Campfire Voices: Billy & Leanne

Words: Daniel Neilson
Photography: John Summerton
Produced in Partnership with VOITED

Standfirst

Leanne, Billy and their dog Willow have chosen a life on the road in a van they bought and converted from scratch five years ago. Sidetracked caught up with the new VOITED ambassadors in Cornwall (home for the next few months) to learn more about their life of freedom and adventure.

Prussia Cove, Cornwall. A series of rocky promontories, covered in gorse and bramble – the only vegetation that can battle the coastal winds. Frittering around them on a warm August day are colonies of butterflies: the silver-studded blue, small pearl-bordered fritillary and grayling. The sea this evening is shining blue, the sun glancing off the modest swell. And it’s here we head with Leanne and Billy, a van-life-loving couple who, a few weeks earlier, rocked up in their van ‘Big Bez’ and, well, stayed. And why wouldn’t you? Prussia Cove is quintessentially Cornish. Teetering on the edge of the Atlantic, with the great sea beyond, it’s actually a series of four coves: Piskies, Bessy’s, King’s and Coule’s. It is spectacularly Cornish. It was even home to the Carters of Prussia Cove, the most notorious smuggling family in the late 18th century. They were privateers, shipwreckers, and ran a smuggling operation so large that they were one of the area’s biggest employers.

But before heading to the coast to explore, we meet the duo on a farm, where they’ve set up home in Bez for the summer months. The fire is swirling around the Solo Stove and, yes, marshmallows are on sticks. Billy quickly gets to work with the coffees. We’re here to hear Leanne and Billy’s story – how they came to eschew a life tied to bricks and mortar and embrace one on four wheels. A life that has seen them travel across Europe and to Africa and, with their dog Willow, live life as a journey.

‘We didn’t really choose to live in a van,’ Leanne says. ‘It kind of just happened.’ The couple, who have been together since school, were out in Thailand for six months when lockdown struck. ‘We got stuck there,’ Billy explains. ‘When we came back to the UK, we thought if we get a van, we can travel in our own country. And we just loved it so much that it kind of just evolved from there.’

They started in a small transporter-sized van, before buying their current van on Facebook Marketplace for £2,000. It had been used as a motorcycle transport vehicle.

‘There was a lot wrong with it, but we stripped it all back and got it to where it is now.’ When they bought it, it was a bare shell, with a hole in the roof and two dented doors. The engine was pretty knackered as well, but it did make the trip back from Brighton to Essex in one piece.

With a mechanic friend, they overhauled the engine, replaced a few doors and wings, patched the roof, and got it just about liveable. ‘And then we just got really itchy to hit the road,’ says Leanne.

Today, ‘Big Bez’ looks like a home. On the walls, and squeezed onto tiny shelves, are items, nicknacks and souvenirs – reminders of adventures past. A guitar is strapped to the ceiling, which in turn holds a cap and a light. There’s a knitted aubergine holding a sign that reads: ‘Positive eggplant: Celebrate every tiny victory.’ There’s also a very nice espresso maker, and Billy is quite the barista, turning out artistic lattes throughout the day we spend together. Leaning against the van is a surfboard, and I ask him about this.
‘I surf most days down here,’ exclaims Billy. ‘Yesterday the waves were so good I could’ve spent all day down at the beach. I nearly did!’

Leanne, Billy and even Willow, with his cowrie bead necklace, move around the space with a fluidity that only intimate knowledge of a tiny home can bring. Like the mariners on the fishing boats we later see bobbing out into the failing daylight, this little family seem at home in the van – because they are in their home.

Once they had made the van liveable, they spent the next couple of years adapting, ripping out what they didn’t like and adding what they did. But ‘Big Bez’ was on the road, and it was time to head north.

Leanne and Billy’s first journey was to Scotland and the NC500, still a relatively new concept when they went. They loved the idea of the adventure being the journey and the slow exploratory travel that van trips provide. But initially they were still working full time, and most of the trips were just a couple of hours from their base – Billy’s parents’ driveway or a local car park.

‘We just really enjoyed being out in the van,’ says Billy. Leanne agrees: ‘Just being out and doing our own thing is our vibe.’

So what is it about this life that is so appealing? ‘I think it’s just like having everything you need with you and just being able to go wherever,’ says Leanne. ‘If you don’t like somewhere you can just move on.’

‘I love the minimalist side of it – only having what you need,’ adds Billy. ‘It’s the freedom and the simplicity of it, the simple life.’

One of their favourite places recently was Morocco. They were in Spain and it was coming up to Christmas. It was winter in England, and they’d met a few people heading to Morocco. Billy asked himself, ‘Why are we not going?’ – so they did. Travelling with a dog caused a few administrative issues, but they went. ‘We weren’t even meant to go to Morocco. Generally most of our trips are never planned,’ says Leanne.

‘We just drive – no bookings, no flights, just go. And you find places like that which you’d never go to. We found some lovely little towns in France, for example, where you wouldn’t necessarily book a flight to go there.

‘It’s nice to actually find the places in between. The journey starts from when you get behind the wheel.’

And how does life change when you’re moving? Are there any downsides?

‘It can get stressful with things such as decision fatigue,’ replies Leanne. ‘And there’s always a constant hunt for water too. And when you’re on the road you have to pack everything up most days.’

Here in Cornwall, however, they’ve found a farm that will let them stay for a while. ‘We can kind of leave things out a bit longer and have a bit more of a settled base.

‘It’s nice because you still feel like you’re living in nature; watching the seasons change every day because you’re always outside.’ Leanne chips in: ‘That’s a big thing I noticed since we started living in a van; you notice every season. The gentle change in temperature, the colours, the smells even. You really do feel close to nature.’

Their days seem simple enough: coffee, surf, read, walk, coffee, campfire, sleep, repeat. Yes, there are toilets to empty and water to refill, but on days like this it seems an idyllic existence. ‘But, I am getting itchy feet again,’ says Leanne. Morocco is back on the agenda, as is heading east to Albania and the Balkans. ‘And then maybe somewhere cold – maybe Arctic Circle, if we’re feeling brave,’ Leanne says. ‘We’ll get a good diesel heater going.’

However, and we’re not sure if Big Bez is aware, there’s another van in their life: Big G.

‘We’ve just purchased a new project,’ whispers Billy. ‘It’s a Mercedes 814D, and it’s an ex-police van. An absolute unicorn. We’re so chuffed with it. It was actually used by the police in hostage situations; it’s got quite a story to it. We even found a police ticket book in the dashboard and discovered it had a name. It was called Goliath, so we’ve nicknamed it Big G.

‘With our current van being such a rush, we want to put some love into this one and really take our time,’ says Leanne. And, entertainingly, you can watch the transformation of Big G on their Instagram page.

Another log goes on the campfire, and we wrap ourselves in VOITED blankets, a product they’ve used for years – ‘pretty much since we started van life’. ‘That’s the good thing about VOITED: the products are made to last. We’ve had the same blanket since we started. And they all fold into pillows, which is perfect for a small space.

‘You come back from a day surfing, you sit around a fire, you’ve got a nice warm blanket. It’s so good, especially when everyone comes to visit – no one goes cold.

‘It’s such good gear for van life. We’ve used the products in every country, every climate, from Scotland to Spain’.

‘I think in the new van we’re going to have a VOITED cupboard,’ laughs Leanne. ‘A dedicated VOITED cupboard space!’

In south Cornwall, the intricacies of the landscape – the jagged outcrops and water-carved inlets – make the scenery so beautiful, so dramatic, that it’s almost impossible to pull yourself away. Leanne, Billy and Willow don’t have to, not yet, not until the pull of Morocco or Albania, Spain or the North becomes too great.

Van life, it seems, is a choice. A choice for freedom, a choice that celebrates the journey. It’s not always easy, and it’s not always pleasant. But for Leanne, Billy and Willow, it’s in the pauses between destinations – the quiet coves, the backroads, the nights around a campfire – that the real adventure unfolds. The places in between are not just stops along the way. They are home.