UK Couple Converts Former Manatee County School Bus Into Glamping Experience

WEST SUSSEX, ENGLAND — A former Manatee County school bus now plays a new role across the pond — offering guests a unique glamping experience in West Sussex, England.

Guy and Ruth Wimpory conceived the idea after traveling the United States with their two children for a year in a school bus converted into a camper.

They bought that first decked-out bus in Salt Lake City, Utah, and wandered across as much of the U.S. as they could — up to Montana and down the West Coast before crossing over the Southern portion of the country to the East Coast, even dipping into Florida a bit.

Their road trip coincided with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, though. So when much of the country shut down, they spent the last few months of their visit living among other travelers,

“We got sort of locked down with some like-minded, other skoolie dwellers who lived on the road in their buses in Georgia,” Guy told Patch. “It was a shame, in a way, that we couldn’t see more. But in another way, we were on this great homestead with lovely people who lived similar lives to us at the time. It meant we were able to stop and actually get to know people a bit more rather than it being so transitory and moving through campsites and state parks all the time.”

They sold their bus in the U.S. before returning home to England in the summer of 2020. By then, the wheels were already turning about building out their own bus.

“We really got the idea that we could do this ourselves,” Ruth told Patch. “We’d had our bus built for us because of time limits that we had for traveling. But while we were (in Georgia), we were helping other people do up their buses. We saw all manner of different buses, everything from people who have six-figure salaries to people who have no salary and the way they’ve made their homes, for families, for individuals, it gave us loads of ideas.”

They found they missed their bus once they were back home.

“We wanted to bring that lifestyle back with us,” she said. “We want to be able to share that kind of off-grid, more wholesome way of living.”

They purchased a retired bus from Florida, not realizing until it arrived that it had been part of Manatee County Schools’ fleet.

“It cost more to ship it over than it to buy it,” Guy said.

The couple both had careers — they’re both marketing and public relations professionals — but have since been focusing more on the bus glamping project, which they call Skoolie Stays.

“We wanted to change and do something different,” Gus said. “With the pandemic and living this different life and discovering old school buses, it all fitted together, really. Living in a bus really changed things for us.”

They promote Skoolie Stays as “an eco escape in an iconic American school bus.”

America school buses are well known in England, where there’s no school bus system, Guy said. “Kids just get on the local bus network or walk or get taken by their parents.”

Ruth added, “The bus is so recognizable. We all watch American movies. For everyone that sees it, the idea of sitting behind the wheel of an American bus is still really cool.”

They worked together to build out the bus with Guy spending long days in his workshop and Ruth applying many of the COVID-era crafts she learned to decorating the camper.

The bus sleeps up to four people, has a kitchen, a log-burning stove, a lounge, a full bathroom, a private deck and a dining area made of repurposed bus seats.

The bus has been so successful that they’re working on their next project: building an off-grid, solar-powered timber cabin on a hay bale trailer.