Devon is the star of new reality TV show The Simpler Life

Devon is the focus of new Channel 4 reality show in which contestants are shut away from modern society for the summer  

Is modern life bad for us? A major new six-part Channel 4 series, The Simpler 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. And it was all filmed on a farmstead in Shebbear, North Devon. 

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 humbler existence. 

The project will be overseen by world renowned psychologist, Barry Schwartz who, in his bestselling book, The Paradox of Choice, argued that rather than bringing us happiness, the choices available to us in modern life only make us feel more stressed and that too much choice makes us unhappy. 

Filmed over a six-month period, a team of British scientists will monitor and evaluate changes in the wellbeing of the community across the filming period – both on the farm and when they return to their normal, modern lives. Will there be a positive impact on the mental and physical health of those taking part or is there a desperate need to get back to their consumerist packed lifestyles? 

The Simpler Life offers a world where manual labour is central, a world in tune with the environment and a world based on valuing the person within – one based entirely on community and not focussed solely on our own needs. 

In the first episode, the 21st century volunteers are touched by the beauty of the landscape, the darkness of the night and the satisfaction of honest physical toil. but this new simpler life is also one in which they can’t eat what they are used to, and have to make do from an Amish style larder that is lined with tins of spam and lentils.    

Head of nursing Andrew and publicist Joseph try to police the very limited budget so stocks and reserves don’t diminish too quickly but former footballers’ PA Penny makes it clear there’s only so much pasta she and her two daughters can eat and ex-soldier Toby finds himself enjoying catching fish much more than spending time with others in the community. 

As the first two weeks living a simpler Amish life comes to an end, it’s clear that the new frugal way of living is seriously stretching the patience of the new community. When the door opens on an empty room in the farmhouse, does it mean it’s already too much one for one of them?   

In the second episode, former footballers’ PA Penny continues to find Amish frugality extremely testing and to make matters more trying, the workload has increased for everyone.  With numbers dwindling, there is increased pressure on the volunteers who remain. Not only do they have a farm to run, they also have a barn to build. 

Special needs teacher Hazel has one thing on the brain that she feels could change her mood and improve her quality of life dramatically but it’s not very Amish – she’s desperate for the occasional beer.  

The volunteers argue over whether this is a reasonable use of their very limited community fund and a subsequent proposal to split the fund into individual pots leaves the community more divided than before. It’s down to Wigan boy Kevin to rise to the occasion, and in a rousing speech, he brings everyone together…or almost everyone. 

• The Simpler Life starts on Tuesday, March 22, 2022, at 9.15pm on Channel 4.