Six years ago, joiner Paul Murphy bought an old Hymer motorhome to enjoy with his family and friends. A year or so later he decided to use his professional skills to do up the inside.

He and fellow joiner James Comish, better know as ’Mish’, worked on it together in their spare time.

’We decided to rip the interior out, redid it and and really enjoyed it,’ says Paul.

So much so that they often talked about starting a business converting and refurbishing campervans and motorhomes

At the time he and Mish were in partnership, with another friend, in a successful joinery business but this was seriously impacted by the arrival of Covid and the first lockdown.

Paul says: ’It put a stop to working in people’s houses with the joinery business, it just went quiet. And this was something I’d always fancied doing so it seemed like the right time to jump in and have a go.’

Paul’s mum, Jill Routledge, agreed to back them and, as soon as the first lockdown ended they spent the rest of that summer setting up a workshop in a unit in Balthane.

In September 2020, the Camper Company was born, offering camper van rentals and van conversions and they have been busy ever since. Paul and Mish have been joined in the business by Paul’s cousin, Mike Brookfield, who is a mechanic, and Mish’s cousin, Bob Comish, also comes in to do the exterior spray painting.

Paul says: ’It doesn’t feel like coming to work: we enjoy it so much it’s not like a job. It beats crawling round under floors and on roofs when you’re on site.’

Although the work they are carrying out now is still essentially joinery, Paul explains that there are differences from working on a house:

’It’s very different methods: obviously you can’t use spirit levels because a van might be out of level to start with, so everything has to be square off each other, the same as with a boat.

’And it’s quite daunting, that first hole you cut in the roof of a van. You have to cut most of the roof out to fit a classic Volkswagen pop up roof. But once you’ve done it once it’s fine.’

VW Transporter vans and the larger Mercedes Sprinters are the models they most commonly work on.

’People can bring us an empty van to work on or we can source the van as well.

’Everything’s bespoke, a one off build from scratch, there’s no kits or anything so it’s exactly how the people want it.’

You can expect to pay £15,000-£16,00o for a mid to top of the range conversion on a Transporter long wheel base and from £20,000 for a Sprinter.’

Paul says: ’The parts are so expensive to start with but there’s no way around it. The VW popups alone range in price from £2,000 - £5,000, depending on the quality.’

If this is a bit out of your price range, or you just want to try a weekend in a campervanvan, to test the water, the Camper Company also has three vehicles available for rental. For anyone who is dreaming of their own campervan conversion done, Paul gives his list of the things you should ask to be included:

l A good night time heater. A small diesel one is fine for a smaller van or you can take the next step up to a full gas central heating and hot water boiler system

l A mains outlet so you can plug it in and it runs off electric - also useful for those people who can’t live without electric hair styling aids

l Solar panels are a good thing to have, to keep your battery topped up

l Lots of USB plug sockets

l It should be fully lined and insulated with carpet, quilted vinyl or suede to finish. This deadens the sound so it doesn’t sound tinny when you shut the door

l Good quality flooring - lino is too soft