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A British family's dream move to Poland has seen them swap a three-bed semi in the UK for a six-bedroom home overlooking a forest - and feeding the family at a restaurant costs as little as £12.60.

Earlier this year, Brittany Balinski, 35, along with her 44-year-old Polish husband and their four young children, relocated from north Warwickshire to Gdansk in search of a better quality of life.

The family packed up Brittany's retail business in December 2025 and sold their three-bedroom semi for £275,000 just 24 hours after it went on the market.

Now, they rent a three-storey, six-bedroom home overlooking a forest for £1,400 a month - but spend at least £150 less on bills.

Although their rent is higher than the £850 monthly mortgage they paid in the UK, Brittany says the extra space, peaceful surroundings and improved lifestyle have made the move worthwhile.

The mother-of-four viewed relocation as an obvious decision, giving her husband's declining 'quality of life' after years of working night shifts as a HGV driver.

And with Brittany's remote job and business as a content creator bringing in enough to support the family wherever they were based, it wasn't long before they began boxing up their home.

Earlier this year, Brittany Balinski, 35, along with her 44-year-old Polish husband and their four young children, relocated from north Warwickshire to Gdansk in search of a better quality of life

Gdańsk is a port city on the Baltic coast of Poland

Because Brittany's husband is Polish and their four children have dual British and Polish citizenship, moving was much easier for Brittany, who was granted a one-year D visa to stay in Poland before deciding on residency

She said: 'I've never really considered I'd make a very good immigrant. I feel very British through and through.

'My husband has worked nights the whole duration of him living in the UK. After having our fourth child and the chaos of four kids – it's like a creche – he was working really hard and I noticed a slight decline in his quality of life.'

After speaking to friends who had emigrated and were thriving abroad, including one who had settled in Sweden, Brittany began to believe a move overseas could work for her own family.

She continued: 'It was a combination of things, my husband's declining quality of life, my friends leaving and my friend who had settled in Sweden that made me turn a corner in my own mind and think "this could be us".

'We visit Poland multiple times a year, at least twice if not up to five.

'Our kids are nine, eight, six and nearly four and when I said "would you like to live in Poland?" I didn't even finish my sentence, and all the kids were like "yeah".'

Because Brittany's husband is Polish and their four children have dual British and Polish citizenship, moving was much easier for Brittany, who was granted a one-year D visa to stay in Poland before deciding on residency.

To avoid disrupting the children's school year, they rented a friend's cottage for the final 11 weeks of term time before leaving the UK.

During this time, the family travelled to Gdansk for three nights and found it 'comfortable, safe and doable' as well as landing on a school all four kids loved.

Before the big move, the family travelled to Gdansk for three nights and found it 'comfortable, safe and doable' as well as landing on a school all four kids loved

The move itself cost less than £3,000.

Brittany's husband hired a £500 van to transport larger furniture, while a courier delivered additional belongings for £1,500.

He then drove to Poland - a journey which would have taken around 19 hours in total - with the family's eldest child and their dog, while Brittany flew with the younger three children for around £700.

Brittany recalled: 'The house we owned in the UK we had lived in for 10 years and had focused on growing and raising the children and I wasn't very precious.

'We didn't have prized pieces of furniture which is the beauty of living in Poland now.

'Even though we're renting and the property is signed on for a year I feel already more settled and at home in this property than I ever did in my own house.

'Purely because I've never felt more comfortable and have really made the right decision by my children is suppose.'

Brittany says while wages in Poland are generally lower than in the UK and cars can be more expensive, many day-to-day living costs are cheaper.

She estimates diesel is around 35-40p a litre cheaper than it was in the Midlands, while the family's weekly grocery bill has fallen from £230 to around £170.

Eating out has also become significantly more affordable.

She said: 'We went to IKEA on Monday and fed six of us for £12.60 at the restaurant and it's closer to £24 in the UK.'

For now, the mother insists there is no 'long-term plan' in how long the family will stay in Poland, but added they've 'definitely made the right decision'

A typical family meal out now costs between £45 and £60, compared with £80 to £100 in Britain, while a vet consultation and prescription has fallen from around £80 to £30.

Adjusting to life in Poland has brought a few surprises, though, including a more traditional approach to paperwork.

'Poland is very old school and oldy-worldly with bills. In the UK it's ringing every company and saying "I live at this new address and I'm the new tenant".

'In Poland, no, the landlord physically has to take the new tenant to the office and swap over the paperwork.'

Brittany has since enrolled on a Polish language course three days a week and is also getting used to driving on the right-hand side of the road.

But the mother says the peaceful surroundings have already made the move feel worthwhile.

She said: 'I've lived rurally all my life yet there is no road noise, no vehicle noise. The houses are so far away from each other you can't hear anything.

'It's overlooking a lovely patch of forest, you can see all the pine trees in the distance and you can only hear the birds, it's lovely.

'Our house at home and the garden was insanely tiny [...] so it's nice to be able to breathe in nature outside.

'Yesterday we drove 20 minutes and were on the beach. It felt like a holiday but it's not, this is life now.'

For now, the mother insists there is no 'long-term plan' in how long the family will stay in Poland, but added they've 'definitely made the right decision'.

The family have been sharing updates about their move on social media, where Brittany says the response has been overwhelmingly positive despite some political comments.

She said: 'This move works for us and is doable purely because my husband is a Polish national. It has nothing to do with anything going on in the world politically or culturally.

'I can imagine it's difficult as a completely British family with no ties to Poland.

'People ask, "Why Poland?" And it's simply because we can. There aren't other countries you can move to in the blink of an eye and so cheaply as well.'