A couple have quite literally packed it all in and moved into their new mobile home built into the back – of an old white van.
Adam Croft, 29, and Nikki Pepperell, 32, spent a year converting the van after the cost of renting became too much to bare.
The home away from home now has a kitchen, toilet, shower, windows, porch, new flooring, sofa and a bedroom.
They spent £3,500 on the extra-large Ford Transit Luton and a further £6,500 doing it up themselves while living with their parents.
The couple, from Stroud, Glos., both gave up office jobs for the new home and now intend to spend at least a year travelling across Europe, possibly never to return.
Adam, who finished the project last week, said: “The main idea behind it is that we found it far too expensive to rent here.
“It was also so we could go away in the winter without being tied down.
“Pretty much all of our wages were going. At the end of the month, once we had paid for the running of the car and living costs, we wouldn’t really be left with anything.
“We were thinking about how we could live without struggling – it was a joint idea.
“It was one of those things we had been talking about. There were a few points when we thought ‘is this a good idea?'”
The project was kick started last June when the pair returned from New Zealand and spent a week on a boat in Falmouth, Cornwall.
They were jealous of the freedom their friends had and wanted to do something similar themselves, but knew a boat was out of the question.
Short on money, they moved back in with their parents and began working on the van, spending money when they could.
Adam, who owns Cotswold Bells and is a landscape gardener, added: “We both had a tiny bit of savings.
“We were working and building it in our spare time.
“We did it completely ourselves. I haven’t done any building work and it was the first time Nikki had picked up a drill.
“It was just about getting on with it, watching YouTube videos and learning as we went.
“We had a massive struggle because we were doing quite a lot through the winter. We found we had a leak.
“We couldn’t get stuff on the roof to cure the leak because it was always raining. We also didn’t have a garage to store it in.”
Adam and Nikki have already spent a few nights in the van but have delayed travelling while they sell off all their stuff.
They are hoping to hit the road in the next two or three weeks.
You can follow their adventures at http://www.thevandiaries.com/
