Ben John, 38, had always dreamed of living in a caravan as a child after growing up on a council estate in Leeds, UK.
After moving down to Bournemouth, Dorset, aged 23 he spent his twenties socialising before realising six years ago that he wanted a quieter life.
He bought a touring caravan for just £1,000 and moved it onto a residential site - surrounded by nature.
Ben upgraded it a year ago to a newer £5,000 caravan and spends just £90-a-week on rent, council tax and water.
In the summer Ben spends £20-a-month on electric, and a £100 in winter and £60 on diesel for heating.
After moving down to Bournemouth, Dorset, aged 23 he spent his twenties socialising before realising six years ago that he wanted a quieter life.
He bought a touring caravan for just £1,000 and moved it onto a residential site - surrounded by nature.
Ben upgraded it a year ago to a newer £5,000 caravan and spends just £90-a-week on rent, council tax and water.
In the summer Ben spends £20-a-month on electric, and a £100 in winter and £60 on diesel for heating.
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FunTranscript
00:00100% guys you can live in a caravan full-time and it's legal I've lived in
00:04my caravan this one here for actually this one's a new one so a year here but
00:10I was literally over the other side of the campsite which is over there for
00:16five years full-time 12 months a year this 100% has to be a lifestyle choice
00:21if you like your home comforts and you like your luxuries it's probably not
00:25gonna work for you one example you have to empty your own toilet and there's a
00:31cartridge in there which when it's full you get a light that comes on inside
00:35that pulls out and then there's a tray there so that's basically your toilet
00:41you go and empty that in like this loose area and then obviously put yeah I don't
00:46know it's called blue stuff in there keep it smelling nice yeah is where we
00:49top up the water I think it's 50 liters inside which basically gives me a shower
00:54and I can wash up probably twice and make a few coffees not using this at
00:59the moment but in the winter we have a diesel heater an awning is completely
01:04your choice you don't have to have one but I mean I like the outside space and
01:08then obviously got the garden area so it's just I mean you look around so
01:18peaceful this is like a little ledge makeshift ledge that I built myself just
01:27put tarpaulin on it because when it rains because it's on an angle there
01:29you just get wet through when you're walking in and out the zip the floor is
01:33a decking floor basically it's like a deck yeah it's like decking on stilts
01:36and then I've put underlay down and then carpet on top of that big mirror fridge
01:40and freezer that's a big chest freezer I think there's gonna I think I've got
01:43like a bag of chips in there that's it you need one of these 100% in an
01:48awning throughout winter especially I keep mine on constantly the dehumidifier
01:52because otherwise and I've made this mistake before my last awning was
01:56covered in mold damp and it smells and it's because of the the moisture and the
02:01damp so this is a must I leave it on constantly it costs like pence to run I
02:05think it's like 2p an hour sure that I've missed loads out there but if you
02:08need to know anything guys just comment and I'll let you know this is inside the
02:12caravan so I've taken out a bit of the sofa there because it gives you more
02:15space you all know Suki by now and I added a desk as well I took out
02:23because they had like a dinette there you know like the two chairs with a
02:25table in the middle I took them out and put a desk there instead and yeah not
02:32much worktop space but it's alright it does the job there's my spag bol I cooked
02:37earlier ready for later for me obviously I don't have kids do I so a desk is more
02:42practical for me so that's where I sit and do my study and whatnot you saw
02:47from my previous video the toilet situation so obviously that light comes
02:52on down there it goes like it turns red when it's full and that's when you know
02:55to empty it but obviously you know what a shower looks like this is the bedroom
03:00a big I think it's king-size bed even though I don't get to like use much of
03:04it because the dog and the cat take up most of the space but yeah ignore all
03:08that I saw my washing bagged up ready to go now this is a godsend because you
03:12can hide so much shit and the springs have gone the hydraulic spring things
03:16but thank God for a didgeridoo there is a microwave which I don't use
03:21because I don't like them the fridge doesn't work the hob is brilliant
03:25because the gas bottle lasts probably a year and I use a halogen oven the water
03:30tank that I showed you earlier in the in the part one and fills up and it comes
03:34in underneath where Suki is now so you've got a big tank under there which
03:38is controlled by it's like an emergent switch is that you call it and then
03:42this thing here shows you how much water you've got left so obviously goes down
03:45when the tank gets empty and the diesel heater is under that sofa and then it
03:52comes out of the vents there which warms the whole caravan in fact it gets too
03:56hot to be fair no I don't live in a caravan because it's cheaper it's a
03:59common misconception 90% of people like the first thing to say is oh is it
04:04because it's cheap no it's because I choose this life like it's hard for some
04:08people to get their head around in it I left a home I gave up my home to buy a
04:11caravan to live in the middle of a field because I wanted to and I think if you
04:15if you're gonna do if you want to do caravan life because you think it's
04:18gonna be cheaper you're doing it for the wrong reasons you have to want to do it
04:21I mean there's people like everybody on my site you ask anybody they do it
04:26because they want to know because it's cheaper not it's not to do with saving
04:29money it's actually just because it's a way of life and I think there's a
04:33certain you've got to be a certain sort of person to live the caravan life the
04:36lady I bought my caravan from she regrets it she regrets selling it
04:40because she hates being back in bricks-and-mortar and that's what you
04:43find a lot of people leave this site and they come back because they don't
04:45like it how mad is that but yeah it's hard for I think it's because it's so out
04:49the out of the the norm in it I don't know but it's just something that I've
04:54always wanted to do since I was a kid yeah I love it