In our experience
Will these women’s fresh starts inspire you to make that move you’ve been dreaming of?
‘I FOLLOWED MY HEART’
Kim Scolding, 57, moved from Cardiff to Tuscany, where she lives in an old farmhouse and runs a wine business on the I Cipressi vineyard.
If anyone had told me five years ago that by my mid-50s I’d be divorced, living in Tuscany and running a wine-making business, I’d have laughed. My ex-husband and I were both GPs, together since medical school. We had a lovely home near Cardiff, a great social life and wonderful holidays.
We’d been to Italy many times and thought about retiring there in our 60s. In 2017, we were holidaying in Tuscany, and browsing property websites, as you do. I spotted a beautiful old farmhouse with its own vineyard, just 10 minutes up the road.
On a whim, we booked a viewing. From the moment we stepped through the door, it felt like home. The house had 2.5 hectares of mature vineyard, olive trees and views over a valley.
Although it needed work, I fell in love with it on the spot. Back home, I’d been finding my job increasingly stressful. The thought of starting a new life running a small wine business felt like an exciting adventure.
Giving up our careers, leaving friends and family behind and uprooting our three dogs was a big deal. Besides, we knew absolutely nothing about wine production.
But, we reasoned, why not try something new while we were young enough to enjoy it? We put in an offer, took Italian lessons and went on an intensive wine-making course. The sale went through in December 2018. In March the following year, we moved there with the dogs.
At first, I handled the admin and looked after the vineyard, while my ex returned to Cardiff to finish working and selling the house. He didn’t come out again for three months. It was lonely and the physical work – pruning in the 34-degree heat – was punishing. But I knew I didn’t want to go back to my previous life.
My ex came out a few times, but I started to realise that something had changed. Looking back, I can see there were already problems in our marriage, but I’d put them down to the stress of our jobs. In September 2019, we broke up.
The future seemed terrifying. What would I do for money? We had planned to use the proceeds from the Cardiff house to renovate and build the new business, but my ex got the house in the divorce settlement, while I kept the property in Italy, as they were roughly equivalent in value.
I started selling the grapes rather than launching into wine production, which meant running at a loss. During lockdown, I was more isolated than ever. In 2020, I lost one of my beloved dogs, then la
