A year living in Edith the Caravan
It’s been just over a year since we officially moved into Edith, the caravan.
A year in, and we’re still loving our tiny home on wheels!
After experiencing six months of full-time van life traveling in Amber the Camper, followed by a few weeks staying with relatives, we were ready to have our own living space again. We were thrilled to move in after we renovated her in February last year.
She has all the comforts of home: a little kitchen with hobs and an oven, a small shower room/toilet, and the boys even have their own bedroom with fixed bunks! Our living room transforms into a bedroom, and although we still have to assemble and disassemble our bed, it feels a lot easier than the usual morning routine of rearranging the living space, which we used to do when living in Amber. In fact, once it’s set up, our bed in Edith is huge—like super king-sized! Our awning also gives us a whole extra living area. We have a proper little living room set up in there, and we’ll be adding a kitchen area so we can cook there soon too.
If you’d told us a few years ago that we’d be living in a caravan and loving it, we would have thought you were mad! But we both agree that if it were just the two of us, we’d happily live the rest of our lives in Edith. We have everything we need in our caravan and are super comfy in her.
Striping back all aspects of our life
In our “old life” we’d filled a whole three bedroom house with “stuff”.But there is something very liberating about stripping back all aspects of your life to the bare minimum. You gain a stronger appreciation for the simple things in life. Stripping back allows you to live more intentionally, to focus on experiences rather than possessions, and to embrace simplicity as a form of freedom. In doing so, you create room for growth, peace, and a deeper connection with the world around you.
That being said, the boys are growing fast, and we know in a couple of years they’ll outgrow their triple bunk and little bedroom, and they need more space. For now, though, we’re all very comfy, and we’ve even survived a winter in her, fully off-grid, and really haven’t found it too tough.
The biggest challenge we’ve faced
The biggest challenge we’ve faced living in a caravan over winter has been dealing with the condensation that can quickly build up, especially at night. It’s frightening how fast this can turn into mould! To prevent this, every morning we crack open all the windows and wipe away any condensation. We have moisture catchers all over the caravan, in the corners, etc. We make sure the space is well-ventilated, especially when cooking, showering etc.
This summer will be our first summer in Central Portugal, and we know that in a few weeks, our biggest issue will be figuring out how to keep our tiny home cool! We’ll need to come up with some kind of shade solution soon and figure out how to keep everything from melting inside when temperatures start averaging in the mid-40s for weeks on end.
But for now, we are loving our tiny home. The feeling of waking up to daylight pouring in through the skylight, then watching the sunrise over the mountains, is priceless.
If you fancy a nose at the video Jeff created when renovating Edith the Caravan, you can check it out here.
