Tam Johnston and Darcie the Cavapoochon
(Picture: Handout)Today Tam Johnston’s daily routine is a happy blur of dog walks along the beach, remote working from home, and socialising with friends in one of Britain’s most vibrant small cities.
Which is a far cry from her fraught, frenetic life back in London.
Tam moved to the capital to train as a nurse when she was 17, and never returned to her hometown of Chichester, West Sussex. Instead she concentrated on building up her career, rising up the ranks to become matron of the accident and emergency department at Charing Cross Hospital.
Predictably, this high-pressure role took a toll. “I got a classic case of complete burnout,” said Tam, 47. “It got to the point where I just couldn’t do it anymore. After about two years of recovery I retrained as a therapist in mental health and set up my own practice.”
Tam also bought a flat — a one-bedroom apartment overlooking a busy road in Hammersmith.
“The problem was that it was miles from work and miles from my friends,” she said. “I felt very isolated. And I had always said that if it wasn’t for my job I’d love to move to Brighton, which I just loved.”
During the pandemic Tam’s work shifted online (www.tamjohnston.com). Suddenly the main barrier to leaving the capital had evaporated. After toying with the idea of moving within London to a more central flat with a garden — and realising she couldn’t afford to live in an area she really liked — she shifted her search to the south coast.
“It was a revelation,” she said. “Brighton is really expensive, but I could just about afford to buy a two-bedroom flat with a garden in a really nice area.”
In November 2021 Tam sold her one-bedroom flat for £375,000 and paid £425,000 for a two-bedroom garden flat in Brunswick, just west of Brighton beach.
In May 2022 she achieved a long-term dream and bought a dog, Darcie, a Cavapoochon (part Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, part bichon frise and part poodle).
Work and Darcie keep her busy, and luckily Tam already had some friends locally. “It has been amazing,” she said. “Brighton is the most friendly place I have ever been — people remember you and stop to chat. It has a real sense of community, completely different from the sense of isolation that I felt in London.”
