The Green Bongo

Time for another behind the scenes blog post!

Mazda Bongo on woodland campsite
Yes, we are really living in something this small.

P1020816This is our home for three months. (For those, like me, who aren’t good at car taxonomy, it’s a Mazda Bongo.)

problems with a Mazda Bongo engine
Ringing the garage for advice

The Bongo is 20 years old, and needs a bit of TLC. We have had three garage visits so far, one overnight. I think of it as Bongo B & B.

We did have an awning, but pegging it down on granite in the rain each time we moved sites was less than fun, so we posted it to Ellie (thanks Ellie, hope it’s not in the way) and now we are footloose and awning free.

Rain has accompanied us around the UK, but on the plus side, we have seen some fantastic rainbows.

The living space in the campervan measures 2 x 1.5 metres, some of which is taken up by the cupboards, fridge, cooker and sink. The rest of  it is multipurpose.

 

 

Ten tips for sharing a living space of 2 x 1.5 metres for three months.

1. Take turns to move, carefully.

Ducklings at the campsite
Duckling herding

2. Even though there is nowhere for them to go, you will lose things constantly. Don’t worry, you are camping, almost everything is optional. Except the keys. They are here somewhere.

3. Herd any stray wildlife off your pitch before parking.

4. Always check how much water is left before you start cleaning your teeth.

Table in campervan
Not sure where this is going to go

5. You think you know all your travelling companion’s little habits. Believe me, you don’t! You will discover some new ones that you never noticed before. Breathe, pretend you are still blissfully unaware.

6. You will laugh ’til your sides hurt more times than you can remember doing in the past year. Maybe it’s time to reevaluate your life.

Cafe working
Cream tea while you work, perfect!

7. Be restrained with the souvenir shopping.

8. If you’re blogging in the Highlands, you’ll need to visit a lot of cafes. It would be rude not to eat cake.

Hedgehog on Anglesey
The 3.00 am hedgehog

9. Take your phone to the loo, even in the middle of the night, in case there is some interesting wildlife.

10. Relax, pour yourself something cold, and watch the sunset.

Advertisement

Storyboards at Samphire Hoe

The classroom at Samphire Hoe, at Dover, beside the white cliffs of Dover, looking out across the English Channel

Another great location for a meeting – the Education Shelter at Samphire Hoe has fabulous views of the white cliffs of Dover and out across the Channel.

Kent Wildlife Trust conservation team working on storyboards for a video clip
Home-made biscuits, provided by the Kiosk, and a steady supply of tea and coffee fueled our creativity.

With some trepidation, the conservation team gathered in the Education Shelter at Samphire Hoe, a country park on the outskirts of Dover. They had provided me with a long list of things they really wouldn’t want to do on a team building day, and a quick internet search had added to the list of activities widely considered to be uncalled for. Luckily, Bryony, Paul, Vinny and I had come up with (we thought) an excellent idea – to get everyone to work on producing some video clips about the work of the team. It seemed to meet with general approval, provided certain people didn’t have to stand in front of the camera.

 

Kent Wildlife Trust's conservation team making a video
Paul checks the first bit of footage, introducing the Conservation Team

 

 

By the time we had got our ideas together, it had stopped raining long enough for us to risk taking the ipads we had borrowed from the marketing department outside. We headed out to various locations, braved the cold and our fears of being in front of the camera (for some of us; but it turned out that some of my colleagues could be doing this for a living!) I will share the end results once Gordon, social media guru, has turned our various clips and re-takes into the seamless footage we had planned.