"After living in London for two years, I was in need of a break from the seriousness of life in the capital," she added.
"For young families especially, the chance to raise a family in a safe, out-of-doors, sporty country, where your income allows you a more enjoyable standard of living is very attractive."
The old settler colonies of Australia and New Zealand promise a warmer climate, open landscapes and relaxed lifestyle -- without requiring new arrivals to learn a foreign language.
In addition, a shortage of skilled labour and ageing populations have prompted both countries to recruit abroad.
"I know as many Brits as Kiwis (New Zealanders)," said Butt. "As a skilled migrant -- a nurse -- New Zealand immigration are very welcoming to applications for residency, so it's not really a surprise that I work with so many Brits."
LA BELLE VIE
And while rising numbers of eastern and central Europeans are coming to live in Britain -- 92,000 arrived in 2006, of which three-quarters were Polish -- more Britons are moving to Europe, also taking advantage of European Union freedoms.
Spain and France are the top EU destinations, promising cheap wine, a relaxed lifestyle and warmer weather.
A spate of television programmes and newspaper columns on travel, life abroad and property restoration has promoted the idyllic vision of leaving polluted, stressful British cities and investing in a French vineyard or Spanish villa.
"Far more families are coming over here to settle here now, lured by low-cost travel but also by the numerous TV features and other stories in the British press which have jumped on the bandwagon of selling Brits the 'French dream'," said Miranda Neames, editor of French News, an English-language monthly newspaper for Francophiles.
Helen Thorpe, who moved to a country house in southern France a year ago, said she now grows her own fruit and vegetables and shops at the local market.
"A lot of English people come here because it is rather like the England of say 25 years ago; seemingly less crime, people having more time for each other," she said. Also, "the plot is much larger than we would have been able to afford in Britain."
But the dream of escape does not always work out, and many Britons eventually return.
"Many find out sooner or later that the climate's definitely better but the life isn't necessarily more relaxed especially when the language barrier takes its toll," said Lucy Brown, of Spanish-living.com, a Web site aimed at English-speaking expats.
"I hear of just as many people returning to the UK because they can't cope with the Spanish system, can't find work, life is much more difficult than they imagined or they miss family, friends," said Brown, who lives in Marbella.
In Anne Darwin's case, it was having a living husband after all -- who was missing his sons -- that put paid to the dream of a new life.
