IT’S cold, it’s miserable, and some of us aren’t expecting any Valentine’s cards, so isn’t it tempting to daydream about how much better life would be if we could leave the rat race behind and start again somewhere a little more tropical?

Ben Fogle can certainly see the appeal.

“I am one of those people who has been on holiday in the past, on a sandy beach beneath some palm trees, and wondered ‘can I not just string a hammock up there and catch some fish like the local fisherman, and live like that?’.”

In his series New Lives in the Wild, he meets the people who have turned that dream into a reality.

Of course, not everyone who wants to get away from it all is motivated by a desire to live like they’re on holiday for 52 weeks a year. “It’s quite timely that we’re in an age where we’re going into a tripledip recession, where people are financially strained, unemployment is rife, there is housing problems, and now more than ever people are looking at alternative lifestyles,” says Fogle.

This week, Fogle travels to Leyte, one of the 7,000 islands that make up the Philippines, to meet 45-year-old “Jungle Neil” Hoag, who was struggling to make a living as a Florida cabbie before finding love on the other side of the world. Now, he’s a coconut farmer with an adopted family, and appears to have ditched the American dream in favour of a new culture.

However, as Fogle discovers, Hoag’s new home wouldn’t be everyone’s idea of a tropical paradise. The farmer and his young family live in a bamboo house surrounded by a harsh and unforgiving environment.

While lesser presenters may have retreated to the nearest five-star hotel, Fogle throws himself into his host’s way of life, even slaughtering a pig and doing the island’s version of the school run.

He tries to find out why Hoag, a complicated man with a troubled past, chose to settle in the jungle – and whether his new existence really is less stressful.

After all, Fogle believes that even if you are not worrying about wi-fi connections and the daily commute, it doesn’t mean you won’t find something else to fret about.

“The big question of the series is ‘Is life ever simple?’ You may avoid some of those financial worries, but it’s human nature to worry; are you going to have enough warmth, fresh drinking water, fresh food, and can you buy school books for your children?”