A British man revealed why he quit a successful job that he loved and chose a remote life in the Portuguese mountains as Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild returns to Channel 5 tonight.
Alex, 39, bought 35 acres of land for £100,000 in the region of Castelo Branco, in the deserted mountains of Portugal, where it is believed civilians took refuge during the Salazar dictatorship of 1932 to 1968.
Alex held an excellent position for 16 years in a job he enjoyed and for whom he had respect for his boss. He was tired of working long hours, and his friend committed suicide in 2013, so he decided to leave the job and move to England in search for a better way of living.
A derelict farm, without running water or electricity and filled with wasps’ nets, was purchased by him two years back. Now, he and his dog live on his British savings and the proceeds from the sale of his British property.
Alex shared his story with Ben Fogle tonight on Channel 5’s Adventure Show at 9pm.
Alex, now nearing forty, hopes to find peace in Portugal. He lives with Hira who is a Portuguese dominatrix, before she was injured in a car accident. She then moved to India seven years ago and returned as a spiritual healer.
Alex is assisted by Hira who believes Hira belonged to an Alien Civilisation on another planet. They brought Hira here to help them’seed their kind’ into the human world.
As Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild returns to Channel 5 tonight, Ben meets Alex, left, a 39-year-old Brit who left a successful job to move to Castelo Branco, in Portugal
Alex explained to Ben why he chose the UK for his position and, in particular, his work in retail.
“I ran the business.” He said that he was the manager of the training division, regional manager, and the manager for retail operations. Then he was head of retail.
He explained that although it was an enormous job, it allowed him to pursue what he loved.
‘I love being creative, I love people. “And my boss. He is such a caring and loving man. I was inspired to pass on his legacy.
Alex sold his house in the UK and bought a derelict farm and 35 acres of land for £100,000 in 2019. Since then, Alex has been staying here and is currently renovating the farm.
Alex eventually became tired of all the demands of his job.
“It took 120 hours a week, non-stop. I was never home and always went. He stated that 45,000 miles is equivalent to twice rounding the globe in a single year.
Alex became even more motivated after a friend lost their life.
“Someone very close to me realized that they were having a lot of problems in their lives and it was getting very difficult for them. They decided to live their lives. It really transformed me,” he said to Ben.
“This person was very significant in my life, and it meant a lot to me. It was beyond what I could ever have imagined.
Alex was forced to review his life after the news.
I couldn’t understand the world. The 16 year job that I did had changed. He stated, “I couldn’t make sense of the world. It was hard to move around in the shop and change jackets, tell people about my life.
“I made a decision to make a change in my life. I wanted to be more productive and to enjoy the world.
To do so, he left his job to sell the home he bought with company shares.
I have enough money left over to make ends meet and still be able to survive. His costs aren’t too high, and he doesn’t have to pay much,’ he said to Ben. He also admitted that he wouldn’t be able live this way without his savings.
He said, “I worked hard and I love my job, but this was the reward at end.”
However, the 39-yearold doesn’t actually farm the land on which he lives but allows his neighbour, an 83 year-old, to use the same field as his goats. This is in return for friendly conversations, tips and fresh goat cheese.
Alex stated to Ben that he would do less work and provide more food.
Alex is a farmer and tends the land, but he spends much of his free time resting and enjoying the natural world. He jokes about living a “hippie dippy” lifestyle.
Alex is a dog-owner who moved in with his friends. In 2013, Alex was forced to reconsider his job after he lost a close friend. Alex decided to cut down on his work hours to “actually enjoy” the world.
However, the British man acknowledged that his life was not always easy. He had a difficult childhood which still haunts him.
He said that his parents had split when he turned eight years old and that he lived in the home of his mother who was an alcoholic.
His mother had a partner who scared him and he wasn’t happy being with the ‘family he didn’t choose’
Alex explained to Ben how the home’s ‘dynamic’ made him unhappy and how he tried to’remove’ himself. Instead, he spent more time at his father’s house ten doors away.
He stated that he has ‘bad childhood memories’ and was terrified by his stepfather.
He said, “Everytime he moved, slammed on a door or opened it, I would jump.”
“My mother was an alcoholic, and so she used to fight aggressively when they were playing. She said that tickling is more like hitting than tickling, but she did not know it was alcohol.
Alex said that Alex’s mother would put him in a room for failing to do his homework. She’d also throw him out of the house occasionally.
He told how returning to school, he would find all his belongings scattered on the roads.
Alex stated that the relationship between them improved tremendously after Alex’s mother stopped drinking.
She said that she was an alcoholic, and had stopped drinking. After becoming a grandmother, it was quite a change.
‘She dropped all the b*******, all the drinking and she became the loveliest woman you can imagine,’ he added.
“She also became ill with the cancer at that time. It changes everything.
‘Eight months later she died. Your mum is your only world. His mother’s death…as you can see, really affected me,” he stated.
Ben expressed shock at the exchange and felt that Alex needed to be helped.
The presenter stated, “I don’t believe I have ever met anyone who needed a therapist more than I do,”
Ben stated, “It is all very fine, coming to an beautiful place like that to seek the nature’s healing, but he realizes also that he has more to it,”
Ben heard from the retail worker who became a hermit that his childhood was complicated by an abusive stepfather, an alcoholic mother, and a long history of abuse.
“The world is complicated at the moment and Alex finds himself alone here,” he stated, adding that it felt like Alex was “stranded in paradise.”
Alex lives in remote areas, but is still connected to the outside world.
Hira has been with him at the farm, and he wants it to be a retreat center.
Both said they were not together and Hira indicated that she had been celibate for the last three years.
Portuguese-speaking Hira worked for 11 years as a dominatrix before suddenly quitting in 2010. She was involved in an accident that resulted in the death of one person and she was charged with voluntary manslaughter.
Hira was eventually released after spending ten days in prison. She was given a suspended sentence because it was determined that she wasn’t responsible for the death of another person.
Hira fled the US after the legal proceedings and settled in India where she lived for seven years. There, she was able to learn about spiritual healing.
Ben heard her describe how she learned new spiritual practices through her doinatrix.
She said that the work she did with them helped her to improve my understanding of the body.
She added that “They always say you must travel to darkness in order to reach the light.”
Hira was allowed to try sound therapy during Ben’s stay. As he lay on the ground, the healer made sounds using pots.
He politely admitted to Hira that he felt like the experiment had brought him back to childhood. However, he said to the camera that it wasn’t a deep experience and that spiritual healing wasn’t his thing.
Alex however stated that he loves going to spiritual exercises and Hira. She also told Ben that she believes Alex came from an “Alien” planet, which sent him’seed persons’ to the Earth in order for it to be populated.
Ben was stunned to learn Alex’s story. He had never known anyone needing therapy more than Alex.
Ben, who was on a trip to Alex, was shocked by the desert climate of the mountains where the temperatures can exceed 40 degrees in summer.
Alex shared with him that Alex moved to the farm 2 years ago after falling in love and purchasing the property.
While he acknowledged that the 35 acres were more expensive than houses in the UK, they still came at a lower cost than those of a UK house.
Alex informed Ben that there were no doors, windows or roofs when he first moved in to the farm. The rain also pierced the structure.
The façade was also covered with low-hanging branches full of wasps’ nest and hornets’ nests.
He said that he couldn’t get in the building and was afraid of bees.
The farm was without electricity or running water. However, it now has solar panels and a water tap that is fed by water from nearby streams.
He used recycled materials as well as furniture pieces he found in trash to renovate the home.
In total, he estimated that the renovations cost him £2,000, and said he kept things cheap by relying on items that had been thrown away by others.
Alex liked this simple lifestyle because he can be free to choose his own rules and live in freedom.
Channel 5’s Ben Fogle airs Tonight, 9p: New Lives in the Wild