Using your motorhome during lockdown 2.0

Back in March I encouraged everyone to make the most of the fantastic weather and, if they were fortunate enough to have one, get camping in their gardens and driveway. It didn’t matter whether you had a make-shift shelter, tents, campervan, motorhome or caravan. With this second lockdown beginning as we move from a stormy autumn into a cold winter those of us with motorhomes and caravans are best placed to continue to make use of our second, temporarily immobile, homes.

During the past lockdown, with the schools closed, one of the main ways we used our Bailey Alliance SE was for the kids. In the morning it became a classroom, set apart from the familiarity of the home. In some of the hotter afternoons, it became a playroom to draw, do crafts and puzzles with the windows wide open to let in the breeze but offering shade from the unusual bout of heat we received. This time around, with the kids still in school, we’re planning,  and have already instigated, a difference emphasis – the grown-ups.

Like many we’re taking the time at home to improve things. We’re currently converting the spare room into Bex’s studio and office. It’s mostly cosmetic but since it won’t be a swift task, we’ve moved her equipment into the motorhome. I’ll continue to use the motorhome as my office as it’s like working in the garden except with central heating. It also gives us some privacy and peace when the boys are at home so I’ll be continuing to use it for the podcast and live streaming events I’ll be conducting over lockdown.

This isolation means both Bex and myself will use it as a quiet space to take a break from the overly familiar interior of our house and the chaos that it often contains. Finally, as a treat, I have the idea to take Bex out for lunch when the kids are at school. There’s a lovely little local café I know which is open to us over lockdown. It may bear a remarkable resemblance to the motorhome.

Of course, we haven’t forgotten the kids and the need for them to get a break from the same four walls of home. In our motorhome’s capacity as a summer house we’re using it for indoor/outdoor jobs like building a wormery with my five-year-old. He has plans to turn the motorhome into a laboratory… however; I doubt the upholstery would survive his experiments so I may have to draw a line there!

And we are still using it for family activities on the weekend. In the first weekend of the English lockdown we cooked and served Sunday Lunch and baked winter cakes (at least the mess was slightly more contained). Over the coming weeks we have plans for cinema evenings, more baking and craft session and even an End-of-Lockdown/Christmas party… we remain optimistic we’ll be free by early December.

So whether it becomes are place for play, peace or practice, teaching or talking, romance or reading, cooking or crafts or even, if my eldest had his way, experiments of explosive conclusion, we should all appreciate the huge asset we have parked up outside and seek to use it to help us whether this storm.

Stay safe and well.