Name: Tim Brown
Occupation: works for a land-based college; background in forestry and countryside management
Where from: Hawkshead, Lake District
Details of Land Rover: Discovery III, ‘The Chief’
Favourite destinations: The Lake District, his ‘back yard’
Dream trip: Pacific North West
Life in the Lakes
Tim spends most of his time outdoors exploring the Lake District. ‘I’ll try and find an opportunity every day to go out and do something, whether it’s on the bike for sunrise down the lake, or canoeing on Lake Windermere.’
Tim’s Land Rover Discovery, fondly named ‘The Chief’, is central to his family’s adventurous lifestyle of mountain biking and walking. ‘Often, I’ll drop my son off into the forest, my wife and daughter will go the opposite way on a walk, and I’ll be on a bike ride. The Land Rover provides that hub; it lets us all be outdoors but within reach of each other,’ Tim explains.
His previous Land Rover Defender ‘Sarge’ was named after the retired marine sergeant Tim bought it from, and played the same role as his current Discovery. ‘I referred to Sarge as our “mobile family adventure vehicle”, you’d drive somewhere, set everything up and then everybody’s gone!’
When it comes to modifications for his Discovery, Tim prefers the ‘subtle and functional’ look. ‘I’m cautious of pimping it up, but I still like my Land Rover to be non-standard and have its own personality,’ Tim tells us. ‘It’s got a high-lift jack, spotlights, and the airbag failed so I went to coil springs. It’s got a roof rack and a ladder too, so that you can climb on the top. It’s awesome being able to park up and sit on the roof for a brew – it’s like a climbing frame! And it’s practical too, you can just put the bikes on the back, the canoe on the roof and set off.’
In the future, Tim plans to lift his Land Rover up slightly to improve its functionality. ‘I want to lift it up again because it’s standard height at the moment which is slightly impractical for me. Even doing roadside work, I’ve had the towbar wedged in the ground and had to get towed off!’
The Land Rover community
For Tim, his early morning work is where he manages to snap most of his Instagram pictures for his five thousand followers.
His work for a land-based college is term-time only, and outside of this he also works for the local council helping with roadside maintenance.
‘I’ll take a cup of coffee out and inevitably I’ll be parked up somewhere scenic,’ Tim tells us, ‘I guess it’s the old Instagram versus reality, the picture is nice but I probably had my hand down a grid ten minutes earlier!’