> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://avanlifething.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Vanlife Festival 2022: Working From the Van to Get There - URL: https://avanlifething.com/vanlife-uk-stratford-upon-avon-event-2022/ - Published: 2022-09-04T12:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-06T13:40:12.000Z - Description: After the shambles of the Stroud self-build event, I had no idea what to expect from a massive van life festival. Day 1 involved working from the back of the van, a dash to Stratford, circling the wagons and a downpour on a scorchio forecast. - Author: The Van Man - Tags: festival reviews It's weird to think that was my last shower for three days. I'd locked up, packed up and fuelled up, and I was finally on the road to a three-day van life event in Stratford-upon-Avon. When I say "packed", I mean I'd panic-packed. Stress-packed. There was far too much in the back of the van, and I knew full well I wouldn't use half of it. ## After the Stroud shambles After the shambles that was the Stroud Self Build Vanlife Event, I was looking forward to meeting up with some friends for a weekend of van life, or at the very least some random camping adventures. We had no plans, no agenda, and no idea what we were going to do. But that's what made it so much fun. No two ways about it, the Stroud Self Build Camper Event was a complete shambles and just a piss-poor event. So heading into a massive van life event like this one, I genuinely had no idea what to expect. The silver lining of Stroud was the people. Three of us who'd met there decided to band together and rendezvous at Stratford instead. ## The catch: I still had a job The event didn't officially start until Friday evening. I set off on Thursday, the 21st I think. Which sounds sensible, until you remember I work from home doing technical support, and Friday was a full working day. So before I'd even got to the van life event, the challenge was a full day of tech support from the back of the van. One of my friends from Stroud, Heather, had offered me her driveway for Thursday and Friday night, somewhere near Gloucester, so we could go in convoy on Friday. First, though, I needed food. I got there a couple of hours later, and we spent the evening gassing and making plans. The aim was to get to Stratford fairly early on Friday, if I could wrangle it with work. ## Working from the van: the reality Friday morning, and a bit of van life reality. My work-away-from-home setup in the back of the van was, shall we say, rustic. I was sitting on something achingly hard because it was the only way I could sit up straight. Something else made a hell of a scratching noise every time I moved, which is exactly what you want while you're on a support call. The good news: the 5G was blazing fast. By half one, working from the van honestly hadn't been too bad. That was mostly down to Heather, who kept me going with copious cups of tea and bacon rolls, and even did a Sainsbury's shop for me. Then the plan changed from nicely chilled to right, let's go. Stratford was a 50-minute drive, I had a one-hour lunch break, and if we hit a queue at the gate I could always work from the back of the van in it. Everything got thrown in, and off we went. > **A law of van life working:** your lunch hour is exactly ten minutes shorter than the drive you've planned to fit into it. ## We arrive Holy moly, there were a lot of vans. You see the pictures on Facebook, and our mate had been sending photos and videos through, but man alive, it's bigger in the real world. The good news is that from the moment we arrived it was a completely different experience from Stroud. A few thousand people turned up, some of them days before the event officially started, and the atmosphere was warm, welcoming and full of enthusiasm. At the gate, a marshal waved me into lane three or four, and nobody asked for anything ridiculous like my booking details. We'd made it. I was torn between a coffee, a tea and a beer, and decided I needed food, a beer, a tea and a coffee. Then I had a look around. Micro campers over there. An actual funfair. Vans that made me think I was about to get a rude awakening about just how crap mine was. If I'm honest, it was a little bit overwhelming. ## Pitching up: three metres and a chair The rule on the field was three metres between every vehicle, so there was a fair bit of shuffling and measuring before we got it about right, avoiding a divot. Then we got a chair out and claimed the spot. It was three o'clock. Technically, I was still at work. We're all used to those YouTubers with picture-perfect vans, where everything's clean, stuff is hung neatly on the walls, and nothing moves despite hours of driving. Not me. I had five minutes to get the back of the van from post-drive chaos to work mode before a meeting. Pure panic. I made it, just. ## The windbreak, and circling the wagons While I worked, the others set up. Most people make do with a normal windbreak, the kind you peg into the ground. Not Heather. Hers was marine quality. Five-star windbreak. Technically, we should have offered to help. But I felt this was a case of female empowerment, so we left her to it. Two struts in, it was starting to look like a "how many people does it take to put up a windbreak" joke. Then came a development. We decided to corral ourselves in, with our own little spot and a gap for Rich arriving the next day. The plan was to put the barbecue fire pit in the middle, so if we set one thing on fire, we'd set all our vehicles on fire. Solid strategy. ## Five o'clock: the weekend starts, and so does the rain At five, I could finally knock off and start enjoying the weekend. We'd circled the wagons, everything was set up, and right on cue, it started chucking it down. It was meant to last two hours. The forecast had said scorchio. ## Heather feeds the gang And then Heather produced dinner. Tunes playing, proper food, and green stuff, which at a van life festival is practically a miracle. Including a homemade potato salad that was genuinely amazing. ## Day 1 verdict If Stroud was the event that made me wonder why I bothered, Stratford was the one that reminded me. Even after a full day of tech support from a hard seat in the back of a van, a 50-minute dash and a downpour on a scorchio forecast, it was a brilliant start to the weekend.