Blog-Van life

Here at Thistle Rose Leisure, we are always on hand to answer any of your questions surrounding campervans and campervan conversions. But to make things a little more convenient for you, we’ve put together a guide of everything you need to know about the process of creating the perfect campervan, and how owning one can improve your lifestyle and sense of freedom!

Any van can be converted into a campervan. Typically, we deal with VW Transporters and Ford Transit Customs as they offer the most spacious options for campervans on the market. Both offer a compact, yet roomy feel to the campervan, and they’re practical enough to be able to fit in regular parking spaces. Just perfect for when you’re on holiday in the campervan and need to pop to the shops or explore new places. We can specially adapt and customise any van into a campervan, the usual suspects being the two popular vans mentioned above but also the Nissan NV200, Fiat Ducato, Peugeot Boxer and Citroen Relay vans. So, if you’re unsure about purchasing a van or if you have one already to be converted, you can always have a chat with us to discuss the best options for you.

Our friendly team can assist you in choosing the perfect layout for your family’s needs. Depending on what type of holiday you intend to you use your camper for, and with how many people, would all lead into the design choice of the layout. For example, we can fit the kitchen to allow space for 2 or 3 rear seats, which would have a kitchen along the length of the side panel of the camper. Also in larger models, we can incorporate a Gangway design which has seating along the side of the van, which can lead into the camper feeling somewhat more homely. We can design a ‘bed over garage’ layout which is basically a permanently fixed bed above a large locker to the rear. For more information and visual examples of our layouts, simply click here.

Liberating. In one word. Whether you’re a couple wanting a different way to holiday, a family with young children who want to have the freedom to explore on your own terms or approaching the age of retirement and finally deciding that you want to travel and sightsee at your own pace, campervans offer the perfect solution! Ditch the regimented way of hotel life of having set meals and check in times and opt to travel more at your own leisure. We like to tailor each campervan conversion unique to your needs. If you need more compact space for travelling for longer periods of time, we can factor that in. If you like to bring everything but the kitchen sink and have a more homely level of comfort, we can accommodate that too.

Owning a campervan dramatically increases your freedom to travel. Instead of booking ahead for months in advance for hotel rooms or resorts, as long as you have the fuel to drive your campervan, you can set off whenever you’re ready. The sense of liberation that you can feel in one of our Volkswagen Transporters or customised Ford Transit Customs will benefit you for years to come. Additionally, it provides you with the luxury to stop and rest whenever you please. There are schemes now set up by hospitality and leisure venues whereby they offer their carparks and land free of charge for pitching up for overnight stopovers in your camper, so there are so many cost-effective ways in which to utilise your new sense of freedom.

One of the benefits of choosing a campervan conversion is that you can adapt your campervan to take up no more than an ordinary parking space. You can choose to keep this at home or nearby, allowing you to pack up and go whenever you desire. The days of the camper being left on the driveway under a cover for 50 weeks of the year seem to be long gone. We find most of our customers tend to really utilise their campers throughout the whole year. Often in the colder months, they might go off on shorter trips perhaps for 1-2 nights at the weekend, then in the summer months they really stretch the camper’s legs and take it further afield whether that’s up to the Scottish Highlands, down to Cornwall or even hopping across the channel into Europe if they’re feeling adventurous!

Purchasing or converting a campervan will be one of the best investments you can possibly make. It creates a desire to be on the road and take breaks from it to admire all the natural beauty that the United Kingdom and beyond has to offer, at your own leisure. If you spot a new place that you’d love to stop at, you can! No need to worry about being there to check in on time at a hotel, you can continue your journey as you please. Our owner Peter quite enjoys being able to spot a nearby pub when he fancies a spot of lunch and take a break from the road, and with one of our campervan conversions, you can too!

If you’d like any more information out our campervan conversions or if you’d like to arrange an initial fact find meeting so we can assess your requirements in more detail, please get in touch with a member of the team today, and we’d be delighted to help!