Family swaps Guernsey bus for dream eco home

A family who converted a Guernsey bus into their home are trading it in for a "new dream" eco house in Poland.

Marta Adamska and her partner James Dear, from Caerphilly in Wales, bought an old Guernsey bus for £4,000 in 2019, quit their jobs, and converted it into a home.

But when lockdown, and a baby girl, arrived they had to put their dream of leaving the nine-to-five behind and travelling around Europe and Japan on hold.

Now, four years later, Miss Adamska said they have decided to sell the bus to someone "who will take care of it, who will use it, who will basically follow their own dream".

The couple decided to build the bus and go travelling after their son Dylan died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) at just 10 days old.

Miss Adamska said: "We decided we needed to do way more with our lives than just work nine till five - do something we really enjoy.

"If Dylan taught us one thing, it’s that life doesn’t always work out as planned."

She said they were still devastated by losing their son, but the birth of their daughter Emily meant they had "our little family, our new dream, our little bubble".

• The couple talked about their decision to quit their jobs and buy the bus

Miss Adamska said: "We originally wanted to get a double decker, but that was a bit scary.

"We found a local guy who was selling a Guernsey bus, so we decided to get it - it was that simple!"

While they were renovating the bus, they found "a few treasures like old money, chewing gum and tickets".

Having left their jobs just before lockdown so they could travel, the couple were both ineligible for the UK government's furlough scheme, so Mr Dear set up a ventilation design business.

Marta Adamska and James Dear bought the bus in 2019 and had hoped to travel around Europe and Japan before Covid

'A leap of faith'

Although the pandemic stopped them travelling, Miss Adamska said: "We had the most amazing summer in it. We parked up near a leisure centre where it was peaceful and quiet.

"We would have barbeques outside, next to the bus. Then we moved to a caravan park."

Mr Dear said the packing up their possessions and moving into the bus had been a "leap of faith" that the couple had been talking about for years.

After the couple had their daughter they moved in to a house and found themselves using the bus less and less, which prompted their decision to sell it.

Although they are sad to be selling the bus, Mr Dear said: "We've still always got the memories, we've got the photos, we've got a beautiful baby girl off the back of this adventure.

"We've got different future plans, now. I just feel some other couple might make more use of it and create their own adventures."

The couple said their new eco-home would be somewhere they can live off-grid with their three-year-old daughter and raise animals.