Much loved Exeter-based musician Poco Drom talks about his music and his life with his family in his tiny house

Driving through a field of rather grubby, overly inquisitive sheep, I spot a stationary Luton removal van in the distance that has been extended and turned into a home. I am meeting musician Poco Drom or Paul Fryer, as he is less well known by his sea of Mum-fans in Exeter.

Paul lives with his partner, Ann Power and his son, Lawrenny, in the converted removal truck, or as Paul affectionately calls it, the “tiny house".
The tiny house sits in a large garden which houses solar panels, pet chickens, a vegetable patch and plenty of activities to keep the whole family entertained. Wellies sit upside-down on a stand outside the front door, and everything has its place, it could easily be a modern set for the 1970s sitcom The Good Life.

Paul and his family welcome me with huge smiles. The house is 100% solar electric, and the family use gas bottles for cooking and hot water. It’s COVID times so I can’t go in, but Paul describes the inside of the house to me.

Great British Life: Poco drom and Lawrenny in the grass.Poco drom and Lawrenny in the grass. (Image: Poco Drom)

“The inside of the truck is about the size of a parking space. We have a tiny bathroom with a shower and compost toilet, a kitchen area with a big worktop and four ring gas burner and oven,” he says.

“We have a full-size kitchen sink and a wood-burning stove. Lewrenny has his own bedroom at the back of the truck with a little bed and space to play while sleeping in the main part of the truck on a pull-out bed. We have wi-fi from our phones and live a pretty normal life really, with lots of fairy lights and blankets, guitars hung on the wall, it always smells like coffee, it’s very 'hygge,’” he smiles.

On the positives of tiny house living Paul tells me: “We love everything about tiny house living. We’ve lived longer in the truck than we have anywhere else in our life as a family. Having a smaller ecological footprint is a massive thing for us, but we couldn’t do it if we didn’t love it.”

The biggest challenge of tiny house living is the lack of indoor space. “There are times (especially in the winter) where we all need a bit of alone time.” Paul tells me that as a family they have learnt how to cope with this: “We can tell when one of us needs a bit of space and so try to be mindful of each other’s needs.

“In the spring, it’s a different world entirely as our lives spill out into nature. There are so many little challenges you just learn to live with like lack of electricity and emptying the compost toilet, but you get used to that!”

 Finally, I asked Paul for some advice to anyone that is thinking about moving into/building a tiny house. He recommends: “Reduce your belongings before you go tiny, work out what you really need and ditch the rest. You will value space over stuff!”

Where to buy his music

Poco Drom’s EP Furry Grunge Electro is available from pocodrom.com or on Spotify and Apple Music. You can catch one of his online sessions on Wednesday and Saturdays at 4pm.