Old removal vans don’t conjure up a vision of happy holidays. Yet increasingly these vehicles are being lovingly converted and handcrafted into camper vans that are used both for rent and as permanent homes.

There’s a growing trend for people wanting something handcrafted and handmade

Lindsay Berresford kitted out Bella, a Mercedes Sprinter, as a home. With her husband David, they added carved wooden panelling, a rustic kitchen and a handmade wood-burning stove. In 2010, when they signed up for a stint of volunteer work in Kenya, they decided to see if they could rent her out. “We could only find VW vans or plastic fantastic motor homes for hire online,” recalls Berresford. “We assumed there was no market for vans like Bella but, at the same time, couldn’t believe that no one would want to rent her.”

Bella turned out to be so popular that on their return the couple set up Quirky Campers, now a 30-strong (and rapidly growing) collective of camper van owners who rent out their vehicles when they’re not using them. There’s Finn in the West Midlands, a Mercedes Vito with an oak and cedar Scandinavian-style aesthetic; a Citroën Relay called Cleopatra in Devon featuring a stained-glass window, a copper panel rescued from an old water tank and walls painted racing green.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Picture this: Bella. Photograph: Quirky Campers

In Bristol there’s Priscilla, whose owner hired a Herefordshire company – called Rustic Campers – to create the interior, which includes kitchen cupboards made from the old floorboards of a Welsh chapel and children’s bunk beds with canvas sewn by a yurt maker.

“Our business is built on the basis that there’s a growing trend for people wanting something handcrafted and handmade, and that applies to all the spaces they spend time in, including camper vans,” says Bill Goddard. A former tree surgeon, he set up Rustic Campers with his wife Becks in 2008 after someone wanted to buy the 1970s Leyland FG that they had renovated and were living in. Now, home for the couple – who run a glamping site alongside taking commissions for custom conversions using locally sourced materials – is a shepherd hut. “For us it’s an entire lifestyle. All we’ve known for the past nine years is small-space living and, every winter, we travel around in Europe in a Mercedes Sprinter.”

For Cornish couple Lauren Smith and Calum Creasey, a handcrafted van also isn’t just for holidays. Seven years ago they bought a Volkswagen T4, which they named the Rolling Home, and totally transformed it themselves using mostly reclaimed pine.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Window on the world: wooden van interior with stained glass. Photograph: Quirky Campers

“I just looked at the space and tried to make it as liveable and ergonomic as possible,” recalls Creasey of the van which has plenty of nifty design details from a pull-out bed and wall storage to patterned ceramic handles on the cupboard doors.

After travelling more than 80,000 miles across Europe in the Rolling Home, the couple turned their story into a Kickstarter-funded book and now publish a quarterly journal that celebrates alternative living. “Many people are intrigued by camper vans. On a deeper level, if you think about issues such as the housing crisis and energy usage, living in small spaces can make a lot of sense, but they are also catalysts for connecting people through wanderlust and escapism.”

It only takes a quick scroll through Instagram feeds such as @vanlifediaries (full of images of people living in vans all over the world) and @tincanhomestead (artist Natasha Lawyer, who renovated and lives in a 1972 Airstream Sovereign with her husband and dogs in Seattle) to want to pack up and become part of this camper van community, even if only for a short while. “Go back a few years and camper vans would often be fitted out with cheap materials, such as chipboard and poor-quality laminate,” says Creasey. “Now people are realising that if you spend a bit more time and use great materials, these small spaces can become incredible standalone designs in their own right.”