A woman who moved to Mauritius for a "better lifestyle" says it allows her to be a stay-at-home mum which she could "never afford" in the UK."

Annabel Fenwick Elliott, 37, didn't want to put her son Jasper, two, in day care and had become self-employed so she could be more present for him.

The mum-of-one moved her family to Mauritius as her German-born husband, Julius Scholtes, 31, couldn't get a visa in the UK.

But the family fell in love with the lifestyle and pay a similar price for a four bedroom house with a pool as Annabel did for her "tiny" studio flat in London."

It enables her to stay at home with her son while working flexibly and she now couldn't see herself moving back to the UK.

Annabel, a freelance journalist, living in Poste de Flacq, Mauritius, said: "I do not live in the UK because I want to be a stay-at-home mum and I could never afford that if I lived in the UK."

"I don't think you can have a good life in the UK unless you have a substantial amount of money."

"You need so much to live in a decent house."

"I'd have to win the lottery to move back."

Annabel had been living in a studio flat in London - which cost her £1,200 in mortgage and bills - before she decided to go freelance after the pandemic.

She said: "I did love my job."

"I wanted to work from home and have a kid."

Annabel moved out to stay with a friend in Essex after giving birth Jasper and had "initially wanted to settle in the UK"."

But she had to move abroad when her husband, Julius, a helicopter pilot, was unable to get a UK visa despite having a British-born son.

She said: "We wanted a better lifestyle for our family."

The family originally moved to Iceland in 2022 before moving to Mauritius in September 2023 for a job.

But the couple fell in love with the lifestyle and found themselves living in a four bed house with a sea view, gardener and cleaner - for a similar cost to Annabel's London flat.

Annabel said: "It's a big big house. I never thought I'd be able to live somewhere like this."

"In England this would be more than a £1m house."

"Everything is so much cheaper."

Annabel says the average price of 900 square foot furnished house in an expensive expat area is about £800 per month, or £490 in a "normal local area". "

The cheap cost of living means she can afford to stay at home with Jasper - and work from home, while still renting out her studio flat in London.

She said: "I didn't want to have to put Jasper in day care."

"All my friends had to put their babies in cay care at nine or 10 months old."

"The concept of working full time when you don't want to be away from your baby - just to afford to bring them up - is wrong. "

"I would have had such mum guilt."

Annabel decided against putting Jasper into nursery but said it only cost £150-a-month - compared to the average £290.77 weekly price in the UK for full-time nursery for a two-year-old.

The mum also gets to be outside with her son for lots of the day.

She said: "It's always warm."

"We go to the beach every day."

"We have a pool - which is so insane."

She said locally sourced food it cheap, petrol is just £1 a litre, a monthly unlimited phone data is £6 per month and cleaning services are £3 per hour.

Annabel feels being able to afford to bring up a baby "shouldn't be too much to ask"."

She said: "I don't see how we could have a good lifestyle in the the UK."

"I feel so lucky."