Over 1000 FREE Overnight Park Ups for £45 | Van Life UK
Over 1000 FREE Overnight Park Ups for £45 | Van Life UK
[00:00:00] Kez: A little van life hack. If you want to Van life in the UK. The UK gets a very bad rap for Van Life. If you want to make Van Life a bit easier for yourself. Knowing you can be somewhere but you know you still want to experience something other than just a standard campsite.
[00:00:16] Trist: Oh hold up Kez, don't give the game away just yet.
[00:00:24] Kez: Ready to put the kettle on my love.
[00:00:33] Kez: Hello and welcome back to another episode of Trist & Kez. How have you all been? Had a good week I hope?
Instagram Poll - Where Should We Go
[00:00:40] Kez: Yeah put a little poll up on Instagram asking where we should go. I think the options were Northumberland 250, Cornwall and Scotland.
[00:00:48] Kez: Scotland got zero votes. That's crazy. The next vote was for Northland 250 and Cornwall. So we chased the weather and went for Cornwall.
[00:00:56] Trist: Well we made it as far as Somerset didn't we
[00:00:57] Kez: We did. We made well we went to the Cheddar Gorge. I'm not sure if any of you have been to Cheddar Gorge gorgeous rock formation. We've wanted to drive through for ages. So yeah turn up and it's closed. Monday to Friday between 9:00 and half 5. So uh that was impossible yesterday.
[00:01:14] Kez: Decided that we were going to head a little bit further north didn't we? Because we thought we were chasing the weather. Then we remembered it's January and it's the UK and the weather is… So we decided to go to our favourite places, rather than where we think are going to be the warmest places.
[00:01:32] Trist: Yeah or the sunniest places because it seems there is no Sun at the moment. I mean literally right now where we are we thought oh we’ll come to a nice little Viewpoint wouldn't we. That'd be nice wouldn't it Kez.
[00:01:44] Kez: Yeah two and a half hours to drive here. 360° views stunning walks, just amazing. You can't see a thing.
[00:01:57] Trist: Yeah I mean we're sat in a cloud
[00:01:59] Kez: I mean you can't can't see the van when you're 10 ft away from it but anyway. Clee Hill, check it out in Shropshire. Beautiful spot it's our second time here isn't it. Funny enough we actually came in February last year in Leo
[00:02:11] Trist: Yeah it's almost a year to what the week or something that we were here. Check out that video if you want to watch that.
[00:02:17] Kez: Yeah we didn't have a shower and a heater and a full kitchen. We had no heating. We basically had a bed didn't we a bed and a.
[00:02:26] Trist: A bed that drove
[00:02:28] Kez: Yeah a bed and a cooker. The fridge was broken. Yeah, it was literally a bed a bed on Wheels. But yeah definitely check that video out. Leo’s cool T5’s Rock. Sorry, Gerty. Um but yes the point of today's video. You're probably all wondering what the hell's going on? We are going to talk about how.
[00:02:45] Trist: Oh excellent so and again back.
[00:02:49]
Kez: If you watched last week this is uh yeah. I don't know do you want to be part of this. Have you got something to say?
[00:02:56] Trist: Have you got something to share on camera?
[00:02:57] Kez: Share with everyone how, what makes it easier to Van Life in the UK Frank. Right this isn't going to be conducive is it. Okay you want to sit next to me. Yoga. You always got to meditate. You got to make time for him to meditate.
[00:03:12] Kez: A little van life hack. If you want to Van Life in the UK. Now we know worldwide that the UK gets a very bad rap for Van Life and to be fair it's probably probably warranted. You know wild camping is trickier. Of course, it's possible. We’re doing it we're doing it right now. But if you do want to make Van Life a bit easier for yourself. Knowing you can be somewhere. But you know you still want to experience something other than just your standard campsite. Then hit out BritStops
[00:03:42] Trist: BritStops, BritStops
[00:03:46] Kez: I know that's what I was going for, a bit of a buildup. Instead, I said hit out. Anyway, so BritStops is way more than Pub Car Parks. I think that's what we've gathered a lot of people think it is don't we where they just yeah a pub car park. Which don't get me wrong. There are lots of Pub car Parks but there's also hang on a second. Let me rewind, that's good.
[00:04:13] Kez: So what is BritStops. It's a paid-for membership that has over a thousand locations. All businesses across the UK. I know I should get like a sales rep job for this, no. About over a thousand locations across the UK. They were recently actually purchased uh By An American company last year. These over a thousand businesses are more than just Pub Car Parks. So you pay for your membership for the year we paid £45. You get a little sticker and you get an app.
[00:04:43] Kez: There is no obligation. So if you do just want to turn up and use a car park that's absolutely what BritStops is for. And all of the hosts we have met are incredibly accommodating. They are so welcoming, they are fully prepared for you to turn up. You can book a table if you want to eat. If you want to pop in for a drink or just be in the car park.
[00:04:59] Kez: That leads me on to they're not all just Pub car Parks. We have been to hotels, we have been to Cider Farms,
[00:05:09] Trist: Farm shops, Vineyards.
[00:05:11] Kez: A farm, did you say Farm. Not just a farm shop. But an actual farm. So like if you're travelling around with kids. There's a place down south called Fisher farm for example. Amazing amazing day out with kids. I spent so many days there with mine when they were little. You can actually overnight in the car park. And the staff in there are so lovely. They can be so helpful. And you know as two adults we're not spending any money in Fish's Farm. They're aware of that still couldn't be more welcoming. So yes BritStops. If you want a Van Life in the UK and you want something in between the wild parking and the campsites. We're going to get t-shirts made saying get yourself on BritStops. Because yeah for us we have Van Life travelled for over 5 years now. And we only discovered BritStops. Second year of membership. And it's been a game changer.
[00:06:04] Trist: Yeah massively.
[00:06:06] Trist: How can Britstops be useful for you. We have used it in many situations. Some just to find somewhere a pub, a farm, farm shop on BritStops not too far from wherever we've been. But also when we drove up to Scotland last year I think. It was what should have been about a 7-hour journey. We got stuck in about five traffic jams and crashes on the way up. We ended up travelling about 4 hours of distance. But it took us about 9 and a half hours. So all our plans are flying out the window. Trusty BritStops came back into play. We loaded it up and kind of saw where the nearest one to us. And we were able to ring through, check if they had space for us. It was all good and so we had somewhere safe and secure to park overnight. In an area that we had no idea about.
[00:06:52] Kez: Yeah yeah and I think that's what the beauty of Brit Stops is. It's either a stop on route if you've got a long journey. It means you can break it up, be somewhere safe. And you know if it is you don't want to cook or something you can just grab some food geat. Also sometimes it's not about the actual overnight spot itself. It will be the location. So for example last night we did a BritStops in Cheddar. The pub itself, it's a Friday night it was quite noisy. There were lots of comings and goings. But we weren't there for the park up we were there for the location.
[00:07:23] Kez: It took us 7 minutes to walk to the Cheddar Gorge.
[00:07:28] Trist: Yeah.
[00:07:30] Kez: Literally 7 minutes talk to the Cheddar Gorge. Which was just breathtaking. And then you're right next to the beautiful Town/Village I want to say, of Cheddar Village.
[00:07:37] Trist: Yeah.
[00:07:40] Kez: So although the BritStops itself was in this instance just a pub car park and quite a noisy one. But hey you're in the middle of this beautiful location. So yeah sometimes it's not about the actual stop.
[00:07:51] Kez: But then other times you can go to places like in Gower Wales. Stay in a hotel and again it's just a car park. But over the road is a beautiful expansive sandy beach. So it's really multifaceted
[00:08:10] Trist: How you can use stops, definitely yeah.
[00:08:13] Kez: Location of the actual Park up itself and for stops on route.
[00:08:15] Trist: Another reason of why is BritStops is so great. Is not everyone travels in a couple like us. A lot of people might be solo travelers or you might be travelling with kids. You might have different safety aspects or where you want to park overnight. And we’ve never felt unwelcome or unsafe at any of the BritStops. So I think it's definitely worth as a backup in your arsenal of places to park.
[00:08:40] Kez: If you're a van life family with children or little ones, BritStops is fantastic. It is just that, safety on the road.
Yes you can Van Life in the UK
[00:08:48] Kez: So yes so you can van life in the UK. In a legal way, that isn't paying for a campsite. That's the thing isn't it if it's just literally the space. You don't need, I mean we're completely fully what's the word.
[00:09:00] Trist: Self-contained
[00:09:03] Kez: Self-contained, we're self-contained. So if you are self-contained. Then you don't always want to go to a campsite. Which is absolutely understandable. So this is a beautiful in between. It's a beautiful thing to do, just if anything, it helps you see there is a different perspective on Van Life. It's not all misery doom and gloom. There are people out there making efforts and strides to make this accessible for everyone isn't there. And so I think yeah adopt these programs use these memberships. Because the more incentivised parking that can happen um yeah is only going to help make van life more accessible for people and more you know. And I think help people see it in a different viewpoint you know.
[00:09:43] Trist: Yeah I think it's uh one of the ways forward that we're going to have to go in the UK. We have seen Park Ups be shut down over time, haven’t we. One by one, year by year. Seeing the decline in accessible places for Van Lifers to park overnight. I definitely think jumping on like BritStops and helping support this as being a member. As well as businesses helping support it from their way you know. It's I think it's one of the ways forward that we can keep van life going in a in a really positive way.
[00:10:14] Kez: Yeah, but anyway we're going to leave you there because we have rambled. But for now we are going to enjoy this beautiful view. No, I'm only joking. We’re going to make some plans because when you live in a van. You don't have to do what you said you're going to do because you can just change direction and go the opposite way. So we were taking you guys to Cornwall with us. We're now taking you, who knows. We're going north, why not. So we hope that you have found this week's episode to be useful. If you have any questions about BritStops do leave them in the comments. If you're already a member of BritStops. Help encourage other people to join. Also by the way we are not sponsored or affiliated in any single way with Brit stops. We just love them and want to spread that message and share that information with you guys. Because it's an absolute game changer. If there is also, we know for park4night, search for sites and BritStops is our kind of go too. If there is any other I don't know maybe there's some Facebook groups, maybe there's some other apps we've not heard of. Or some other ways, leave those in the comments as well. Let's share the knowledge. Sharing is caring people.
[00:11:26] Trist: Oh and also check out this video. Where we've done ‘How to find FREE Overnight Parking’ and how we do that
[00:11:34] Kez: For now
[00:11:37] Trist: Till next time folks, don't forget to like, subscribe and hit that Bell notification.
[00:11:41] Kez: We shall see you next week.
[00:11:42] Trist: Until next time folks bye for now.
[00:11:44] [Laughter]
[00:11:46] Oh we're a hoot.
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