Family's life on remote Scottish island where ordering a takeaway curry takes seven hours

A family who swapped the rat race for life on one of Britain's most remote inhabited islands have revealed how getting an Indian takeaway can involve a seven-hour journey by ferry.

Katy Phenix, 33, her partner Josh Moore, 35, and their children have moved to Fair Isle, between Orkney and Shetland, where around 50 people live and birds vastly outnumber residents.

The family left their three-bedroom new-build home in Redcar, North Yorkshire, after deciding their demanding working lives were leaving them with too little time together.

Now they are renting a five-bedroom house with 17 acres of land and five outbuildings from the National Trust for Scotland, having relocated in July after a rigorous application and interview process.

The couple applied in March 2026 after Katy spotted an Instagram advert inviting people to live and work on the island. Neither had visited before, but four months later they were making the move with their children, Hetty, six, and Teddy, 11, three dogs and four cats.

And while they have embraced their new lifestyle, there are some mainland comforts they still miss.

Katy explained that ordering an Indian takeaway involves placing an order around midday, arranging for a taxi to collect it and getting it aboard the ferry from Shetland. Once it reaches Fair Isle, the family can heat it up for dinner.

The seven-hour operation is a far cry from ordering food on a smartphone and having it delivered to the door.

But for Katy, an early years practitioner, and electrician Josh, the trade-off has been more than worthwhile.

"We had a really large mortgage in England but now pay peanuts in comparison to live in one of the most beautiful areas of the UK," Katy said.

"It feels like we've won the lottery. I don't think you could get a bigger change of lifestyle – but as a family we are all loving it."

The couple had previously worked long 12-hour days, leaving them feeling like "passing ships in the night".

Now Katy works around four hours a day, Monday to Friday, while Josh has found plenty of work as the island's resident handyman.

Their children have also settled in quickly, helped by the fact that a six-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy already live on the island.

Teddy spends his time fishing, mushrooming and building contraptions out of wood, while animal-loving Hetty helps with the family's hens and sheep.

The family have also taken on the challenge of crofting, learning to manage 30 sheep and a ram with help from the previous tenants.

Life on Fair Isle requires careful planning. Deliveries depend on the weather, and jobs that might take minutes on the mainland can stretch into weeks when supplies cannot arrive.

The island has a shop open four days a week, a post office and a summer pub at its bird observatory. A nurse provides local healthcare, with helicopter transfers available for emergencies.

For Katy, however, the biggest change is not the scenery or the slower pace, but the extra time she has with her children.

She recalled how Teddy once told her she was "so much nicer in the school holidays", a throwaway remark that stayed with her.

"This has just given us that time to breathe and be as a family," she said. "We do everything together and that's made it totally worth it."