A woman has shared how she lives rent-free in an off-grid container in rural Scotland – harvesting rainwater and growing her own food. Robyn Swan, 33, sold all her belongings, and moved out of her home to live an off-grid life in December 2023.
She bought a seven-acre piece of land near Stirling for £185,000 and had a 40ft x 8ft container build there for her to live in – costing £4,200 to buy. Robyn began living out her life-long dream of living off-grid – with an aim of becoming completely self-sufficient.
She started out without electricity for eight months to save up £4.5k to have solar panels installed so she could generate her own power. Robyn also began growing her own food, rearing her own animals – including chickens, rabbits and pigs – and harvesting her own water too.
Over a year on, Robyn says she’s around 40 per cent self-sufficient – spending just £260 a month on expenses such as council tax, food and her phone bill. Robyn, a full-time dog walker – who lives with partner Luke, 29, an electrician – said: “Once I bought the land, we didn’t even start in a caravan – we moved straight into the container and built it around us.
“The container is a full house now – I chose what insulation and double glazing I wanted, so it’s a lot cosier than a caravan. My monthly bills come to £259.43 – I only need to pay council tax minus water, some food, and my phone bill.I was spending over £1,000 a month living in a house, so I save around £750-a-month which goes back into the land.It’s amazing to see my ideas coming together.”
Robyn sold all her possessions – including her car, furniture and TV – and remortgaged her house so she could rent it out to cover the mortgage. With the cash she generated, she bought her land for £185k then started on building a container to live in.It had been on the market for six years until she snatched it up because potential buyers kept pulling out.
For the first two months, Robyn slept on a mattress the floor of the container as it was being made, as the camper van she planned to life in broke down. Robyn bought a a second-hand kitchen from Facebook marketplace for £5k and set up a bed.She got a fridge, freezer and had a full bathroom installed inside the container with a working shower and a WooWoo waterless toilet.
They lived off battery packs for eight months until their solar panel system was installed. She said: “I just had to adapt – you definitely get better at seeing in the dark when you’ve been doing it a while.”
A water harvesting and filtration system was installed, as well as a log burner – and a dog walking client now gives Robyn wood to burn. This year she erected a polytunnel so she could start growing fruit and vegetables on her land – meaning she would need to rely less on supermarkets.
Robyn used to spend around £80 a week on food shops but now spends a maximum of £30. She still buys some food including dairy, as she doesn’t own cows, or “the odd takeaway or wee cheeky bottle of wine” – but aims to purchase as little as possible.
She also regularly uses an app called Olio which allows her to collect free food from shops to prevent anything going to waste. She now grows “anything that can survive in Scotland” – including carrots, potatoes, turnips, tomatoes, strawberries, kale and berries.
In addition, she has started farming chickens for meat and eggs, and rabbits and pigs for meat – as well as sheep, although currently they’re only used to keep the grass trimmed. She said: “I hope by the end of summer, we’ll be growing all our own meat and vegetables.
“I don’t do dairy, so if that goes well, all I’ll need to buy from the shop will be butter and milk. I’m hoping we’ll be able to create a market garden and sell our food back to the public.We already sell our own eggs from the chickens.”
At the moment, Robyn spends her days “digging holes to plant trees in” with the help of a local university student, who in exchange parks their mobile home on Robyn’s land for free. With an aim of transitioning to become 70 per cent self-sufficient by summer, Robyn has been so busy that she hasn’t repurchased her TV and said she doesn’t miss it.
Robyn added: “It’s quite tolling on your body, but I’d like to keep living off-grid as long as I can. It provides a peace of mind – if anything happened in the world, I know there would be no food shortages for me or my family.
“I wanted to live a healthier lifestyle and produce my own food – this way, I know exactly what goes into it.”