Accessible Iris

Description of Beds: Iris can sleep up to five people. The main bed (130cm wide x 190 long) hides in the ceiling above the seating area. At night, with the press of a button, the bed lowers down onto the folded rear seats. The backrests from the front seats become the headboard. The rear sleeping area consists of two height-adjustable and removable bunk beds. The top one (75cm x 170cm) has a weight limit of 65kg and is reached via a fun copper ladder. The lower bunk (75cm x 183cm) can become a double bed (120cm x 183cm) allowing the van to comfortably sleep five. The lower bunk has been designed with the needs of a disabled person in mind. Whilst there is no hoist, the height of the bed can be adjusted so that a child can be lifted in and out of the bed at an optimal height. Most wheelchairs and buggies can be pushed up next to the bed and with some wheelchairs, there is space for a two-person lift in and out of bed. The bed can be tilted so it is level even when the ground isn’t, or so the head of the bed is higher than the foot. There is a safety net available when the bottom bunk is a single bed, not when it is a double. The net is sufficient to stop somebody falling out of the bed, but please look at the photos carefully to see if it would suit your child. It is not a zipped in safe space, some children would be able to undo it and it is not robust to withstand sustained stress on it. One or both of the bunks can be removed, so if you have a travel bed that you want to use with your child please get in contact to see if it can fit into the space. Description of Seating: Up to five people can travel in Iris. There are two captain’s swivel seats in the front and, depending on the number of passengers, there can be three, two, or no seats in the back, allowing space and weight savings if the seats are not needed. There is a wheelchair track for passengers that travel in a wheelchair. High-quality Braunability universal restraints and a three-point seat belt are provided. Two foldable ramps provide access to the van. An electric winch to assist with going up the ramp can be mounted on request All seats have headrests, three-point seat belts and are reclinable. Two of the rear seats have Isofix car seat anchor points. At the rear of the van, there is a second seating area which can easily accommodate up to five children, creating a separate kids' space. Description of Electrical Setup: Iris has a powerful electrical system including 400Ah of lithium batteries and 700W of solar panels should power an oxygen concentrator and ventilator off-grid for at least one night, as well as additional equipment such as a sats monitor and food pump. If the weather is sunny and your oxygen concentrator is a portable device, the batteries could recharge fully during the day. Please note however that this is not guaranteed and you will have to monitor the charge in the batteries. Driving for a couple hours should recharge the batteries from almost flat. Alternatively, Accessible Iris can be plugged into the mains power at a campsite giving you unlimited, guaranteed power for all devices inside the van. The 2000W inverter will comfortably power almost every other mains device including electric wheelchairs chargers or a Vitamix blender when off-grid. There are eight 230V volt sockets in the back and four in the front. There are also a host of USB sockets spread throughout Iris. About the area: Iris lives less than two minutes away from the M32 in Bristol, so it’s very straightforward if you arrive by car. Temple Meads train station and the Central Bus Station are a 10-15 minute drive away and collection can be arranged. Stapleton Road train station is a 5-minute walk. Bristol Airport has extensive international connections and a regular bus service to both Temple Mead and the Bus Station. Bristol is a fun and vibrant city for an overnight stop-off and is the gateway to some of the most stunning scenery in the UK. A short drive takes you into Wales, with the Bannau Brycheiniog/Brecon Beacons, Gower, and Pembrokeshire. Nearer by, the Wye Valley, the Forrest of Dean, the Cotswolds and the Mendips are all great places to explore in a campervan. Or else you can head south into beautiful Devon and Cornwall. There are also a host of festivals within easy reach of Bristol including Glastonbury, Shambala, Green Man, Womad, and The Hay Festival. If you want suggestions for accessible walks or activities in the region then please ask. Parking: Iris lives in the Bristol residential neighbourhood of St Werberghs. Street parking is free and, during the day, fairly easy to find. Cooking Equipment: Iris’ galley-style kitchen gives you plenty of prep surface and is fully kitted out for cooking. There is a two-burner gas hob with safety shut-off and pan-holder and a huge (90 litre) fridge with a good-sized freezer compartment. There’s also a selection of pots, pans, frying pans, utensils, openers, graters, squeezers and tweezers. She has large and small plates, bowls and cutlery for five. All plates and bowls have rubber underneath to stop them sliding on tables. Look out for the rainbow glasses and kettle! Please let us know if you need specific kitchen equipment for a special diet and we’ll do our best to accommodate you. There is a small pan for heating individual portions of food and a silicone spatula. A nutribullet blender and sieve can be provided as an add-on if required. Water and Sanitation: A 65-litre fresh water tank provides water for drinking, cooking and washing. There is a 50-litre waste water tank. Both tanks have a level display so you know when it’s time to fill and empty them. Hot water is provided by a fabulous Whale immersion heater that can quickly heat 8 litres of water to a high temperature, using either gas when off-grid or mains electricity when plugged in at a campsite. This gets mixed with cold water providing plenty of warm water for washing up and even a decent shower. Iris has an external hot shower and a folding bath/paddling pool. A simple-to-use portable chemical toilet is neatly housed behind the rear seats - this is available as a free add on, there is only a charge for bringing it back dirty. Audio Equipment The van’s head unit has a DAB radio and can connect to mobile devices to play music through the cab speakers. It also has a TomTom satnav. A portable Minirig Bluetooth speaker is available as an add-on. Type of Heating: As we understand that heating can be particularly important for disabled people we have put in a heating system that is both quiet and efficient. The 5kW Whale Space heater can keep the van toasty even if it is freezing outside. It also has a thermostat which allows the van to maintain a steady temperature and heating can be easily adjusted. The heater can run on gas when off-grid, or mains electricity when on a hook-up. For hot days there are two fully adjustable fans. If we are providing bedding there is a choice of duvet tog and additional blankets are available. Extra Information: Iris has a good storage capacity to manage all the additional equipment that some families will need to pack. Please talk to us about overnight storage of wheelchairs ahead of booking. Depending on the size of your group, beds and seats can be taken out in order to create additional space. The back of the van is a darker space and we hope it might appeal to children who have sensory needs. Please talk to us about the needs of your group. We will always try to accommodate additional requests. Conversion Story: Having a disabled child can make having even a night away from home challenging, or even impossible. It might be because of lack of wheelchair accessibility, the need for a particular bed or because your child becomes upset when their routine is changed. This was the case with our family. We have two daughters, the eldest of which has complex medical needs, sensory impairments and is a wheelchair user. Over the years we became increasingly frustrated with missing out on weekends away, not being able to visit friends and families and most of all not being able to take holidays together. Rented accommodation was either too inaccessible, too expensive, or just not us. Camping was impossible, and there were no accessible campervans to hire. Before we had children most of our holidays had been in vans we’d converted ourselves, but simple conversions with basic amenities. We knew that if we were to design a campervan for our family it would have to be different from anything we’d done before. In 2020, with Cody not working as we had to shield our daughter, we decided to take out a loan and buy a brand-new van. We then ran a phenomenally successful crowdfunding campaign to cover the conversion cost. Creating an accessible, wheelchair-friendly home with all the limitations of size and weight that you get with a van has been no mean feat. The Iris you see today has been designed, redesigned and tweaked numerous times. Every decision has been thoroughly discussed, sometimes agonised over, as we tried to include the needs of all the different families we hoped would be able to use Iris. We know that Iris won’t work for every family, or every disabled person, but we still hope that she will open up the world for many families. Whether that’s being able to attend a wedding, go to a festival or go on a camping holiday. Warning: The payload of this vehicle is 420kg. This is below the Quirky Campers recommended payload of 550kg for a vehicle with 5 belted seats. Drivers need to be aware that the total weight of driver, passengers and baggage must be below 420kg to keep the vehicle within its legal Max Allowed Mass (MAM) of 3500kg