvesting over three acres of hay – all in the traditional Amish way, without mechanisation. The community will also need to travel into the local town via horse and cart for supplies and to trade or sell results of the cottage industries they have started. The Amish family will offer the community advice on the day-to-day lifestyle as well as guidance on how to live simply – and ultimately how to find happiness with a more humble existence.