Finding Freedom in a Campervan called Dolly

Three years ago, I wrote on these pages about a long held dream to own a camper van.  We had travelled around New Zealand in one in 2008 and dreamt of having our own ever since. Fast forward to November 2019 and we were at the HQ of a company called Camper King picking up our very own campervan conversion.  The campervan we named ‘Dolly’ was born, and she belonged to us!

In a previous life, Dolly was a standard white VW van.  We like to imagine her as the trusty companion to a friendly local plumber.  Although, we have no evidence on which to base that assumption!  

When she finally became ours, she had been transformed into our very own little home on wheels.  A poptop roof, an inbuilt sink, hob and fridge and a pull out bed, known as a ‘rock and roll’ bed by those who know. A heater, blue cupboards and a funky striped floor.  A retractable canopy we can sit under to shelter from sun or showers, a rack for our bicycles on the back doors and lots of blue trim on her exterior.  Just perfect. 

Despite having a heater, as camper van novices we were not really ready to spend the our first night in our campervan in the depths of winter.  So we contented ourselves with short day trips where we could park somewhere, make a cup tea or cook bacon sandwiches.  New Years Eve 2019  was especially memorable.  We were in Southwold with our best friends. We had enjoyed an invigorating beach side walk before getting  back to Dolly for hotdogs and hot drinks. A fabulous way to end 2019 and look forward to 2020.  We decided it was going to be a year of campervan adventures as we planned our first overnight trip in March, to celebrate my husband’s birthday.

Of course as we all now know, 2020 didn’t turn out the way any of us had hoped.  A couple of weeks before our planned trip, we went in to national lockdown and Dolly was very firmly rooted to her rather cramped spot on our rather narrow drive for some months to come.  Desperate to try her out, we spent a couple of noisy nights in her there.  Our road is not especially quiet and our drive is about 5 footsteps from our front door so it was hardly an adventure, but it was a start.

Since then we have been through two further lockdowns and various tier systems.  So travel has been somewhat restricted.  However, during those pockets of reduced restrictions in between lockdowns we have found the freedom of travel we had dreamed of for so long.

Our first trip in July 2020, was barely an hour from home to a campsite on the river Thames.  We arrived, found our pitch, pulled out our canopy, put on the kettle and pinched ourselves, barely believing our good fortune. The sun shone continuously that weekend, as it did so often last year.  During the summer of 2020, we had further forays to Norfolk and then on to Wales.  Our trip to Pembrokeshire was postponed by a couple of days.  The day before we were due to arrive we received an email from the campsite advising us against coming due to severe weather warnings issued by the Met Office. We arrived a couple of days later than planned.  The weather was still rather wild, but the views from our campsite and access to a tiny unspoilt cove were exceptional.  However, the memory of chasing a fellow campers tent across the windswept hill top camping site is one which will remain.

This year we have spent two wonderful weeks travelling from Dorset to Devon and on to Cornwall, taking in 4 different camping sites. We experienced rugged coastline, endless beaches, monsoon style rain and blazing sunshine.  We have had a wet and windy weekend in Rutland with friends and we have 3 further weekends away planned for August.

When prices of holidays have rocketed and others have faced the disappointment of cancelled flights and package deals; when hotels have had to impose all sorts of one way routes and social distancing; when it has seemed impossible to find even a modest holiday cottage in the UK, we have had campervanning.  

We are living the outdoor life we dreamed of.  We are cooking sausages on the bbq, we are sitting outside sipping wine whilst the sun goes down, and we are experiencing life on the admittedly sometimes congested open road. One new campsite at a time; one new adventure, and one more memory to closet away.  We have discovered a new found freedom in a camper van called Dolly.