Timeless Simple Living in a Beautiful Tiny House Truck

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Thanks again Odoo for sponsoring this video and helping to make what we do possible. It's so easy for us to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the hectic modern world and I feel that today so many of us are craving a simpler and more intentional way of life. And here in Devon we're about to meet an incredible couple who have made that possible for themselves not only by building an exceptionally beautiful tiny house but also by engaging some ancient crafts. Hi Sian how are you? Hi I'm good thank you how are you? Very well thank you great to meet you. G'day Joseph how are you doing? G'day I'm good thank you how are you? Very well thank you it is such a pleasure to be here and what an amazing setup you guys have here. Thanks very much yeah appreciate that yeah so this is our truck Sam Robin it is a 1988 811D so it's coming up 38 years old and we bought it in 2017. We thought it would take us six months to convert it but it ended up taking us about three which I think is probably a similar three years yeah three years a similar story for most people who buy these trucks. We named one of my sisters who's no longer here unfortunately and then when we were converting it we had a robin that used to fly in we used to feed it so we thought you know combine the two and that's how we came up with the name. And what was it that inspired you to do all of this? I think we were how old would we have been maybe mid to late 20s and we were thinking what what are we going to do with our lives? Wanted to go traveling we knew that but at the time we had two cats so we had to incorporate the cats into the travel plans and from there it just escalated really. Yeah Sean's completely right we didn't really think oh we need a truck for us we were just thinking purely about our cats really. Some lucky cats. Yeah exactly we've only got one of them now so he's you know he's got a life of luxury in there. I did. Yeah but yeah Sean's right you know he wants to go traveling and I think have a bit more of a flexible kind of life really more varied life rather than just working the constant nine to five. At the time we were up in Nottingham so we were living in the city and working full-time and just sort of thinking do we do this forever? We weren't sure what we wanted it didn't quite fit with what we felt we needed as people and then yeah we converted the horsebox moved to Devon and just changed our way of life really. Yeah. It's been really nice. Well you are absolutely worlds away from the city right now parked up here on this beautiful property right by the river too it does not get any more idyllic than this does it? No not at all yeah we're really lucky to be parked here we've been here for coming up to a couple of years now in the south of Devon and basically we travel from farm to farm predominantly with my work so we basically park up on sites while I carry out specific projects those particular projects involve traditional boundary crafts such as dry stone walls here in Devon we've got something called a Devon bank and then also hedge laying as well so it's kind of seasonal work for me stone work during the spring and summer come autumn winter it's into the hedgerows and rejuvenating hedgerows. What a fantastic way of life and how brilliant that you can connect amazing parking spots like this with your work as well because that's a very very niche craft that you're in isn't it? Yeah absolutely yeah they're crafts that have been going on for hundreds of years but there's not a ton of people that do them but they're really important features of the landscape particularly in the southwest. Yeah wonderful and Sian you're able to work from here as well aren't you? Yeah so I've got my little shepherd's hut so we needed a space that was confidential for me as a psychotherapist right so I couldn't really work in the horsebox while Joseph is in there of course so while we're here I've got my little own private space and I can go in there and work from there which is really lovely. What a dream situation you've created for yourselves. Yeah thank you. And this incredible track that you've created you did all of this renovation work yourselves didn't you? That's right yeah we did 90% of it things like gas electricity sure we left to the professionals wouldn't feel comfortable doing it but yeah what you can see insides and outsides both of us did it ourselves zero DIY experience which you might be able to tell when you have a look inside. You've never even put up a shelf I don't think. Right no no but you know thanks to things like YouTube, books, Instagram and you know you know this well yourselves there's a really special community of people that yeah build and convert vehicles or you know buildings so we've got a lot of help from people and made some really good I think it is a really great thing about that DIY community is that everybody's willing to lend a hand and if you don't know the answer to a question it's only an internet forum away. Exactly yeah completely you did a lot of things again you know a few things in there we've probably done two or three times we might even do again at some point in the future but you know we're really happy with how it's come on we've done a little bit of work to it recently put a new kitchen in new sofa and we'll probably change a few things again but as it is at the moment yeah really happy with it and we needed to plan everything from scratch because nothing was straight in there yeah and our kind of mindset was to use as much reclaimed material as possible there are a few things we had to buy new for example battens inside but apart from that I would say the vast majority of it is got a bit of a story to tell itself yeah yeah so that was probably for me anyway the most enjoyable part of the process was finding old things to put in there that told the story themselves yeah and I think when you take that approach you just end up building so much more character into the house yeah definitely beautiful timber on the track too thanks very much so that's Siberian larch that is one of the things that we we kind of bought new but we kind of had to really yeah the original woods was completely rotten it's kind of charred timber it adds an extra layer of durability to it and then we bumped into a traditional boat builder here in Devon actually oh wow he suggested a really good oil that we've used which is wood skin and yeah I wouldn't ever use anything else you can see it's beading really nicely yeah so we've never had any problems with water and grass at all it's been really good I think it's 12 millimeters thick insulated with sheep's wool and it's got the cladding inside great but yeah really happy with the finish of the wood boat builders know all the tricks don't they do indeed yeah I love the porthole window as well there's a bronze porthole I think that one's about 150 years old it got taken off a shrimp boat which is in Boston Massachusetts wow we've got that shipped over you might see our cat peering out there at some point he likes to stick out and see what's going around it's his spot eh it's his spot yeah exactly yeah yeah and what size is the track so this is seven and a half tons it's about seven and a half meters long yep we have a few issues with the height the height is about 3.8 at the moment it's probably 4.2 with the flu but we can take the flu off so without the flu yeah it's about 3.8 meters we needed something where we've got some headroom yeah and also I feel like when you're in there because of the height it feels quite spacious I think yeah and then we've got the bed above the cab as well so we needed that extra height for the bed so I think that works well yeah it does and you've been all over the place in this thing haven't you yeah we did a big trip in 2023 yeah we spent nine months traveling we spent three months in France we got the ferry to Ireland and then we got the ferry down to Spain and then we spent a lot of time you know Spain Switzerland's Italy wow so yeah on that trip we did about 12,000 miles in the truck it drove really really well to be honest we probably trust it more than we trust our car and our car's a lot newer yeah no it ran really well yeah it was a great trip well already I'm completely enamored not only with the house truck but with the amazing life that you've created for yourselves here on the land and I cannot wait to see what you've done on the inside of this this is absolutely spectacular this whole house is like a wonderful collection of treasures yeah thank you very much there's lots of things going on in here but I think they all kind of work together so we've spent a lot of time over the years collecting little different things which is like really old things that have got a bit of a story to tell these two candle holders are probably my favorite things in here they're from America but really old kind of folk art candles you can see you've got the birch wood and birch twigs and we've added a few things to them we try and collect things when we're traveling so we pick up pieces of art or we've got flowers that we've pressed and some grapes from a vine in France that we pressed as well just to put up to kind of remind us of our travels and connect us to the places that we've been yeah and you're so right about the extra height in here as well because immediately standing in this space it really does feel quite spacious in here yeah it does yeah I think that's a really really big plus it adds to that not feeling too cramped in here we've we've left the ceiling white which I think definitely helps it never feels too cramped does it and also we've got different spaces so I think if we do want to do things separately then one of us can be on the sofa one person can be on the pew behind you or maybe even in the bedroom and it always feels like we've got enough room which is nice yeah beautiful placement of all of the windows and doors in here as well especially those incredible back doors being able to open that out and just have the house completely immersed in nature what a nice feature yeah you're completely right that was Sian's idea those back doors they're double glazed reclaimed doors when it's not so windy like it is today we can open them up and you know like so you really let nature in so they're absolutely amazing in summertime yeah I think even when you're inside you feel like you're outside you feel like you're connected to what's happening outside which is so important yeah absolutely yeah and I love what you've created with this living room as well beautiful comfy looking sofa and those windows especially right now looking out onto that river how idyllic could it be yeah it's absolutely beautiful yes you've got a medieval bridge over there you've got the you've got the river running past which we can hear got kingfishers flying past so yeah it's a really really special view and where it's been a bit colder we had the fire on a couple of days ago and that was really lovely having the fire on watching the fire and then also looking at the river behind it just perfect yeah and it is a really beautiful character fire as well thank you yes that's a 50s yotel it's a Norwegian stove cast iron probably a little bit too big for what we need in here so we have to be careful how many logs we put on the fire yeah it's a lovely lovely stove and you know if we want to cook on it when it gets hot we can do that as well or put the kettle on so I can make a cup of tea it never feels cold in here and I think the sheep's wool does a really good job but yeah the log burner is yeah it really plays its part during those colder months yeah we love it absolutely there's nothing cozier in winter than cuddling up next to a fire right absolutely and the kitchen I absolutely love the way that you've tackled this space first up this live edge counter is beautiful thank you very much so this is an ash that was sourced from a windfell tree probably about five six miles away from here so yeah we've kept the live edge on and it's a really big space it gives us plenty of room to cook and prepare foods we did have an oven in here we took the oven out which didn't really use it anymore so it's almost like a bit of a waste of space we replaced that with a two ring hob which is just much simpler to use and then we've got a willow basket that we had a lady make for us recently that goes and replaces the oven and we think it works so much more effectively yeah I think it kind of adds into the outside inside part of it as well that we've kept lots of natural textures and we've got you know plants and the wood and it just feels like you're outdoors when you're inside gorgeous tiles in here too thank you we spent a lot of time looking for tiles hunting around lots of different places and they're actually they're french vintage potentially effect the idea is kind of french farmhouse type style that's what we wanted to go for and we used a flexible grout as well so that when we're traveling and it's moving slightly they're okay we've got a 22 mil copper pipe that we've used a ball peen hammer just to give it a bit of texture yeah simple brass rings here we can hang all our mugs and pans off and that works really well and the copper sink here is another really nice addition thank you so that's yeah copper jam pan sink that is from france it's a big sink we probably could have got away with a smaller one but you know we can at least put all our stuff in there at the same time and we've got the brass and the copper taps to match we love the sink really nice rustic approach that you've taken with the shelving and storage in here as well thank you so we've used reclaimed apple crates for the middle section again that's reclaimed crates on the left we've painted the front white just to kind of match the other spaces going on we've got three reclaimed drawers here this is an old tobacco drawer this is an old starch drawer from america and this is our favorite this is the original heinz baked beans crates that we managed to find uh we've had quite a few people asked to buy it off us but yeah we really like that one it's a really cool drawer as well as using reclaimed materials we've tried to engage as many local craftspeople as well we're really fortunate here in devon and cornwall we've got some absolutely amazing people on the doorstep making brilliant things so for example we've got a lady up on the hill she's an absolutely fantastic potter we've got a lot of her stuff in here there's a chap about half an hour from here who makes original devon stave baskets that's where we keep our logs and we've got a candlestick as well it's been carved into an owl which i absolutely love it's one of my favorite pieces in here you are so lucky in this area to have so many of these wonderful craftsmen because you do see this stuff everywhere walking down the shops and there really is just such a treasure trove of people here absolutely yeah completely agree it's a real hub for talent down here and what about power water and services here in the house truck so we are off grid we've got two leisure batteries they do the updating got a lithium battery and storage that we're going to put on solar on the roof as well again that needs updating we've got a victron system set up so we've got an inverter inverter charger so we can have things up to about 2000 watts in here great we can run the aircon when we're not hooked up onto mains through the inverter but that's at the limit in terms of water we've got 170 liters of fresh water and the same with the waste as well we've also got an lpg tank which is about 40 liters and that will last us easily four to six months and it's really cheap to fill up so it's about a pound a liter so it's really really good perfect and then what do we have through this door here so through that door we've got our bathroom so we felt it was really important when we are off grid that we've got a a sink as well so through there yeah we bought a composting toilet and then we made a separate shower cubicle and actually underneath the toilet as well is lenny's toilet so we we created a separate compartment for lenny's litter tray so that he can go in and it's outside of the space here and he's got his own little compartment so it's nice and clean for him i love the way that you've done the timber shower tray as well that is especially unusual thank you so we had to pay particular attention that because sometimes we're parked we can be a little bit off level yeah each side kind of pivots into the center so the water will always drain and we use teak wood for that so it's a really good durable timber yeah and again beautiful tile and copper work in the bathroom as well thank you so we try to match the copper that's in in the kitchen uh into that particular space as well the tiles are different but again they match what's going on in here so we try to kind of make it consistent with other places in the truck yeah fantastic and up above the cab is your sleeping loft and this just looks like the coziest space that you've created up here yeah it really is the main thing that we wanted was a skylight right above our heads so that especially here but when we're off grid and in places that are more remote we can see the stars and we can watch the stars when we're in bed which was our main design point actually i think and then the porthole is really lovely as well to look out of in the morning and it's just yeah it's really cozy up there when you've had the fire lit it stays warm up there as well which is is really really nice and i love the detail around the window too thank you so that's a leftover piece of copper from the fireplace again it's hand beaten uh with a ball peen hammer to give that textured effect so yeah it's just a spare bit of copper leftover and we decided to put it over the porthole we think it works really nicely it really does and how do you get on for storage in the house we get on really well actually we've got a big cupboard here that has all our clothes and we've also got our boiler at the bottom as well we've got as you can see plenty of storage in the kitchen i've got a big one here big cupboards and we've got cupboards behind me that you can see so we've got plenty of storage i think we could always have a little bit more you do find that you slowly build up stuff so every now and again you do need to have a bit of a clear out but overall we've got plenty of storage in here and it works pretty well yeah brilliant and you've been living here for quite a while now haven't you so we've been in the truck now since 2022 i believe yeah been on site here for about 18 months on and off we'll probably be here for another another nine ten months and then the project here will be complete and then we'll move on to the next farm and carry on with a different piece of work yeah how are you finding life here in the house truck i think it's working really well we weren't quite sure initially when we moved in how long we would be in here for if we'd like it full-time we've done holidays in it but that's quite different isn't it to living in it yeah but then actually we love it it's been really nice we feel like we do have enough space we like feeling like we're outdoors even when we're inside and now when we've been in a house we can feel a little bit claustrophobic at times we feel a little bit like we can't see the outside so much and it's just very different to this yeah totally agree yeah and you've done such a beautiful job with the construction of this home as well in a way this is like getting to live in your own work of art wow thank you very much um i really appreciate that yeah we've put a lot of time and a lot of kind of soul into the builds we've thought about everything and everything in here means something to us we haven't just put it in here and got it finished as quickly as possible which is why it took so long so every time we step in here we do really feel like we're at home yeah we absolutely love it yeah and i think one of the things that i really love about what you've done is that not only have you created such a beautiful home that offers you so much beauty and so much flexibility but you've also so wonderfully been able to intertwine your working lives with this lifestyle as well yeah it works really well for me i'm really lucky i can walk to work it will take me five or ten minutes i get to know the customers who i'm doing the work for a lot better than verse if i was just commuting every day so we've almost got a partnership with the project on site which works in my opinion a lot better than me just going home you can also help out and other things as well going on the farm for example we help with the geese and the chickens so apart from just doing the actual project itself we can help with other things and for me i can work from in here when we're abroad joseph just goes out for the day i can do some work and then we come back and we can relax in the evening yeah yeah perfect i think it represents part of us certainly it represents a stage in our life i think it probably represents our love for like the outdoors and nature you kind of respect it a bit more don't you seeing it every day i think for me because we had no experience in building anything like this it's really good reminder that actually we can completely change things and we can do something new and we can learn stuff from scratch and it's quite nice to look around and think oh we built this just from nothing yeah it's given us a lot of confidence in taking things on that we've never done before and making changes i think yeah and obviously this house was such a labour of love for you both and you spent so much time creating all of these wonderful treasures and materials to make this possible can we talk about the cost that was involved in bringing this project to life yeah so initially we started with a spreadsheet and a budget and then actually after a while we just stopped updating it we forgot about the budget we don't actually really know the full cost of the build yeah yeah yeah and now obviously you're incredibly well set up on the land and this parking spot is absolutely beautiful but i love that this has just given you so much freedom and flexibility and once the project here is finished you'll be set up on another farm doing the same thing somewhere else yeah absolutely yeah it gives us lots of flexibility i think that particular setup works well for the client as well to know that they've always got somebody on site uh but yeah certainly gives us lots of flexibility especially my work i suppose i can go to i go to farms all over the southwest i'm not focused on one particular area if i pick up a job in you know far west cornwall we can go do that we can go do that job um so you know to go see different locations across the southwest different areas different people it's really special yeah and more travel on the horizon for you both where's next so this year we're going to be staying in the uk that's the plan we're thinking maybe scotland nice we might go up to scotland yeah because of my job at the minute we're staying in the uk so we're going to do lots of travel around here maybe wales scotland the lake district places that we've not explored yet yeah well this is just such a beautiful place and there's so much to explore here you really can't go wrong traveling in the uk can you completely agree yeah the uk is a really special place well i just think this really is the most incredible home that you have created for yourselves everywhere i look i just see absolute beauty thank you so much for sharing your home with me thank you thank you for coming all my pleasure here sean and joseph have created not only the most beautiful home for themselves but also an absolutely exquisite way of life in many ways it feels as though they've reached into the past and taken the very best elements of that but also look to the future and this wonderful way of life that we all know is possible for ourselves and created the absolute best blend of both this is such an inspiring space to be in and i am just finding myself completely in awe of the life that they've created for themselves here