The ‘swallows’ who escape the grim British winter and soaring energy bills for homes in sunnier climates. Here’s how YOU can do it too – and where to go for £50 monthly electricity bills, £1.50 meals and no council tax

The days are getting shorter and the weather has turned cold. After the long, hot summer it has been especially hard to stomach the sudden transition into five months of dark, damp days and, thanks to El Nino (the weather phenomenon), probably a lot of flooding.

Instead of staying in South East England to endure Storms Austen and Boelo, which lashed the UK last month, Elizabeth Macleod took her own grab bag of essentials and headed off for a winter of sun in Cyprus, where it’s currently a balmy 24C.

‘I swim every day as it’s great for my arthritis,’ says the great-grandmother. The 88-year-old, from Dorking in Surrey, decamps every winter to her holiday home in Ozankoy, a village on the northern coast of Cyprus. 

She will make a brief return to the UK for Christmas, which she loves spending with her large family: three children and their partners, eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

‘I came out [to Cyprus] at the beginning of October and will be here from February until May,’ she says.

Elizabeth is one of a lucky group of people – also known as ‘swallows’ – who travel to sunnier climes closer to the Equator because they are retired or are able to escape the strictures of nine-to-five office life by working remotely.

This year they will avoid the worst of the soaring energy bills set to hit millions of homes by leaving the UK at the very time most households are cranking up the heating. The UK has some of the steepest bills of developed countries, so the saving is not insubstantial.

The average annual bill for ‘medium’ use could reach £2,000 this winter. The energy cap rose by £246 between April and October and is predicted to jump by another £350 in January, according to Energy UK.

Chancellor John Healey announced many would receive a £100 Household Energy Payment during his Autumn Budget last month. However, this will barely make a dent in the cost of heating your home.

Stubborn inflation has continued to push up the cost of living. Households have £176 less left over each month than they did last year, according to data from comparison website MoneySuperMarket, as incomes stagnate while outgoings rise.

So, it comes as little surprise that many choose to spend a month or two in a warmer spot where the cost of living is cheaper.

Rising property costs in Spain and the Brexit 90-day rule, which limits how long you can stay in the European Union for, have deterred some from traditional ‘winter sun’ destinations such as the Canaries or Costa Blanca. Many are now looking further afield, and find that their pounds stretch refreshingly far.

‘My car hire in Cyprus costs just £17 a day’

Elizabeth has had a holiday home in Northern Cyprus since 1972, when her first husband was posted at the Army base of Dhekelia and they bought a house for £400.

Her current property (bought with her late second husband) features a three-bedroom house covered in tumbling bougainvillea, as well as a one-bed annexe in the garden and a swimming pool.

Running the home is very affordable, says Elizabeth. In the absence of council tax, there’s just a low annual property tax – £100 to £150 per year for a house. Elizabeth covers her electricity and pool cleaning bills by renting out her home to tourists through Airbnb for a few weeks a year, when it’s too hot for her and her family do not wish to use it.

‘The cost of food here is very low,’ says Elizabeth, who previously worked in human resources and has been a local councillor. Buying items with the Turkish lira in northern Cyprus tends to make things more affordable than using euros in the south, she explains.

‘I pay 50p for a loaf of bread, £2 for a coffee in a cafe and £15 for a three-course meal in a taverna,’ she says. ‘I’ve made a lot of friends here, from the UK, Norway, Germany and France, so we entertain at each other’s houses. I hire a car for only £17 per day.’

Having lived in London’s Little Venice, Beaconsfield and Chipping Norton, her UK base for the past two years has been a two-bedroom flat at Pegasus Homes’ Taylor Place in Dorking. She says it is the ideal ‘lock and go’ for her long stays in Cyprus. While she would not disclose how much her flat at home is worth, Pegasus Homes’ apartments cost from £275,000.

Elizabeth is able to travel light with a cabin bag as she leaves everything she needs for her Cypriot stays locked up at her home. However, she admits it’s a bit of a journey to reach Ozankoy, as she cannot fly direct from the UK to Northern Cyprus, but must fly via Turkey.

She takes a flight from Gatwick via Istanbul into Ercan International Airport in Northern Nicosia, taking advantage of Turkish Airlines’ special assistance service through the transfer. It’s then a half-hour drive from Nicosia, she says.

‘It’s paradise so worth the journey. I love the climate, history and geography of the island.’

‘In Mexico I pay £50 a month for my electricity bills’

Caroline Donaghue sets off to Tulum on Mexico’s Caribbean coast every winter where she can work remotely while enjoying the beautiful beaches and warm weather.

‘I can spend beautiful mornings on the beach or walking in the jungle rather than grey, wet weather in the UK, the lifestyle is very relaxed,’ says the 46-year-old embodiment coach, who uses the body – including posture, breathing and movement – to help coach clients towards personal growth, emotional regulation and behavioural change. She does online consultations mostly with women based in the UK.

While she’s away, Caroline rents out her one-bedroom Chelsea Bridge Wharf apartment in south-west London and rents herself a fully serviced ‘Miami style’ penthouse in Tulum with rooftop pool, bar, gym and co-working space for just £1,200 a month.

With the average prime central London one-bed apartment renting for £2,300 to £3,100 a month, according to Rightmove, it’s not surprising she is amazed at ‘the quality’ she can afford in Tulum for less than half the cost.

This will be her third winter in Mexico, where she will spend October to December – like Elizabeth she likes to come back to the UK for Christmas with her family – and then stays from January through to the Spring.

Tulum is famed for its wellness culture, where stressed city-dwellers arrive to decompress.

‘I come here as there’s a big community of digital nomads and entrepreneurs here, with everyone focused on their well-being,’ she says.

Tulum is amongst the most expensive coastal resorts in Mexico, yet Caroline ends up spending a lot less money than in London.

‘My electric bill is only around £50 a month, compared to £170 in Battersea. On Sundays I might go for lunch at the beach for £25, instead of a roast at my local pub which costs at least twice as much. Living outdoors and walking everywhere makes life much more affordable.’

Groceries cost less than half as much in Tulum as in London, according to data firm Numbeo.

Missing friends from London is a downside but some come out to visit.

‘In India I pay just £5 a day for food’

Forget a flat in Spain or a timeshare in the Algarve, winters for Jane Shaker, 72, are spent in Kerala on India’s Malabar Coast. It started 15 years ago, when her youngest child left home, and now the former model and secretary has a flat where she spends three months every winter.

‘The biggest attraction of spending winter in India is escaping the dark, gloomy weather in the UK. I find that the British winter can drag on endlessly, so being able to spend those months somewhere warm and sunny is fantastic. It’s almost like having summer all year round!’

Jane, who has been divorced since 1999 and has four sons, first discovered her love for India when she went on holiday with a friend.

‘I’ve been all over India and prefer the south,’ she says of the greener, tropical area of waterways and tea plantations that is much calmer than the vast cities of the north and west.

‘I’d heard about an ashram [a spiritual retreat and communal living space that is traditional to India] associated with Amma, the ‘hugging saint’, and decided to visit. It’s in Kollam, right by the sea and has a wonderful atmosphere, with people from all over the world.’

Jane loved it so much she bought a flat. Foreigners are only allowed to buy property in Kerala under special conditions. ‘Because it is part of the ashram, I got permission,’ she says of the studio apartment that cost her $10,000 when she bought it.

‘They cost around $30,000 (£22,268) now.’ She is not allowed to sell it on under the rules of the community but can leave it to her sons.

Another key condition of ownership is that she must let other volunteers stay when she is not there – the 2,000-strong community is a mix of ashram visitors, students (there is a school and university on site too) – and she has to do two hours of volunteering each day.

‘I help with the charity shop, kitchens, bakery or sewing. I’ve taught Indian students to swim, which has been a lovely experience,’ she says.

Jane also does yoga at sunrise, or the martial art of tai chi, and has friends from London out to visit, for sightseeing, or weekends at the beach resorts of Kovalam and Varkala. ‘It costs only about £1.50 to take the train.’

She feels very safe there but always travels as part of a group. Because she has no accommodation costs, Kerala is ‘very affordable’, she says. ‘I fly to Dubai and then take another flight to Kochi, from which I have a driver for only £30 a day. I fill the car with groceries for my stay on the way to my flat, three and a half hours away.

‘It’s very cheap to eat in India. A huge bag of vegetables and fruit is less than £1. There’s a western cafe at the ashram – £1.50 for a meal.

‘The Indian food is included in your accommodation but it’s too hot for me! I spend around £5 a day if I cook for myself.’

Every year, Jane heads to India for December through to March and has a five-year visa that allows her to spend up to six months in the country each year.

‘We always have our family Christmas a month early. It means I get to spend it with my two grandchildren,’ she says.

Last year, it was held in the private dining room in her retirement development, Audley Coopers Hill in Egham, Surrey, where she has a three-bedroom flat.

‘I play a lot of tennis and enjoy the health club there. It’s also the perfect lock-and-go place for all my travels.’

‘I certainly don’t feel that getting older should mean slowing down or giving up the things you love.’