Keith Gooden
In today’s episode of the Motorhome Matt podcast…
Matt Sims
We are bringing you a live recorded session from Campervan Campout where we talk about the trials and tribulations of van life with friends of the podcast.
Keith Gooden
And we’re back with Alan Rogers for another campsite of the month!
Matt Sims
And we answer your questions on vehicle weights and road tax, tyre pressure and warranty work in Northern Ireland.
Keith Gooden
Welcome to the Motorhome Matt podcast. I’m Keith Gooden.
Matt Sims
And I’m Motorhome Matt.
Keith Gooden
Industry insights and expert advice for the world of motorhomes, caravans and campervans – brought to you by www.thatleisureshop.com.
Matt Sims
Now, please do remember to follow on your favourite podcast app. And make sure you click subscribe and the bell on YouTube – brought to you by www.arobasecreative.co.uk.
Alan Rogers’ Campsite of the Month
Matt Sims
We’re back with another campsite of the month with Alan Rogers. Welcome, Alan. How are you doing?
Rob Fearn
I’m still not called Alan. I’m still called Rob.
Matt Sims
You’ve still got his name on your t-shirt. So Rob, where are we this month?
Rob Fearn
So we’re in Languedoc-Roussillon this month at a campsite called Le Brasilia. Do you know where Languedoc-Roussillon is?
Matt Sims
This is like a geography test at school. Southwest France. Is that fair?
Rob Fearn
Yeah, that’s fair to say.
Matt Sims
I’ve never stopped there. We’ve always kind of gone through it and just focused on getting to Spain.
Rob Fearn
You’re missing a treat. It’s a beautiful region.
Matt Sims
Really? It gets a bit brown down there, doesn’t it?
Rob Fearn
Yeah, can do! Canet-Plage is pretty popular. That’s a nice tourist town down on the coast there.
Matt Sims
Yeah, it’s a beautiful part of the world, I have to say. So this campsite won the Exceptional Services and Facilitations award. Why?
Rob Fearn
It’s an immaculate five star site. It’s got a huge pool – 6,000 square metres. Slides, waterfalls, a bar and wellness centre. A fantastic restaurant, which I know you always look forward to, a nice restaurant! A lovely bar. And the standout thing is a shopping arcade.
Matt Sims
A shopping arcade? How many shops?
Rob Fearn
About half a dozen shops. So it’s good enough for a little shopping trip. In the high season they’ve got daily entertainment, which involves fitness classes, kids’ clubs, all sorts of activities for everyone on the campsite to enjoy.
Matt Sims
Is this one of those campsites with thousands of pitches? How big is it?
Rob Fearn
It’s a little bit bigger than some of the others that we’ve discussed in the last couple of episodes. It’s got about 700 touring pitches, and they’re mostly fully serviced. So you’ve got electrical hook up, grey water disposal, and water points on all the pitches.
Matt Sims
This is a family business as well. Second generation, is that right?
Rob Fearn
Ye, René and Simone are the second generation. It started in 1963. So it’s been in the family since day one. Part of the Leading Campings Group, which is a really exclusive group. So if the site you’re visiting is part of that Leading Campings organisation – there’s only 38 sites that are part of that organisation – you know you’re in for a bit of a treat if you go to one of their sites.
Matt Sims
And there’s a tourist train as well, I understand, to get you to the beach. Is that right?
Rob Fearn
Yeah, yeah, Canet-Plage, the village I talked about. It’s a small town, really. It’s a lovely tourist town with lots of bars and restaurants along the coast on the Promenade there, and they do a tourist train from the campsite down to the beach.
Matt Sims
Now, I happen to know that for this site, you need to book early. Is that fair?
Rob Fearn
Absolutely. Yeah, yeah, this is one of our most popular sites. You really do need to get in quick!
Matt Sims
Brilliant. And when is it open?
Rob Fearn
It’s open from mid-May until early October.
Matt Sims
And price range? The big question we always get asked is, “How much is it?”
Rob Fearn
Towards the top end of the mid range in the low season. You can probably get a pitch for about £30 a night. But yeah, as you get into the high season it does start getting a lot more expensive, this one.
Matt Sims
But like with all these French campsites, it’s massive value for money, isn’t it?
Rob Fearn
Yeah, considering what you get! I mean, for the pool alone, it’s well worth the money.
Matt Sims
6,000 square metres, a lot of water and a lot of chlorine. Well, there we are – brilliant. You can find out more about all of Alan’s campsites at mhmp.info/alanrogers.
Live from Campervan Campout: Is vanlife full of judgment?
Keith Gooden
It’s the Motorhome Matt podcast. I’m Keith Gooden.
Matt Sims
And I’m Motorhome Matt.
Keith Gooden
Now Matt, the main part of this podcast – you were recently at Campervan Campout hosting the Campout Hub. What happened there?
Matt Sims
It was a great weekend. We had a weekend of brilliant presentations, all organised by the team at Warners. All things van life – using a van, buying a van, selling a van, taking a van to Europe – the topics were really broad.
Keith Gooden
Was it vanny?
Matt Sims
It was very vanny. And I had the great pleasure and privilege of hosting the whole thing, so introducing everyone with a comedy fact about them, which was very amusing for me and some of the audience. And then there was a Q&A after each session, which was brilliant. So a really engaging session.
It was brilliant – the best presentation hub that I’ve been to and attended. And I don’t say that because I was hosting it. It was awesome. Steve from the Roaming Radfords – Steve, this all started, this discussion between you and me a little while ago, where someone said to you or of you, “You are not vanlife. You’ve got your nicely ironed Ralph Lauren shirt, your posh factory built shiny motorhome. You’re not van life, mate. You bought it. You didn’t build it.”
Steve Radford
This is what sparked it off. And several videos were made about that as well.
Matt Sims
But how did that make you feel?
Steve Radford
I feel very much part of van life, yeah. Am I a full time van lifer? Absolutely not. But van life is a broad thing, I think. So yeah, I feel part of the van life community, if you like.
Matt Sims
And what does the term mean for you, then… in your Ralph Lauren shirt?
Steve Radford
My Ralph Lauren shirt! Just because I’ve got a £100,000 motorhome and I’ve not got a self-built van doesn’t mean I can’t be part of van life, I don’t think. I think we all enjoy the same thing – getting out in the field and finding great parkups and meeting fellow people with the same kind of interests and enjoying that van life feeling.
Matt Sims
You do thousands of miles in your van with your kids.
Steve Radford
With the kids, yeah, yeah.
Matt Sims
What’s van life for the kids, then?
Steve Radford
We spend three months of our lives in the van. So yeah, we’re quarter-timers, not full-timers. I was just discussing it earlier. The kids have been brought up with it. It’s been 18 years. So they have all been brought up knowing van life as we know it.
Matt Sims
Some brilliant memories for them. Now, I’m delighted to have Absolutely Lucy with me as well. Tell me, what is Van Life for you? Do you live in your van full time now or not?
Lucy
No. So I’ve always said that I would never live in my van full time. But I love it for doing trips. I started van life in Australia and living out of the back of cars. And for me it was just about freedom and just being able to trip with my friends across the country and just go out to places that we wouldn’t be able to do normally, so be able to camp up in the wild and just absolutely live on the beaches and just change your mind at a moment’s notice where we were going to be.
So for me it was about bringing that back to the UK and just being able to live that same lifestyle. When I finish work for the week I can go off over a weekend or I can do a longer trip by myself or I can go off to a festival with friends and be able to just experience van life wherever I want to go.
Matt Sims
So is van life for you all about travel?
Lucy
I think so, because I actually bought my van during the pandemic. So for me, I came back from a trip in Central America and I had been doing my absolute dream trip of all time and then had to fly back in an emergency and come back to lockdown.
And I didn’t know when that was going to end. I think I thought I was coming back for a few weeks, maybe a month or two. And about a year or two later I was still there and I was like, “I think I need to do something.”
And my mom actually suggested getting a campervan because it was something I’d always dreamed of doing. And yeah, I got mine off Facebook marketplace. It was already converted, so much like you, I have that thing where I’m not really a van lifer in theory because I haven’t converted it myself.
Steve Radford
Well, you’re just not a van builder.
Lucy
It was already converted how I wanted it. I did it the convenient way. And I made it obviously very much my own, but it was just another way for me to go off and be able to have adventures around the UK. My dream was to take it over to Europe and do more.
Matt Sims
This is Carl from Built Not Bought. Now, you specialise in building campervans. You built your own, and you’ve built 30 or more for other people.
Carl
Yes, over the years – so many. I have actually forgotten the ones that have built sometimes. So I’d like to say that I’ve been friends with Steve for a few years now and I consider Steve and Lyndsay very good friends of mine. I don’t own a £100,000 motorhome. Could I afford one? No, I couldn’t.
Would I want to afford one? No, because I like building them. It doesn’t mean it makes us any different as a person. It really doesn’t. And I totally disagree with anybody who says because you’ve got a motorhome, you’re not in the van life community. And I was asked this. I think you asked me this question, “What is van life?”
I said this, because I now run my own show, that van life for me – getting that out to everybody at my show – is an umbrella. That is one big umbrella. Van life is just one umbrella. It doesn’t mean because you’ve got a built van you are a van lifer. It doesn’t mean because you live in your van full time you’re a van lifer.
If you’ve got a campervan, even if you’ve got a tent, if you’ve got a car, you come under that van life umbrella. It doesn’t matter what you drive, what you live in, what you stay in, because there are people living in tents. They come under that umbrella.
It’s all about freedom, getting out there and enjoying life. And getting away, I suppose, almost from the system, that reality of every single day life. You get a break from it as soon as you get behind the wheel, get in your tent – no matter what you do. So for me, it doesn’t matter what you’ve got. Doesn’t matter.
Matt Sims
I love it. And it’s funny, isn’t it, when you go away for a weekend, it can make you feel like you’ve been on a holiday for a week. I sleep better in our motorhome than in any hotel ever.
Carl
I must admit, I always say, as soon as I get in that van and I’m in that bed of a nighttime, do you know, I sleep so much better. I can’t even put words to the feeling. All I can say is try it. Even if you hire a motorhome, try it.
Hire a van, do something, borrow one. You’ve got to try it before you can knock it, because there are people out there who knock it left right and centre and say, “Oh no, hotels are better.” You don’t know unless you try.
Matt Sims
Absolutely true. Now you’re a festival organiser. Overlander Celebration. Do you organise another one as well?
Carl
It’s Vanlife and Overlander Celebration. I do play a big part in other shows as well. I volunteer at Van Life Eats. And if anybody else wants shows I’m also here! We’ve got a self build advice centre for people building their own vans. And the thing is, even when we leave here people can call me for advice. You know, I’ll help anybody, because if they’re going to do it and they’re not sure, I’d rather them do it safely.
Matt Sims
Now, we’re also joined by a Guy from Van Love Fest, which is a new festival. Is in its third year now?
Guy Robinson
Third year this year.
Matt Sims
So Guy, you’re one of the festival organisers in this van life kind of niche. And you love your van. You’ve got a very, very modified Adria Twin. It’s probably the most modified Adria Twin I’ve ever seen. It doesn’t even look like an Adria Twin anymore. But what’s van life for you as a festival organiser? Who is Van Love for?
Guy Robinson
The journey I’ve had with a van was very different and very rushed because we run an events business as our core business. So Chris Moyles, who’s here tonight, is one of the acts we look after, Ministry of Sound.
When we went into lockdown, our business was in a real state. So we wanted to try and find a way of doing live entertainment still through lockdown. So we partnered with Horrible Histories, the kids’ TV show, and we started touring it. So it was drive in theatre with Horrible Histories. And then the government in their wisdom, despite the fact we were trying to keep people working, said, “You’re not key workers, so you can’t stay in hotels.”
So literally, we were talking about, “How do we solve this?” And the answer was, let’s get a motor home. So I went to our local dealer, and I was like, “It cannot have flowers on the upholstery. No stripes, and no net curtains. Other than that, anything goes. So what have you got?”
They literally had this Adria Twin there. And it’s been so perfect for us, but it was purely accidental that we got into it. And then while we were touring this theatre show, we ended up on Elvington Airfield in York. And my OCD… because by this time I had already fallen in love with the van.
I just thought, “This is amazing.” Exactly what you’re saying. I sleep better in it. I can cook in it, wash in it, go to the loo – it is just brilliant. Got up to the runway, my OCD kicked in and I was like, “Oh my God, this place would look amazing if we could line up loads of campervans all the way down the runway.”
And that’s literally how it came about. When lockdown lifted, we went to a couple of festivals to see what it was like, kind of enjoyed it. But I thought we could do something a bit different. More dance music, a little bit younger vibes.
Yeah, first year, we just put it out there. And by pure chance as well, we’d applied to do Million Pound Motorhome on Channel Five. And then they came and followed the entire story of building this festival. So we ended up with 300 in the first year. We did 550 and are on track to do 1,000 this year. It’s growing fast.
Matt Sims
So van life for you then is really a commercial venture as much as a passion with your own van.
Guy Robinson
I mean, it’s not commercial because we lost a huge amount on it! But the thing for us is that when we were looking at different festivals, they were kind of all in their own niche. And I felt there are some great things out there.
But sometimes you turn up, especially if you’ve bought an Adria or a Swift or whatever it might be, you turn up and you feel like you’re a bit of an impostor when there’s people who have built their own. And I was like, there’s plenty of weekend warriors who have really great motorhomes and that’s really who we’ve gone after.
Hence the fact the name Van Love came about, because it’s just for people who love their vans, and that can be anything from a £100,000 motorhome to overlanders or anything else in between. I mean, basically, it’s a bunch of alcoholics on a runway. That’s what we’ve really created so.
Steve Radford
That’s van life in general.
Matt Sims
There’s a theme there. Now, Guy, you live in a bricks and mortar house. You work in your van and you holiday in your van. I want to introduce Jenna from Slowly Wilding. Jenna, you live in your van full time with your family. What is van life for you? It’s your home.
Jenna
It is my home and it’s been our home for three years now. We moved in to eliminate stress and everything from our lives and to have more time together as a family and to kind of go adventuring. And it really has been that.
So for me when people are excluded from van life it seems ridiculous because everyone wants to do the same thing. Everyone wants to explore. Everyone wants to get outside and have freedom and everyone wants to live life on their own terms.
So whether somebody wants to buy a £100,000 motorhome… we’re referencing your motorhome quite a lot here! But whether somebody wants to buy a big shiny motorhome or whether somebody wants to build their own motorhome they all want to live their life on their terms and for me that’s what van life is.
Matt Sims
And how do you feel when you arrive on a site where there’s loads of factory-built motorhomes? So Guy, you said you felt like an imposter arriving on a site where there’s loads of self-built motorhomes. Yours is self-built. I saw some pictures of it earlier today.
Oh my goodness, what a job that was. But how do you feel when you arrive on a campsite where there’s loads of factory built motorhomes and you’re the self-built converted motorhome or camper?
Jenna
Normally really proud. Sometimes I can feel a little bit judged. I know when I was in France, especially and there was a lot of factory-built motorhomes and aires and things like that, then yeah, there was a definite… I don’t know whether it’s a good judged or a bad judged, but definitely we get noticed, because it’s an old library bus.
So it’s big. It’s got a front door on the back of the bus. So you know, you can’t miss it! We get a lot of attention from it. And normally, I’m very proud. I’m really proud of the build that we’ve done. And how I feel about the other people in these factory-built motorhomes is that they’re doing the same thing. We’re all there doing the same thing and doing it to suit us.
Matt Sims
I find it interesting that you feel judged. And you feel judged, Guy, like an imposter. Amy, I want to come to you. We’re a bunch of people that feel judged. Now, you’ve built this amazing community of people with all sorts of vans. Well, how does that manifest itself within your community? Is that a factor?
Amy
You know, I don’t feel judged. And I don’t feel that I’m judging either. Sorry to break the mould there. But I have built a really wonderful, welcoming non-judgmental community both online and in person meetups.
And maybe it’s come from me originally. But I really don’t mind what kind of van you are living in, sleeping in, driving, whatever. It doesn’t make any difference. Essentially, all we are trying to do is the same thing. And for us, particularly in our community, it’s making memories with our children, because we’re a family-based community.
So it’s getting out there with our kids and spending quality time with them. And it’s also for us as adults, making friends and making connections with other van life families and for our children. Very often, I mean, lots of the families in our community, their children go to mainstream schools, and they don’t live the life that we do.
So it’s lovely, particularly as the children get older, that they are surrounded – not in the classroom, but they still have that opportunity to be surrounded by other children who get it, who love going outside exploring and away in their vans.
So we would welcome within our community any van built or bought. It doesn’t make any difference to us. Personally, I’ve had both. Our first conversion was professionally built. But once we grew into van life, and my husband is an electrician by trade.
You know, he’s into that kind of thing, and it was like a bucket list thing that he wanted to do. He wanted to build a van from scratch. And yeah, he feels proud. But I just don’t take any notice of anyone else. Maybe it’s because I’m too busy and crazy with my life.
Carl
I agree with that. Because this judged feeling… I think Helen will say this as well. We went to the Malvern show, and there is literally a sea load of coachbuilt motorhomes because it’s a motorhome show. So I turned up. I don’t know if any of you know my bus. We’re on the show field.
It’s what I call one of the community buses that used to have a tail lift on. So it’s now nothing like that. It’s all black, blacked out windows. I have literally plastic skulls in the front of it. It looks moody, it looks completely out there.
And every build I ever do is quirky. There’s not any time you could say any one of my builds is the same because it’s not. So we pull onto Malvern. And we were met by some guy stood there and he put his hand up. And I thought oh, okay, and he’s looking at me and he’s giving me this strange look.
And he’s one of the marshalls, I think, I don’t know. I was just waiting for Rianne who knows what’s occurring to come and get me and I drove from that point to where she was parked to where we were parking. And I’ve never seen so many heads turned. And you know, it felt like it was a judging moment.
It was either, “Oh my God, what the hell is that?” Or, “Wow, that is so different.” I can’t say it was judging because obviously you can’t tell by everybody’s look. You don’t know every person, but I kind of felt exposed.
I don’t normally because normally I don’t care, but it was that very exposed feeling at that point when all I can see is, there’s a £70,000 motorhome, a £100,000 pound motorhome, God knows… hundreds of thousands of pounds’ worth of motorhomes and there’s me and this little black bus going around the corner.
So yeah, I totally get it. So again, being in a motorhome judged on a self build… and again, I think it’s human nature. But I don’t care. My budget was very, very low on the build anyway, just like my first van. But you know, I love it.
Matt Sims
Iain, I want to come to you. We’ve got Iain Duff with us who’s the editor of Campervan Magazine. So a kind of industry insider. Iain, for you, how has the industry changed? This whole van life community that’s kind of grown up and built up, which does feel quite recent – certainly post pandemic, it’s boomed. But as the editor of a magazine, someone looking down on an industry, how has it changed for you?
Iain Duff
Yeah, I mean, I think it’s clearly changed since the pandemic. I mean, that was the major factor in what you would call this sort of explosion in van lifing. Over the last three, four years, we’ve seen the atmosphere around the whole scene change in some ways, and the people who are involved are different.
But at its heart, I think… you know, you talk about van life. And I think everyone’s sort of mentioned the same thing. We’re talking about giving people freedom to get out and explore. My background really is more tent camping. For many years, I was editor of Camping Magazine, which is all about tents. And I moved over to Campervan about three years ago, when I got a van myself.
The overall attitude and feeling is exactly the same. It’s all about being able to go and explore. And the vans make it a little bit easier, because you don’t have to pitch a tent every night. That’s quite complicated and tiring, especially with young kids with you. But essentially, it’s the same attitude.
So sometimes I think labels like van life aren’t exactly helpful because they almost pigeonhole you into what you have to be. And that’s possibly why people would judge others on what kind of van they’ve got or what kind of motorhome they’ve got.
But essentially, whether you’ve got a tent or whether you’ve got a self-build or whether you’ve got a £100,000 motorhome, then you know, you’re all the same. You’re all wanting to do exactly the same thing. And, you know, I think as van life exists as a concept, that’s what it’s all about. It’s more of an attitude really than then something that is tangible… well, not bricks and mortar, but wheels!
Matt Sims
The reality, I guess, though, is that, “My cave is bigger than your cave,” that exists in bricks and mortar as well as it does in vans.
Iain Duff
To some extent, that’s human nature. You know, van life is a very all encompassing word. And it covers a whole lot, as I’ve just been saying. There’s a huge variety of different ages and people from different backgrounds here. But at its heart, what they want to do is do the same thing – get out there and enjoy themselves and enjoy life, whether it’s with a family or on their own or whatever.
Matt Sims
And are you seeing a different demographic these days doing just that? Has it changed? Is it become younger?
Iain Duff
I think overall, it probably has got a little bit younger. I mean, there’s always been younger people who have gone for very basic campervans and in some ways it’s always been a young person’s thing. But you know, the nature of the beast is that it’s quite expensive to buy a campervan. You’re now talking about a minimum of £50,000 upwards.
Quite easily, you could spend £80,000 or £90,000. And very few of us, I think, have got a level of income to do that. So yeah, that maybe in the past has sort of kept younger people out. But the overall market I would say is now much younger than it possibly was even five or six years ago.
Matt Sims
And Carl, you’re seeing more and more people want to convert their own van. The point Iain makes is that it’s a life changing sum of money. And actually, a self-converted is going to be more affordable and therefore more accessible.
Carl
Again, I see a lot of people who want to build them but some aspects of it they can’t do, and they come to us for that. But more people I find are willing to have a go. I mean, my Facebook group at the moment has got just over 58,000 members on there, the Built Not Bought overall sort of umbrella.
And the amount of advice people are given and taking… the amount of people actually who are building their own vans, the drop in my work has been quite a lot because everybody wants to have a go themselves. It is cheaper.
Coming to me, it costs a lot more than if you’re doing it yourself. So you’re not paying that labour. You’re still paying the parts or whatever, but the labour… again, if you’re doing it yourself, you save a lot of money.
So there are a lot of people out there having a go at it themselves. And again, you know, I looked at a van just now literally parked a couple of doors away from me. They converted it using pallet wood. I tell you something, the look is absolutely amazing. It blew me away.
He’s got a full size shower tray, which he pulls out the back. All done out of pallet wood. It just amazes me, some of the designs and some of the materials some people are using. I’ve got a guy that’s going on show at my show.
He has spent £1,500 on his Transit and the build. I mean, you know, these things amaze me. And I love people that do it. Okay, it takes work out my pocket, but I don’t care because I love seeing what comes out of it.
What do you wish you new before motorhoming?
Matt Sims
Now, for those of you who want to contribute to this, there’s a question. What one thing do you wish you knew… like for you, Steve, 17 years ago, you started motorhoming. You went out and bought that motorhome and went home, said, “Lyndsay, I’ve got an idea. And it’s on the drive. I’ve bought it.” What do you wish you knew then that you knew now?
Steve Radford
Lyndsay can answer that one.
Lyndsay Radford
When we first got the motorhome, we didn’t journey as much. It was somewhere to go and stay maybe on a campsite. And then we moved from that motorhome into a caravan. And we did exactly that for the summer. Now, partly because Steve has very itchy feet and needs to keep moving, the journey is very much one of the most important parts of our travels now, rather than the destination.
Steve Radford
There you go – the road trip itself.
Matt Sims
And you guys are all about the road trip. Jenna, what do you wish you knew then? You’ve been doing this four years and living in the van?
Jenna
So I’ve been full time for almost three years, but I’ve actually been living in vans on and off for about 20 years. I wish that I had documented my journey more. And I also wish that it had become more acceptable as well. Like, I come from Bristol. As you know, Bristol has got a big van life community.
But there’s a lot of kind of mattresses shoved in the back of a van kind of van life. And that was, for me, the original van life. We could go to parties, we could go to raves, and we could then sleep in the back of our van because we weren’t allowed to drive. Let’s put it that way. So for me, that’s how I started.
And I never knew it becomes such an integral part of who I am and what I am and what I do. It really has become so much more and so much more accepted. I mean, we’re going back to what you previously said where you were asking, have the ages got younger?
I think that before there were the younger van life people that were had mattresses in the back of vans, and then there were the older people who had motorhomes. And because of this umbrella van life, I think it has actually joined people together. And yes, it has got this divide in there. But I also do think it’s joined these people together and made it much more of a community than an isolated thing.
Matt Sims
I guess we go back to the 60s, the old split screen days. That was the kind of hippie culture of the van and that mattress in the back of a VW. And then move on a bit to when the first motorhomes came out, which was, what, probably the 1970s when the coachbuilt appeared.
And it was a different community that engaged with it, but it’s still van life. But it was a coachbuilt more like these guys’ factory-built motorhomes. So Amy, what’s your wish you knew then that you know now?
Amy
So we came into van life very quickly when I struggled with my mental health. It was just a random suggestion that I made to my husband, let’s buy a converted van, and we just did it super quick.
But when you start opening up that can of worms that is van life and you start looking on social media, there is this… maybe it’s full time, you know, that is the dream to be full time. And you’re not really a van lifer unless you’re full time and you know, that kind of pressure.
And I think what I wish that I’d known then and obviously I do now is that van life can look different for everyone. And every family can do it absolutely however they want and there is no right or wrong. So I just think just do you. Figure out what you want to do. And yeah, that’s what I wish I’d have known.
Matt Sims
Love that. Steve?
Steve Radford
For many years, we’ve always said we want to go full time. When the kids grow up, we want to go full time in the van. We said so for many, many years and were jealous of our full time van friends.
Around 18 months or two years ago, I just realised, you know, we like going home as well. We do like going home. And I don’t think we’d ever sell the home and go full time. That’s one thing that’s different.
So yeah, that’s one thing I know now. I always wanted to go full time van life but I think I wouldn’t want to spend the winter in a van in the UK. It’s doable. But I know it’s not top of my list. So yeah, that’s how things have changed for us. We really wanted to go full time. But I think just being able to go off as much as we can, but always to come back to our bricks and mortar house at some stage.
Matt Sims
I make no secret that I love my bricks and mortar house. I absolutely love it. As much as I love my van and I love doing both. And that’s for me, that’s what van life is for me, that flexibility. Lucy, what is it for you? What are the highs and lows of van life for you?
Lucy
I think for me, it was realising how accessible it actually is, and how achievable it was. I don’t know about you guys, but personally I never saw someone who looked like me in the van life kind of space. So for me, I struggled to find, when I was first looking for inspiration, women who were doing it by themselves.
I very rarely saw mixed race women who were doing it by themselves. And I just found there was a real gap in the diversity of what I was seeing online. Now, don’t get me wrong, that’s just social media. But it’s still quite impactful when you’re trying to figure out if that’s something that’s accessible for you.
And for me, I mean, I actually ended up getting my campervan many years after I had one with a partner who was quite abusive, who actually told me that I would never be able to have a campervan by myself. And it’s just those little things that just build up over time where you just feel like, okay, am I ever going to be able to afford to do this by myself?
Am I going to be able to have a campervan and build something out by myself? Am I going to be able to do long trips by myself? What if I break down? What if things go wrong? But actually now coming into van life and whether I do it part time or full time or whatever, if I do it by myself or with a friend or a partner.
I think it’s just also knowing that actually, what I’ve learned from the community that I’ve met along the way, and I think particularly from coming to festivals like this and events like this, you meet so many people who are doing it so many different ways.
People who have got maybe disabilities that they’ve shaped an entire van around or people who have come in and they’re maybe from, I don’t know, a different background, and they’ve found a way to make van life work for them.
Or they’ve got really expensive campervans or motorhomes or they’ve got ones where they’ve built them and maybe spent a grand on them. And it’s just so inspiring. I think it makes you realise how accessible it is and how accepting everybody is.
I think everyone just kind of wants to teach you and help you and support you to be able to achieve that. So I think that’s really nice. But I had no idea that existed when I was first starting out, and I wish I’d known because I think I would have done it a lot sooner.
Matt Sims
Guy, for you, the van has been liberating from a commercial point of view. And you’ve ended up building this whole amazing event called Van Love where you embrace exactly what we’re just talking about then. But what’s been the highs and lows for you?
Guy Robinson
I think the thing for me is I’ve been very lucky because I’ve travelled the world with work. And if someone had said to me pre motorhome, “Are you well travelled?” I’d say, “Oh, incredibly well travelled.” I was not well travelled until I got a motorhome. Because I mean, one of the jewels in this country I think is the CLC network in CMC.
The places you can stay for next to no money in someone’s garden or in a farm… when you actually are able to stay in these random places, then you’re travelling. Then you’re seeing new places, then you’re really understanding what this country can offer.
And in a car you end up driving past it a lot of the time or pulling into a public car park. The big takeaway for me is just how the opportunity has opened up to stay at different places and see different parts of the country, and parking on a beach and just staying there. And it’s okay. It’s great.
Matt Sims
Iain, for you, then, as an industry observer and someone who makes a living out of van life, what do you see as the future? What are going to be the highs and lows, do you think, for us?
Iain Duff
Well, I think the most important thing that I’ve taken away from my time at Campervan but also just from listening to this discussion is that it’s so all encompassing. It includes people at all different levels of interest in this community.
They don’t even have to be part of the community if they don’t want to be. They can be. You can pick and choose as much as you like. It’s all about the freedom and it’s all about enjoying what you want to do and getting what you want to get out of it.
I think that’s that’s the key to van life, if you want to call it that. It’s your thing and you do what you want to do, whether it’s self-build or whether it’s a campervan conversion that you’ve bought. If that’s the way you want to do it, that’s what you should do.
Nobody should be excluded from it. If they want to be part of a community, they can. If they don’t want to be part of the community, they don’t have to be. It’s not essential. It is such a broad range now, and that’s really a nice thing to see.
Carl
Obviously, I was one of those younger ones back in the day throwing a mattress in the back of a van. That was definitely me. So for me, although I did that, I would have gone back then, and I would have built my first campervan without a doubt. There’s no two ways about it.
It’s basically for the journeys that I’ve actually done. Like Steve said, it is a journey, not just the destination. And I’ve been down to Cornwall doing the bodyboarding, up to Scotland suffering the flat batteries and things like that.
And yes, it was a bit of a drama at the time. But you know what? It makes the whole trip what it is. And I did, I lost the battery in the van, I lost power in my actual leisure batteries. And it was the middle of the night. I had nothing.
And it was the first trip out in the van! So it’s part of what I do. And you know, I can look back now. I have documented it. And I can always look back on that. And the memories are there. The memories that you can make having a van… you make memories on holidays, yes, don’t get me wrong.
But having a van, like Guy says, some of the places that you can find… we found a little farm car park up in Bude in Cornwall. And it was like, you go over the hill and you had the beautiful scenery. And it was £10 a night. So you don’t have to spend hundreds of pounds on a campsite. So for me, I’d have gone back way, way back and done it a lot earlier if I knew back then what I know now.
Matt Sims
What I find really interesting is we started this discussion and we were using quite negative terminology. And we were using words like judgmental. And in half an hour of just having a chat together, we’ve started using words like freedom and community and the journey. And I think that’s what it’s actually all about, isn’t it?
And I think perhaps on the surface of it, it’s easy to look in and say, “I’m not sure about what you’re doing,” and feel that you’re being judged or you’re being judgmental. But we’re not. We’re just doing it in our own lane. We’re doing our own thing. And I think that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? And what a wonderful pastime this is. It means whatever it means for you.
And it means different things for different people. We love our motorhome, and we just spent two and a half weeks on the Outer Hebrides and it was amazing. I would go back again tomorrow. And we will do lots of different holidays.
We will go down to Bude as well. And it’s what we do with it. So guys, thank you so much. I’m feeling encouraged about being part of van life. I trust you are too. And if you’re listening to this and you’re wondering, “Am I part of van life?” Of course you are. If you want to be, you’re part of the community. So join in and just go and do it. Thank you all very, very much. Let’s give everyone a round of applause.
Keith Gooden
So that’s Matt and friends at Campervan Campout. Those friends were Steve and Lyndsay Radford of the Roaming Radfords, Absolutely Lucy, Carl from Built Not Bought, Guy Robinson from Van Love Fest, Jenna from Slowly Wilding and Amy of the Van Fam Community. And thanks also to Iain Duff, the editor of Campervan Magazine.
Matt Sims
Thank you to all. It was a brilliant session – really insightful and something we’ve never done before. But I think we will try and do it again on a range of topics. It was great fun. Thank you, everyone.
Keith Gooden
It’s about that community of interest. It’s about that love of people getting together, no matter where they are on income or status in society. Vans pull everybody together, don’t they?
Matt Sims
They do. And I guess it’s like any pastime, really, of any community. You’re going to get different people from different walks of life, all doing it in their own way. And there’s a common thread. And actually, we are a very accepting bunch of people. We just like doing it the way we like doing it.
Keith Gooden
Let me put you on the spot, then.
Matt Sims
Go on.
Keith Gooden
From that discussion, what’s the one thing that you that you pulled out of it, one positive?
Matt Sims
I think as the journey of that discussion went on, there’s this sense of negativity and judgement. And actually, that doesn’t exist. I think it’s a fear. I think we’re all concerned that that’s what we’re feeling or have been made to feel. It’s not true. And actually it’s a very accepting community.
Yes, someone in a big £200,000 A class motorhome might look down on the Ford Transit with a chimney stuck out the roof and a mattress thrown in the back. But only in the sense of, “Oh, I don’t like that van. That’s not for me.” You’re not being judged as a person. It’s actually the vehicle that’s being looked at. And maybe a judgement is being made. The people are still very welcome. And we are as a community, generally extremely accepting. And I love it.
Keith Gooden
And remember the password. Be nice.
Audience Q&A
Keith Gooden
It’s the Motorhome Matt podcast. I’m Keith Gooden.
Matt Sims
And I’m Motorhome Matt.
Keith Gooden
And it’s brought to you with www.thatleisureshop.com. It’s time for our questions and answers. And first of all, David Walker has got a question for us.
David Walker
Hi, Matt. It’s David. I wondered if you could help me. I notice a lot of people are upgrading their motorhome weight to save on road tax. Yet with heavier weights, that’s going to create more pollution. Do you think that will be addressed at some point?
Because it looks like the price for road tax is significantly cheaper when you go into the private heavy goods vehicle category, rather than the private light goods vehicle. Love to know are your thoughts on that.
Keith Gooden
Thanks, David. So there you go, Matt. It’s an environmental question. And quite complicated about tax. Have you got an answer?
Matt Sims
Okay, so let’s clarify the facts here. So for private heavy goods, if over three and a half tonnes, you’re going to pay £165 a year in road tax, if you’re taxed for the whole year. If you’re private light goods, so three and a half tonnes or less, then you’ll be paying £325.
So that’s pretty much double. In fact, it may have even gone up as we record this. That’s the tax class that the government seems to play with. And they keep pushing that one up. They don’t touch the private heavy goods one, because it would affect so many different types of vehicle that I think there’ll be a massive queue and blockage outside number 10.
So that tax class tends to be left alone. David’s point is people are making their vehicles heavier to save money on the road tax. I don’t think that’s the case. I think they’re making the vehicles heavier to give them a better payload and the ability to carry more and be legal.
The impact environmentally… does driving a heavier registered vehicle have a greater environmental impact? I’m not sure it does. I mean, if you’re driving down the road and you’re a lot heavier, arguably you’re going to use a little bit more fuel.
Is that going to have a massive environmental impact compared to other factors and pastimes that we carry out? I mean, making unnecessary journeys has an environmental impact. Not following Martin Dorey’s advice, which is to slow down and spend two or three nights in a campsite, not race around from campsite to campsite… so David raises a valid point.
It’s not one I think that we should be massively concerned about for the reasons David cites. But it certainly is worth thinking about. And if you feel that making your vehicle heavier is going to have a negative effect and you don’t want to do it, then don’t do it.
Keith Gooden
Thanks, David, very much for that. We’ll give you details about how you can record your question a little bit later. Brian’s in Gloucestershire. “I have a three and a half tonne Euro Mobil and the door tag says the tyre pressure is 80 psi.”
That’s pounds per square inch, isn’t it? “I think this is too high. I’ve just had two Michelin all weather CPs fitted, and even the tyre fitter asked if I wanted them that hard. At the moment I’m running 75 on the back and 70 on the front.
The trouble is every time I start the motorhome, I get a message saying the tyres are under inflated with a flat tire symbol. And I can’t seem to get rid of it. It’s a Fiat Ducato base. Should I run it at 80 psi?”
Matt Sims
This is a constant debate on social media as to how hard your tires should be. The answer is it depends how heavy your axle is for those tires. You need to get your motorhome weighed, and then go to www.tyresafe.org or get the tyre pressure app. It’s brilliant.
You put in the weight of the axle, the size and dimension of the tyre as per the tyre wall. So 225 65 R 16 or whatever the numbers are. And it will tell you the pressure from the manufacturer that that tyre should be running at. Don’t guess this. 80 psi sounds a lot. Think – you put 36 in your car.
80 seems massive and you think, “This is going to explode!” It’s not going to blow, but check your tyre pressure on the app. So your dashboard light telling you got flat is because the tyre pressures were set with the tyres at the higher pressure. You’re now under inflating them so the tyre pressure sensor in the wheel is detecting that the tyres are under inflated and to reset them, you…
Keith Gooden
Here we go. I’ll do this slowly. “You turn the ignition to the on position, but the engine off.” Okay? So it’s that one click. “Press forward or the back button on the steering wheel until the trip and odometer are displayed.” Okay, the odometer, that’s how many miles you’ve done, isn’t it? “Press then the up and down button until tyre inflation monitor is displayed.”
Matt Sims
So you’re now in the right main menu.
Keith Gooden
“It will say tyre inflation monitor. Hold down the reset button which is located on the instrument cluster until, ‘Monitor current tyre pressure?’ comes up.”
Matt Sims
Press OK, and that’s it, you’ve reset it. If that doesn’t work, then consult your manual for the vehicle chassis and the instructions would be in there. We got that answer from Google for the Fiat Ducato.
But it may be you have an older model or a different model and a different method is required. But Google is your friend. The main thing here is www.tyresafe.org, a brilliant website to find out the correct tyre pressure based on the weight of the vehicle.
Keith Gooden
There you go. Thanks, Brian for the question. Much appreciated. Robert McGookin is in Templepatrick in Northern Ireland. “Hi Matt and Keith. We caravanned 20 years ago then moved on to touring by motorbike all over the UK and Europe.”
“We’ve been looking at going back to caravanning but waiting until prices stabilise. Living in Northern Ireland, our choice is somewhat limited, and the choice is probably greater on the mainland and a lot cheaper.”
“But when you talk to dealers here,” in Northern Ireland, “They will not do any warranty work on a van that you buy in England if it hasn’t been bought from them, even if they are the dealer/agent for that manufacturer. What can I do if I buy a new or used van in warranty in England and I need that warranty work done in Northern Ireland? Can they refuse?”
Matt Sims
This is annoying. This really annoys me about our industry. If it was BMW, you would expect to be able to take it to the BMW dealer, and they’d welcome you with open arms. It doesn’t work like that in the motorhome industry, and it’s annoying.
When I had a dealership, we would welcome the brands that we were retailing and we were a franchisee for. We would welcome that owner and customer with open arms because we saw that we were gaining a new customer. It is a culture in our industry that if you didn’t buy it from us, we’re not going to look after it.
I find it bizarre, I have to say. My only advice is to consult with a dealership before you make a purchase and find one that will help you with it. Your question is, can they refuse? Yes, of course they can.
They’re not duty bound by the manufacturer to do any work on it at all. And often dealers are not keen to do warranty work because the hourly rate paid by the manufacturer is much lower than the hourly rate they charge.
So that might be a good angle to go and negotiate with them and say, “Well, I know you’re only getting £50 an hour from the manufacturer and you charge £80. Well, how about I give you the £30 per hour and you’re not out of pocket?” And they might be swayed. But it’s going to have to be a negotiation. And yes, I’m afraid what you’ve experienced is very true.
Keith Gooden
Can I ask a question, Matt? I’m thinking about Robert in Northern Ireland, and Northern Ireland is in GB and NI, the UK, after Brexit, but it’s also under EU rules. What if he crossed the border into Ireland? We’ve got a lot of Republic of Ireland listeners – hello to you, by the way – could he cross the border into Ireland and maybe ask a dealer? Is it the same attitude there?
Matt Sims
He may be able to, yeah. He’d certainly be paying in euros! There might be some differences in the vehicle because it would be a UK spec. And they will be used to dealing with an EU spec. And sometimes there are differences.
I mean, even down to the three pin plug. You know, the plug is a UK plug versus a two pin EU plug. So again, it’s about negotiation and trying to corral a dealership and a business, which is what they are, to work with you and accept your business… money talks. Let’s just put it that way!
Keith Gooden
Just to say that in Ireland they do use three pin plug in the Republic.
Matt Sims
Do they? A UK plug? Well, well. Why have I never noticed that?
Keith Gooden
When was the last time you were in the Republic of Ireland?
Matt Sims
I was in Dublin… probably 10 years ago.
Keith Gooden
Did you plug anything in?
Matt Sims
I don’t remember. I was in a hotel. So I must have done!
Keith Gooden
Put us right please. We’d like to hear!
Matt Sims
If you’re in the Republic of Ireland, please tell us how many pins are in your plugs.
Keith Gooden
He doesn’t remember plugging anything in in his hotel room. Anyway, Robert, thanks very much for that one. Now, Matt, how do people get a question to us?
Matt Sims
Really easily. Just head to… I’m still chuckling. What was that noise?
Keith Gooden
You in your hotel room blowing up your dolly.
Matt Sims
Oh, no… it’s really easy. Just head to mhmp.info/askmatt. Hit the orange button and record your question. We love hearing your voices on the podcast and hearing where you are in the country. Or if you’d rather not do that, you can fill out the form and Keith and I will read the question for you.
Keith Gooden
Please leave us a review. How do you do that, Matt?
Matt Sims
Easy – mhmp.info/review.
Keith Gooden
And you can subscribe on YouTube. What are the details?
Matt Sims
Hit the subscribe button and hit the little bell and the gods of YouTube will tell you when a new episode has been released. And our YouTube channel is sponsored by www.arobasecreative.co.uk.
