Amazing Spaces FAQ

Apologies for the lack of blog posts, we’ve been really busy trying to find new places to park up (separate blog on this coming), getting ‘rid’ of our storage unit (so close, but not quite managed it yet).

We’ve also been fielding a lot of questions over on Instagram about our feature on ‘Amazing Spaces’.

A lot of really cool comments, and kind words – thank you for those!
Some very similar questions that keep being asked, so we’re putting them in this blog post to refer people to.

How much did the show pay you to take part ?

Straight in with the one everyone wants to know.
The answer is ‘Zilco, Zero, Nada, Nothing, Nought pence!’
Every build on the show is self funded.
When the crew are filming, they cover costs like lunch and that’s about it.

Why did you do it if you didn’t want money ?

For the experience !
It was a great opportunity to have something to look back on,  and it’s not everyday you get to have a project documented by a professional TV crew.
Plus, the research team are incredible, and if you needed them to find you something they would be at your disposal.
For instance, we had trouble locating someone to custom make our water tank.
If we had thought about it we could have asked the research team to find someone for us, we kind of forgot and ended up spending weeks sourcing it. Duh.

Do you get to see the episode first, and did you like it ?

No! None of the participants ever get to see their episode, we all have to wait until it airs.
Yes! We really liked ours, it was crazy to see how far we had come, and how much had been achieved.

I’ve heard that George Clarke is really up himself ?

How can anyone think that ?!
George is actually the most down to earth, genuine person you’re likely to meet.
Just look at everything he does for charity, and to raise awareness on issues that matter.
Remember Grenfell ? Because most of the celebs that were all #PrayforGrenfell don’t seem to, and if they do they aren’t talking about it.
George Clarke has tirelessly campaigned for responsibility to be taken for Grenfell.
That’s just one example.
He was so kind to us, so encouraging, and positive about what we had achieved.

Did George Clarke actually do all that smashing up on the trailer, or was it for the camera?

Yes! He was there with us from 9am-5pm tearing out and smashing up the trailer.
That was real sweat – it was the hottest week of the year, and we had no Air Conditioning (Thank you Truma for making our awesome one we have now), there wasn’t even a breeze.
Bit of gossip –  He also had a bit of a ‘Diet Coke Break’ moment in the garden, a few ladies in the houses opposite were oggling !
Shirtless George was the talk of the town for a while.

How long did it actually take to finish the trailer ?

It took 6 months of hard graft for the show, but it was 10 months from delivery to move in.
We gave ourselves 12 weeks, because we had to work and earn money whilst building.
It was a 2 weeks on, 2 week off job.
So technically it took 12 weeks, just not consecutively.

I really want to buy a trailer like yours, can you share your supplier ?

Sure.
We bought our Silver Streak from Fletch in Upstate New York.
This is his website.
He is a straight up, honest, good guy.
We have no hesitation in recommending Fletch, and we consider him a friend now.
He helped us so much during the purchases, shipping, and beyond !

Where will your baby sleep when he’s older, that crib won’t fit him forever?

The hanging crib has never been used and is gone now !
There are 3 sleeping areas in the trailer.
1) The toddler sized daybed that you saw the crib hang over.
2) The back bedroom which has a 6×6 foot bed (altered with an electric bread knife!)
*Side note, there is a door that separates the bedroom from the rest of the trailer. It creates a bedroom with lots of privacy
It wasn’t shown on the show because it wasn’t finished at that point.
3) At the front of the trailer is our other sleeping area. The table drops down and the space converts into a 6foot x7.5foot bed.
So there are definitely options as he grows !

You sold your property, aren’t you scared of not being able to get back on the property ladder ?

Not at all.
We don’t have the desire to move back into a conventional house right now.
Right now the plan is to enjoy this tiny home, buy some land and over time build another alternative home.
We’ve scouted out some possible land for this, but it wasn’t quite right, so the search continues !

You said on the show you are now Debt Free congratulations, what kind of debt did you have ?

We didn’t have the normal debt of car loans or credit cards.
We had a Student Loan, and a large mortgage, which alot of people don’t consider a debt – we do though.
Without going into the assets vs liability argument, we will say that we are VERY happy not to be in mortgage debt anymore.

Why didn’t you keep your house and rent it out, did you need the money to do the trailer up ?

We did rent the house out so that we weren’t anchored to that area.
When we came to renew our landlord insurance, we had opposition from the mortgage company (because it wasn’t a buy to let mortgage originally) that made it feel as if we weren’t free to do what we wanted.
It was our call to action to sell up, and explore alternatives.

We did the trailer up from some savings we had, and the house didn’t sell until the week before the show ended.

You can’t tow that HUGE trailer can you ?

Yes, we can and do.
If you buy a trailer as long as ours, you will need to look at your licence and towing allowances.
Depending on your age, you may have to take 2 extra tests like us(if you passed before 1997 then you’re good to go).

Our friend John from 5th Wheel towing towed it from the port and into the location.
He is so knowledgeable and can manoeuvre the trailer into the smallest of spaces.
If you ever have to collect a 5th wheel, or Trailer from a port or somewhere then we would recommend John.
This is his website.

Did the whole thing really cost you £16,000 ?

Long story short : NO way!
At the time of totting up that was the total, but it was months before the reveal, so we had to use the old calculations .
The whole thing at reveal was at about £28,000, and that has risen even more *gulp*
Also it was nicely dressed and styled, but was not even close to being finihed at reveal or liveable!
Butttttt we couldn’t buy a trailer of this spec for that, the newer airstreams are still in the £100,000’s, and to have a custom vintage trailer kitted out professionally, we wouldn’t get much change from £50-70K (we know because we asked!).
So we still feel great about the amount spent.
We are adding solar and other things this summer so that will bump up the costs further.

Are you going to home school ?

Weirdly, this question came up ALOT !
The answer is probably not, neither of us have teaching skills, and we both enjoyed school (as much as kids can!).
We have a few years left to think about WHERE he will go to school.
The fantastic thing about moving around with a little one, is that it makes you more sociable, and he has lots of friends all over the place already.
So by the time school is an issue, he will settle right in with his friends.
For example, this week we came to Cornwall and he loves to go to a local nursery play session, we also had lots of playdates with his different friends.

Where do you live, is it on a families farm ?

This one came up many times too !
No, we’ve never been parked on family land, it would be great if that was possible.
Neither of our sets of parents even have driveways!

So here are some places we have parked ;
*In the end filming location for 3 months (a field attached to the garage we renovated the trailer in)
*A roadside lay by (not recommended or fun!)
* A glamping field (awesome and off grid, but we could only stay as long as our batteries lasted-solar coming this summer)
*Finally  caravan sites (LUXURY, because you get to plug into mains electric and water, but not exciting)

Those were the most commonly asked questions, if we missed any, please ask in the comments and we will answer and add them in !