With an increasing number of people working away from home, going off to university and travelling, more and more couples are faced with the prospect of living apart. Women's Editor Lindsay Jennings looks at how to keep long distance relationships alive.

HE is a rich, A-list Hollywood star with a love of pot-bellied pigs and all things Italian. But actor and director George Clooney has reportedly been unable to keep the other love of his life, model Lisa Snowdon.

The couple apparently ended their year-long relationship after deciding that their long distance romance had run its course. The pair reportedly found that living apart - Lisa in England and George in Los Angeles - put too much of a strain on their relationship.

The long distance relationship is one that many actors have to endure, often spending weeks apart as they work away on location. But it is a scenario which more and more couples are facing as people work around the country and abroad, head off to university or go travelling.

Claire Hunter, 30, has been seeing Sean Hooper, 33, for a year and a half. For the past seven months, Sean has been working away in Colchester for a boat building company - 264 miles away from their home in Darlington and a four and a half hour drive.

"Being apart is hard and for me, it hits me hardest when you go to bed on your own and you're getting up on your own," says Claire. "It can be quite lonely because sometimes you are practically living a single life. But then you just get used to it and they're back, making a mess when everything's tidy. You can't win."

The couple see each other two to three times a month but find the pressure is on to have a fantastic time when they do meet.

"You spend all your time building up to seeing each other and there is definite pressure to have so much fun and so much closeness," says Claire.

"If you do fall out, it's a bigger fall out because you're upset that you've argued when your time is so precious. I can remember one time we fell out just as he was about to leave, and we weren't speaking, and he'd got part way back, about half an hour's drive away, when he rang and came all the way back to give me a cuddle. We both feel now that you can't leave each other on an argument."

Trust also becomes more important than ever when you're in a long distance relationship, with paranoia only too willing to befriend your overactive imagination if you let it. It's up to couples to set the ground rules beforehand.

Relationship experts say keeping the channel of communication open is vital for long distance relationships to work, whether by email, phone or text. And there's no reason why the passion can't be kept alive. Physical contact may be off the agenda but you can still indulge your fantasises over the phone or by email.

Says Christine Northam, counsellor with relationship charity Relate: ''Set up a regular time when you will speak to each other on the phone. It can be really effective to have a definite time to talk, for example every Sunday night at 9pm, so that you keep some sort of stability in the relationship.

''Hand-written letters are also very powerful. A letter gives you the opportunity to express how you are feeling very well. Or send a funny card to let the person know you are thinking of them.''

Claire and Sean keep their relationship burning by texting each other a couple of times a day and speaking to one another every night.

"I do feel if we didn't talk so much then we would drift apart. But on the other hand, we talk more now than we ever did," says Claire.

"The other thing which helps me is to keep planning little things, like weekends away, which you can look forward to. It gives you something to be positive about."

Sarah Harrison, 30, of Newcastle, says trust is essential in a long distance relationship. Her fianc Michael Flint, 33, is a seaman specialist in the Royal Navy and she sees him once every four to six weeks, sometimes for a weekend, sometimes a bit longer.

"We 100 per cent trust each other and I don't think it would work if we didn't," says Sarah, who has been with Michael for four and a half years. "I miss him dreadfully when he's away, over little things like having someone to chat about your day with or to watch television with, but in some ways I've never known any different because he's always been in the Navy.

"We communicate a lot by email and by short telephone calls. The ship he's on at the moment doesn't have a telephone which ordinary people can use so it's a 20 minute a week allocation.

"It's hard, but I have a fantastic network of friends and family around me - you wouldn't be able to do it otherwise - and you just don't let it get to you."

Like Claire, when it comes to any arguments Sarah agrees they have to be dealt with honestly and quickly.

"We don't have the luxury to be huffy with one another," she laughs. "If you have any issues they have to come out and then you get on with it."

Regular visits can be a lifeline and planning something exciting to do with the other person suggests that they are in the forefront of your mind. Distance should not stop your relationship being fun either.

Often little surprises, like an unexpected gift or a spur-of-the-moment visit can do much to stop your relationship stagnating.

''Love flourishes on romantic gestures,'' says Phillip Hodson, fellow of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy. ''So get on the train occasionally for a surprise visit or do something a bit crazy or wacky.''

Relationship experts say it's a good idea to concentrate on other interests while your partner is away, so as not to make your relationship the one and only focus in your life. It can give you something to fall back on if the strain of a long distance relationship becomes too much.

If you find yourself hanging on to a dead relationship, it may be time to admit defeat and split up. Like George and Lisa have discovered, it's best to be honest with each other.

''The thing to do is to take courage in your hands and explain,'' says Christine. ''Write a letter explaining how you are feeling or go home and talk to him or her, so you have really done the decent thing. Let the other person know sooner rather than later.''

* Contact www.relate.org.uk for more information on relationship counselling, or call 0845 130 4010 for advice.

* Visit the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy website at www.bacp.co.uk for information on counselling and psychotherapy in your area.