A couple who bragged about quitting the rat race to raise their children in a rural field have been ordered to pack up parts of their countryside dream - after falling foul of town hall planners.

In 2020, Thomas and Jenny Jackson proudly told how they had abandoned their careers to give their children a taste of the Good Life on a 13-acre plot in rural Somerset.

The land, dubbed Hazelwood Farm but more formally known on council records as Plot 0096, contained an outdoor kitchen, bar and lounge area with a straw sofa.

Thomas, 48, and Jenny, 47, planted fruit and vegetables, apples for cider, grapes for wine and hops for beer - and set up a 'forest school' for local children.

Their attempts for a simpler existence on land north of Bath came to be featured on Channel 4's Britain's Best Parents.

Now, however, their rural idyll has collided with the intransigence of local council planners.

Officials at Bath and North East Somerset Council launched enforcement action in 2024 claiming the family had no permission to use designated agricultural land for 'residential' and 'leisure' purposes.

Planners objected to the family siting a caravan, erecting outbuildings, installing a pond and erecting play equipment for their children.

A Government inspector this month dismissed the family's appeals against the enforcement notice - leaving them with four months to remove the unauthorised structures and clear the land of debris.

The ruling is a dramatic reversal for the couple, who once said they had no regrets about swapping the daily grind for open fields, fire-cooking and self-sufficiency.

Mr Jackson, then 42, and Mrs Jackson, then 41, sold their house in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, after leaving jobs as a corporate sales account manager and a teacher.

They bought the plot near Bath and rented a home eight miles away in their old town.

At the time, Mr Jackson said: 'It was something we had thought about for a while and one day we just decided to go for it.

'Some people might think we are a bit bonkers or crazy but the kids are the perfect age to enjoy it too and we just thought it would be madness not to have given them this experience when we could.

'They are always outside digging holes, cooking on the fire and climbing trees rather than inside on computers all day and they love it as much as we do. Life's for living and I don't miss the daily grind at all.

'Yes, our income has decreased by around 50 per cent but we save money in so many other ways like upcycling, making our own furniture, growing our own food and brewing our own beer.

'There are no coffees on the way into work and we have saved so much money on cinema visits and meals out. It really is the simple life but we love it and so do the kids.

'We had to sell our house and we rent a house now but to be honest we are enjoying having no mortgage. We used the money to buy land and that's how we hope to make some money back in the future.'

While the family did not live on the land full-time, Mr Jackson worked to sell charcoal and hazelnuts for oil, as well as doing occasional consultancy work.

The council argued charcoal production amounted to an unlawful change of use and that no planning permission had been sought.

The couple claimed that their charcoal and biochar - a form of charcoal made by heating organic material - were made from their own woodland and formed part of a woodland management plan.

They also claimed their work aligned with Government-backed schemes.

But planning inspector Siobhan Watson found the Jacksons had not proved the disputed activities could be considered lawful.

A large charcoal kiln on the site was described as being of 'industrial proportions'.

The Jacksons said a caravan on the land was used as a welfare unit for workers, providing shelter, rest and sanitation.

But the inspector said there was no substantive evidence of agricultural workers, their roles, hours or why the caravan was needed for such use.

Council photographs showed beds made up inside the caravan.

The couple said overnight stays were linked to night-time charcoal making, but the inspector said they had not explained why sleeping there was necessary.

The family's previous publicity was also used in the case.

The inspector referred to an earlier Daily Mail article which told how children's play equipment, including a tree house, tyre swing, football goals, trampoline and pizza oven were built on the land.

The Jacksons said the equipment was there to keep their children amused as they worked.

Mrs Watson ruled: 'The council also says that there were dens, picnic tables and an outside toilet.

'The appellants do not dispute that these were in existence when the notice was served and that some of them are still on the land.

'However, they say that the equipment was there to amuse the children when the parents were working on the land. Nevertheless, play equipment is not agricultural regardless of when the children were using it.'

The couple also failed to prove that a woodland shed had planning permission.

They accepted they had created a pond, saying it supported biodiversity and environmental sustainability.

But the inspector said they had not shown it was agricultural or forestry-related and ordered it to be filled in and covered with grass.

When approached Mr Jackson declined to comment, other than to say he was considering 'my next moves'.