The couple put everyday life aside to live in a van with their newborn baby

“Everything that could go wrong did go wrong,” said 42-year-old Lisa Skelton as she discussed the traumatic birth of her son Rory in September 2022.

Lisa and her husband Rich’s baby was delivered seven weeks ahead of schedule via emergency c-section due to persistent bleeding.

At birth, the 42-year-old lost ten liters of blood and nearly died.

It was this near-death experience that prompted her and 42-year-old Rich to leave their home in Stockport – which cost them £2,500 a month in rent and bills – and board a van to spend quality family time .

The Stoke-on-Trent couple decided to buy their £33,000 Ford Transit Custom after their family car broke down.

Now they spend just £630 a month on bills and baby essentials while travelling.

When Rory was born, Lisa was put under general anesthesia and woke up the next day in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), where she was told doctors had been forced to perform an emergency hysterectomy.

“Luckily I was awake when Rory was born and he was taken straight to the NICU,” said Lisa.

“I felt terrible, I could hardly breathe, so it was decided to put me under general anesthesia.

“When I came to, I was in intensive care.

“Rich appeared by my side and told me what had happened and that I needed an hysterectomy to save my life.

“My total blood loss was ten litres, your body doesn’t even have ten litres, so I can only imagine how hard the theater crew worked to keep me alive.”

After this harrowing experience, Lisa decided to live in the moment and go on a journey.

So the couple just put a 500 liter storage box in the back of the van and off they went.

The pair share their journey on social media under the nickname @‌onlyvans_uk and now have more than 8.9k followers on Instagram – everyone is eagerly following the family’s journey.

Lisa said: “The hysterectomy had a huge impact on us and we wanted to live in the moment.

“Rich and I didn’t want to wait to travel because we really have no idea what tomorrow will bring.

“We had some money as part [my] bought a house in Scotland and decided to use it to travel for 12 months or as long as the money ran out.’

Living in a van has given Lisa, Rich and Rory endless freedom so they can spend quality time together as a family.

To date, the pair have covered 3,000 miles in seven different countries, including France, Spain and Morocco.

However, they admit that raising a seven-month-old baby in such a small space is a challenge, as Rory has little space inside to learn how to crawl.

Lisa said: “I was worried at first, but we can leave him outside, stretch and roll.

“Yet we maximize our living space by taking advantage of nature with our awning, fence and camping area.”

However, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks as the family saves £1,879 a month in expenses.

Lisa said: “We mainly use campsites so it can range from £8 to £27 per day (including electricity) depending on location.

“We usually do two washes a week and that costs around £3 to £5 per wash.

“Petrol was cheaper abroad and now that we are in Morocco it is super cheap at just £1 a litre.

“The biggest item of expenditure is still groceries, but we are becoming more frugal.

“In total we have set aside £630 a month for this, including Rory’s essentials such as milk and diapers.”

Initially, family and friends resisted the change, telling Lisa “it wasn’t possible” and that they were “crazy doing it with a little baby”.

However, after sitting down and explaining why, their families changed their mind – which filled them with encouragement.

The family is currently in Morocco and plan to travel to Portugal and Spain before moving on to Montenegro and Albania, taking little Rory along for the adventure.

Lisa added: “Now that we are on the road, we plan to sell our caravan in Cheshire and trade both in to buy a bigger motorhome and travel full time.”