We’ll start by confessing it wasn’t easy to arrange a shoot of James’s stunning T5 as he spends much of the year working abroad, any windows of opportunity were significantly minimal. His job as an electrician may be nothing especially out of the ordinary, but where that takes place perhaps is. The unusually warm weather on the day of our shoot is a clue, but we imagine that was nothing compared to the sweltering temperatures James must endure on a daily basis when he’s working in Iraq. “I’m usually away for months at a time,” James explains, “so any leave I have in the UK with my family is very precious.”
This led James to find ways of spending quality days out and trips away with his partner Jessica and two five-year-old children, Ella and Harrison whenever he was back in Blighty. “When I was younger, our family would travel to France and around the UK to go camping. I’ve always loved the outdoors and suggested the idea to my family of doing something similar but using a modern van” James recalls.
When it came to choosing a suitable base, only a VW would suffice. “I had a VW Touareg
