Our Story
Hi, We are Eddie & Caroline Challinor. We are originally from Liverpool England and are the owners of La Belle Vie Camping.
Camping has always been part of our lives. It’s where we feel most at home, and it’s how our story together really began.
Like most good adventures, ours started small with a tent, a sense of curiosity, and absolutely no idea where it would lead.
Before long, we “upgraded” to a caravan. A £500 caravan, to be precise. Her name was Jemima. She was… unique. Green on one side, not green on the other, and held together largely by hope and good intentions.
After Jemima came our first van, Danny De Vito. Small, full of character, and an absolute icon. In Danny, we travelled all over the UK, including taking on the legendary NC500, proving that big adventures don’t need a big van, just a sense of humour and a willingness to live very close together.
Then we went bigger. Much bigger. Enter The Big Fella. With him, the adventures levelled up. We spent two weeks living completely off-grid in the Outer Hebrides with no hook-ups, no distractions, just us, the elements, and a growing appreciation for simple living. After that, we headed across the Channel and spent three weeks travelling around France, embracing slow days, long drives, and the joy of waking up somewhere new almost every morning.
Through almost all of these journeys, we had one constant companion, our beloved dog Bowie. Always with us. Always alert. Never wanting to lie down. Forever glued to the window, determined not to miss anything that might possibly be going on outside.
Sadly, Bowie didn’t make the move to France with us. He crossed the rainbow bridge before we left, but he was part of every journey that led us here, and he’s forever part of this story.
It was one day in France, a rainy one, that everything really clicked. We were sitting under the awning by a lake, rain pouring down around us, eating endless amounts of baguette and cheese and pouring glasses of boxed wine. Somewhere between the sound of the rain, the view, and the wine, we had this idea, and once it appeared, it refused to go away.
At first, it was a five-year plan. But every day, we wanted it more and more, until we realised we didn’t want to wait. So we sold up and went for it.
To be able to do this together as a married couple and best friends has always been our dream. Building a life around the outdoors, adventure, and the simple things that make us happiest is what brought us here, and it’s something we’re incredibly grateful to share.
Whether you’re here for adventure, fresh air, or just a really good excuse to sit outside with a brew or a beer, you’re very welcome here.
