DAVID STANLEY PRESENTS
Real conversations from wherever the table happens to be.
No studio. No script. No polished podcast voice. Just honest conversation about van life, family, Portugal, food, work, strange ideas and trying to build a life that actually belongs to us.
The Van Table started inside our campervan in the Scottish Highlands. The first episode is half an hour of me explaining how we ended up here, where we have been and where this slightly chaotic journey may be heading next.
Episodes are recorded live and left largely untouched. Door banging, children appearing, phones making noises and real life carrying on in the background are all part of it.
New episodes, stories from the road and whatever else escapes from around The Van Table. No daily nonsense. No inspirational funnel. Just an occasional email when we've got something worth sending.
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David turns 58, Alison destroys a lemon drizzle cake, Harveste climbs back out of the Dead Good Ideas Graveyard, Beyla launches her own YouTube channel and Portugal starts appearing on the horizon.
Honesty boxes, wasted fruit, app-builder pain, Stomplings, Beyla's Beasts, Wolf stealing the show, Scottish midges, olive trees and the return of several ideas that probably should know better.
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Our Mercedes Sprinter has had about six different interiors in three years. We look back at the giant beanbag, pallet beds, IKEA storage, side pods, swivel seats, lithium power and the point where we finally admitted an indoor kitchen might be useful.
Featuring a pink horsebox, broken ribs, a hearse, the dashboard cactus from hell, Starlink, a separating toilet and several ideas that have been quietly escorted to the graveyard.
NEW NEW NEW .
Can you really buy a house in Portugal for €20,000? Yes, but finding a cheap property is only the beginning. David and Alison talk about houses, ruins, rural land and what they learned after buying their own property in Portugal.
€10,000 houses, €20,000 properties, rural buildings, NIF numbers, renovation, water, solar, fire season and why getting to know the locals might be more useful than endlessly scrolling estate agents.
NEW NEW NEW .
David and Alison talk about what van life with four kids actually costs, whether selling everything was worth it, the graveyard of brilliant ideas scattered around the family, and what happens when they finally head back to Portugal.
Recorded in the Scottish Highlands with coffee, water pistols, unfinished solar projects, olive trees, family chaos and a suspiciously large number of things that are definitely still going to happen.
NEW NEW NEW .
Alison finally joins The Van Table to tell her side of the story. Seven years running a pub, escaping to Portugal, buying a mountain, living in a campervan with four kids and discovering that Dave's version of events may not be entirely reliable.
Recorded just before one in the morning in a static caravan in the Scottish Highlands. Featuring Portuguese bureaucracy, enormous woodworm, far too much cheese and the unexpected question of whether you can milk a rabbit.
David forgot Alison and sits down in five-star luxury — otherwise known as a static caravan with a flushing toilet — to talk about the Portuguese mountain, why they bought it and what they hope it might become. He promises that Alison will be in episode 3.
Thirty minutes around the van table covering the road so far: pubs, businesses, the campervan, Scotland, Portugal, family life and why standing still was never really an option.
Recorded inside the van. Completely unscripted. Featuring an unexpected visit involving a water pistol and a Cristiano Ronaldo notification.