Leeds woman ditched job to live in caravan on farmland
Eva Outram living that caravan life.
A woman quit her job in the NHS and saves £2,500 a month living in a van on farmland for FREE – in exchange for working up to six hours a week.
Eva Outram, 28, was working as a project manager for the NHS, earning £38,000 a year. At the time, she was living in a two-bedroom flat in Leeds, paying £1,300 a month – including bills and mortgage.
But after appearing on Channel 4’s survival series Alone, where 11 people were dropped in the wilderness in Canada to survive as long as possible, she decided city living was not for her. After lasting 23 days in the wild, Eva, decided to quit her NHS job, rent out her flat and moved into a £4,800 caravan with her boyfriend, Tom Park, 33, a stone mason.
Eva said the pair save £2,500 a month and live on farmland for FREE in return for working on the land they are living on – with the only outgoing they have is £40 every few months for gas and their £85 weekly food shop.
She said the work can vary from general maintenance to face painting – and they can work anywhere between three or six hours a week. Eva, a content creator, and outdoor business owner, from Leeds, said: “We have a total sense of freedom.
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“We have freedom to do whatever we want with our money, we have so much more disposable income – between us we are saving £2.5k a month. We don’t have any accommodation-associated costs; we have our electric and water bills sorted for us where we work.
“We can move around whenever; we are not tied down to one location.”
After buying her two-bedroom flat in Leeds in October 2022, Eva said she was fed up with the “hamster wheel” of working to pay a mortgage. And after appearing on a survival show, she realised that she was living a life on the back of other people’s expectations.
Eva, said: “I had always had an inkling that the traditional way of living wasn’t for me, but I was on the conveyor belt of going to university and getting a good job. I lived in the flat for a year on a hamster wheel of working to pay the mortgage.
“After coming back off the show, I had a realisation that I was living a life on the back of other people’s expectations.”
Tom had been living in a caravan when they first met, and Eva said she would spend most weekends with him. So in August 2024, she started renting out her flat, and she and Tom bought a £4.8k caravan together.
“I saw the lifestyle through Tom’s lens and realised that it looked great,” Eva said. “I wondered if I could actually follow through with it, as it felt outside the realm of possibility.
“Until I realised that it was a feasible way of living and I loved it.”
Since moving into the van full-time, Eva said that she and Tom will save £2.5k a month. Instead of paying any accommodation cost, the pair will live on farmland in exchange for work, which includes a free place to stay, water and electricity.
Eva, who shares her lifestyle on @eva__exploring, said: “The work we do varies, at our last place it was general maintenance, looking after the chickens and my partner would do construction work. Where we are now, it is an open farm where children come, so I did two weeks of face painting that covered us for four months.
“We tend to be in one place for a long amount of time, the last place we were there for a year.”
Eva said van life gives her the “total sense of freedom”, something she didn’t get in the city. She said that she earns more than she ever has before and is living her “dream life”.
The couple are saving to buy land for their home and is hoping to go on a road trip to Greece over winter.
She said: “The misconception is that to be living how we live, we must not be earning enough money. But I have been paid more than ever before, and I have no intentions of going back to my old lifestyle.
“Our eventual goal is to buy a piece of land and build our own place on it or buy a rundown place. But we have no immediate plans to buy somewhere.
“The fact that we have fewer outgoings has allowed me to follow my passions. I genuinely feel like I am living my dream life.”
PREVIOUS MONTHLY OUTGOINGS:
- Mortgage: £800
- Ground rent: £150
- Bills: £315
- Food: £40
- Total: £1,305
CURRENT MONTHLY OUTGOINGS
- Rent: £0
- Bills: £40 on gas
- Food: £85 food shop
- Total: £125
