How more of us are leaving screens behind to work outdoors
Posted 5th November 2021 • Written by Katherine Latham on BBC • • • • •
David Rochefort says the pandemic made him want to do "something astronomically different" with his life.
Before coronavirus arrived, the 34-year-old worked in IT in Bristol. It was a secure, well-paid, office role, but he found that his enthusiasm was dwindling.
"My body was restless from sitting all day, but I was mentally exhausted," he says, looking back. "I became stressed and wired. I'd go to bed at 2am, and not want to get up in the morning."
When the lockdown was announced, Mr Rochefort found himself confined to his home. "Suddenly, I had no interaction with my co-workers, which I realised was the main reason I was doing the job.
"So, I quit with no plan at all... but I knew I wanted to leave the screen behind."
Realising that he would like to get a job working outdoors, Mr Rochefort started volunteering at a wetland wildlife reserve. The site in question - Slimbridge Wetland Centre in Gloucestershire - is owned and run by the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust.
After six months of working for free, while he lived off savings, he was given a paid, entry-level role as an aviculturist (someone who looks after birds). Now a year later, he says he has never looked back.
Mr Rochefort has had to take a substantial cut in pay, but he says he has never felt better. "The change to my income hasn't affected my lifestyle at all, the only differences are my improved happiness and the size of mortgage I can apply for."
The pandemic has made a great many of us think of following in Mr Rochefort's footsteps, and make a career change, as a number of studies have shown.
In the UK, three fifths of UK workers intend to switch to a different job as a result of Covid, according to a report earlier this year by insurance group Aviva.
It is a similar picture in the US, where a survey from last month said that half of all workers wanted to make a change in career. Some commentators have called it "the great resignation".
Mr Rochefort is also far from alone in wanting to switch to working in the great outdoors.
The UK's Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), which helps train the professional gardeners of the future, says that demand for its work-based training programmes has jumped 58% in 2021, the highest rate of increase for decades.
Sharnee Gardner is one such RHS horticultural apprentice, after swapping life as a professional model to become a gardener.
"I absolutely loved my modelling job - I flew [around] the world - but I was so absorbed in my work that I hardly spent time in nature anymore," says the 23-year-old.
Covid travel bans meant Ms Gardner could no longer go abroad for modelling work from her home in London, so she decided it was time for a change.
Now, Ms Gardner, who grew up in Australia, is studying horticulture at RHS site Garden Wisely in Surrey, where she spends her time cutting lawns, pruning trees and planting beds.
"Working at the RHS has given me an opportunity to slow down and appreciate my surroundings," she says. "I love watching the sunrise over the garden. It's very important to me to do something that makes me happy.
The significant decrease in wage was definitely worth it because I love what I do. But to get by, my partner and I got a flat mate, and I still do the occasional modelling job, too."
The RHS has long pointed to research that shows how gardening contributes to a person's wellbeing, lowering stress levels, and helping people feel happier and healthier.