Our good friends Camper Dreamin' live, breathe and work the campervan dream - hence the name. If they're not in the workshop building one-of-a-kind, bespoke campers for clients, they're in their own beautiful van, having awe-inspiring adventures on the road.
We met Laurie, Izzy and Bear at a festival a number of years ago and instantly fell in love with them. They are the most lovely, down-to-earth humans, with a passion for what they do and so incredibly talented. They are clearly happiest when surrounded by nature and "the wild", and would ditch 4 walls for 4 wheels at the drop of a hat. Laurie and Izzy began converting in 2017, birthing "Camper Dreamin" shortly after. Our Shepherd™ Stove fits perfectly in their conversions and it has been so lovely to be able to work with them on bringing fire into their beautiful designs. We caught up with them a while back and they very kindly answered some of our burning questions :) Check out their website here.
How did you get into converting?
Our greatest love has always been to travel. Everyone who knows us, knows we are always planning the next big adventure. About 10 years ago, the focus of our travels began to be less about new countries and cultures and more about losing ourselves in nature and wilderness. We swapped hostels for campervan rentals, opted for wheels instead of wings and took to the roads to feed our travel bug. We fell in love with the lifestyle and were instantly hooked. It didn’t take us long to discover the world of converted campervans and as soon as we did we knew we needed to build one for ourselves to feed our road tripping travel bug.
Tell us about the first van you converted.
The first van we ever converted was a Vauxhall Vivaro lovingly called Yosemite. We transformed the old painters van into the ultimate adventure wagon and hit the road every moment we could. Even though we’ve since built two more vans for ourselves and ten (and counting) vans for our customers, Yosemite will always hold the biggest piece of our hearts.
What is the most interesting request you've had from a customer for their van conversion specifics?
We converted a van for a musician who wanted to use her van as a music studio as well as for her travels. We had to build a specialist drawer for her piano. We had so much fun doing it!
You installed our Shepherd™Stove in your gorgeous van Skye, tell us what you love about our stove :) (installation tips etc)?
It’s safe to say we absolutely adore our Shepherd™ Stove. Wood burning stoves are our favourite way to heat a campervan as put out a dry, consistent and silent heat plus created an unbeatable ambience. We used to install another brand of wood burner but as soon as we discovered the Shepherd™ Stove we haven’t looked back. The window rarely gets dirty so we can enjoy watching the flames at all times, the ability to top load the stove is a game changer and visually, the Shepherd beats all other stoves hands down.
You also use our Portable Frontier and Enamel version - tell us about how you are using these on your van adventure escapes :)
They are a camp essential for us! Our favourite way to spent an evening at camp is cooking a slow meal on the Frontier™ Stove. You get the campfire experience without the hassle of getting smoked out thanks to the chimney and the legs mean it leaves no trace.
What's your favourite stove-top recipe - we know Laurie is the pizza king, but what's your go-to meal to rustle up on the Frontier?
My favourite cooks are always low and slow. I like to take time cooking (all part of the experience for me) and let the flavours develop. My go to dish is a slow cooked campfire chilli. It’s really easy to chuck the tortillas on the stove at the end too.
In your opinion, what are your 3 most important campervan must-haves?
I’m going to assume gadget must haves here rather than campervan specs.
Frontier™ Stove.
Omnia oven - oven cooking on the stove top.
Cast aluminium dutch oven - great for all manner of cooks but light.
You’ll notice these are all cooking related!
Any other lovely stories you can share :)
I’ll share perhaps one our favourite moments on the road in our van Skye. We were road tripping through the Alps and braved a VERY narrow mountain lane to head up high into the peaks so we could find a campsite with a good view. It was sketchy to say the least and involved a lot of squealing from me. Laurie of course was cool as a cucumber. Our bravery was rewarded with spectacular views over the Swiss mountains and the view point to ourselves for the night. The only sounds came from the cattle bells deep in the valley and the dawn delivered the most beautiful sight. It was pure magic and is a moment that will stay with us forever.
You can follow Laurie, Izzy and Bear on Instagram @camperdreamin
