EVA zu Beck, 34, is a content creator and lives in Poland.

Today she opens up on how she quit her comfortable life in London to live live off-grid in the Polish mountains with no electricity – and why she’s now happier than ever.

Eva zu Beck has found joy in the mountains

Eva, above at the tent she calls home, swapped her high-flying life in London for a remote one in the Polish mountains

“Lowering myself into the outdoor bath, filled with freezing water from a nearby spring, I sighed with satisfaction.

The old me would have been horrified, but after swapping my high-flying life in London for a tent in the Polish mountains, this was now my idea of perfection.

I’ve been living this way since 2024, with just my German shepherd Vilk for company.

I sleep on a straw mat in my canvas tent, chop wood for my fire and use an outdoor toilet I dug myself.

There’s no electricity, so I cook meals like veg and potatoes over the fire, use solar power for light and charge my devices on a portable power station.

In winter, temperatures drop below -20°C and it snows heavily – but I’m still happier than ever.

Born in Poland, I moved to the UK with my mother when I was 12, and we lived in a three-bedroom house in Maidenhead.

After graduating from university in 2013, I moved to London to work as an editorial director for a travel company.

Life was busy and fun – I loved to party with my boyfriend in cocktail bars, eat in fancy restaurants and buy designer clothes.

We married in 2016, but within a year, I knew it was a mistake.

I’d thought getting married was what successful people did, and that it would make me happy, but it hadn’t.

I confessed how I was feeling, and we split up. Afterwards, I fell into a dark place. I began binge-drinking, self-harming and had moments when I imagined my own death.

By 2018, I knew I couldn’t go on the same way. So, quitting my job, I bought a one-way ticket to Nepal to go trekking with a friend, hoping to ’find myself’.

I soon realised that was a cliché, and I had no idea what I was doing. I was unfit, had only ever slept in a tent for a few nights, and was not at all outdoorsy.

My friends and family were concerned for my safety, but I refused to listen to their advice. In 2019, I moved to Pakistan for a year, funding my travels with savings.

It took some time to get used to living out of a backpack, but I began to enjoy the simplicity.

Eva, above in her university days, shares her life online and now has an audience of 5 million

Eva zu Beck in the Sahara desert this year with her dog, Vilk

I started to share my videos on YouTube, and a couple went viral, gradually leading to me having an audience of 5 million as I posted my travels across the Middle East and America.

In June 2022, I adopted Vilk, and we drove 3,000 miles from Montana to Alaska together.

During that time, I started craving a place to call home, but I didn’t want to return to ’normal’ life.

Deciding to live off-grid in spring 2023, I bought a small piece of land in the Carpathian Mountains in Poland.

I established my camp a year later, around 20 minutes from the nearest road, deep in a forest, near the top of the mountain.

It could be reached only by climbing a 50-degree incline.

The first few nights, I lay awake, nervous about wolves, but I had Vilk to protect me and soon got used to it.

Every morning, I have to fetch water for washing, cooking and coffee, and I make sure I have firewood.

I spend my days riding my horses – their stable is an hour away, and I run to it for exercise – and filming my day-to-day life, editing and posting content, which generates an income.

I use satellite internet, turning it on when I want to dip back into civilisation.

To get food, I walk down the mountain to the road, where my car is parked, and drive to the nearest shop, before lugging all my supplies back up.

I’ve only felt worried about living in such an isolated location once, when a man appeared at my camp last year, saying: ’I’ve come to see you.’

Thankfully, he left when I told him to go away, but it did spook me.

I still travel as much as I can – in total, I’ve visited 90 countries, and I now also host and direct a National Geographic YouTube and TV series called Superskilled With Eva Zu Beck, in which I explore the world’s most remote locations in search of people with extraordinary skills.

Vilk travels with me and I can be away for months. When we arrive back at camp, I feel so happy that for the first time in my life, I know what it’s like to be home.

I’m currently happily single, and I’ve never wanted children.

Growing up, I had no role models living unconventional lives, so I hope that by documenting mine, others see there are different paths available to them. I never imagined I’d end up living alone in the forest, but I feel more content than ever.”

The Wilder Way by Eva Zu Beck (£20, Century) is out now.

BTW

Half a million people in the UK live in either vans or campervans.*

It’s estimated that women account for 84% of all solo travellers.**

Sources: *Call To Adventure **Grand Review Research  Follow @Evazubeck