Living My Dream

Former BBC producer and presenter Siobhan Daniels was almost 60 when she decided to completely change her life...

Well-groomed and glam, Siobhan Daniels doesn't look as if she lives in a camper van. She also looks a good deal younger than her 63 years.

"I'm living the life I want to and that makes me very happy," she says. "I'm free to go wherever I like. Dora and I make a good team." Dora, short for "Dora the Explorer", is Siobhan's much-loved motorhome and it literally is home for her.

For almost four years, they've roamed the British Isles together. But what was it that made Siobhan, who'd had a good job at the BBC, a nice flat in Tunbridge Wells and lots of friends, want to change her life in the first place?

"I was miserable," she replies. "I found the years between 50 and 60 very difficult. The menopause was tough, some family members died and, as a single mum, I felt bereft when my only child Samantha left home to go to university. I felt overlooked at work because of my age.

"I set myself some physical challenges. I took a sabbatical from work and went travelling, I ran marathons and climbed the three peaks in Yorkshire but mentally I felt broken, lost and anxious.

"On reaching 60, I wanted to do something completely different. I knew I didn't need material things."