Last updated 11:25, Monday, 03 November 2008

Downshifting. It’s what people do when they step off life’s treadmill and dramatically change their lives.

Hooked: Carol Thatcher and Jo Hampson fly-fishing for trout

And I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here champ Carol Thatcher has been in Cumbria meeting some of the county’s finest downshifters.

People like ex-bobbies Jo Hampson and Georgina Perkins who, from their base in Shap, run courses for people who want to learn to smoke at home.

Not a packet of ciggies, but anything food-related, whether it be meat, fish, veg, poultry, cheese or even nuts.

The bold Carol is filming a series for the BBC’s One Show about downshifters. She visited a trout farm to catch her own fish before heading for Smoky Jo’s to learn how to smoke it.

Jo and Georgina used to own the Old Smokehouse at Brougham Hall near Penrith where their customers included Fortnum and Mason, Harvey Nichols and HRH Prince Charles.

The series is likely to be screened early in the New Year when viewers will find out just how self-sufficient Carol Thatcher really was when she hit the jungles of wildest Cumbria.

Having survived all those jungle challenges, this assignment was presumably a piece of cake for Carol. Although whether the piece of cake was smoked remains to be seen.