We’ve built our own motor rhome

THE explosion of the motorhome market comes as no surprise to Lee Hulcoop and Sarah Symes.

The couple, from Sparkwell, Devon, bought their first van in 2019, which they spent a year renovating into a campervan.

After selling that vehicle, Lee and Sarah (pictured) bought another van last year and have made it their lockdown project to renovate it. Lee, 41, says: ‘We had two holidays cancelled in the last year so we just decided to invest in our van this year.

‘It’s amazing how many people are buying motorhomes and vans now. People are

frustrated because they’ve had all their control taken away from them due to covid

‘And having a campervan is so freeing - Sarah and I know we can go anywhere we like every weekend, which is so much easier than booking flights and holidays.’

Sarah, 34, adds: ‘It’s an upward trend. Now that people have seen the value in holidaying at home and in campervans they will fall in love

with it — like we did.’

Sarah and Lee, who both a work in the defence sector, are documenting their campervan renovation on their YouTube channel: Lee & Sarah Vanlife.

FIRST-TIME buyer Helena Butcher, 24, credits lockdown with helping her save for her first home — despite being on and off furlough for five months.

Helena, from Colchester, Essex, estimates she saved 90 pc of her income during lockdown as she was living with her family and saving money on rent, commuting costs and outgoings. Even when she was furloughed from her job at a travel insurance company last September, she was still able to scrape together the funds for her new property.

With the help of her partner Joseph Deacon, 24, she has now managed to put down a 15 pc deposit on her new £230,000 home in Ilford, Essex. Helena says: ‘We actually started saving just before the pandemic. But lockdown definitely helped as we weren’t going out.

‘I also wasn’t commuting during the first