Meet Uhtred, a Gorgeous and Sophisticated RV That Fits the Entire Family

These past few years have seen an incredible surge in the popularity of tiny houses and other types of live-in towables. As the world faced a series of unprecedented events playing out on a large scale, priorities shifted, and with them, so did lifestyles.

The concept of the digital nomad was thus born, referring to a modern-day nomad who travels the world for work and leisure, oftentimes making a living online out of his or her nomadic lifestyle. Tiny houses, which first popped up on the radar as a potential new trend in the early 2000s, became a favorite for being able to offer a sum of advantages over other towables.

Tiny houses are just what the name implies. They're houses designed for full-time residency, lacking "unnecessary" spaces like hallways, condensed to the most basic in terms of functionality and size. In return for compromising on space and, ultimately, comfort, they offer a handful of advantages ranging from the ability to travel with the home in tow to lower monthly costs and a reduced carbon footprint.

Land Ark RV was one step ahead of the game in the sense that it was active on the tiny house market before the 2020 spike in demand for this kind of towable. Founded by married couple Brian and Joni Buzarde in 2010, the business actually started with a DIY project called Woody, which the two completed in 2011 and then became their mobile home as they traveled the country.

The Buzardes understood that there was interest in a new type of trailer, one that would combine the features of a travel trailer with the comforts and aesthetics of a home. That's the very definition of a tiny house, but the Buzardes chose to call it an ark, a sort of a more glamorous RV, which they designed to stand out through its styling and surprising choice of materials.

"[The Arks are] movable shelters or refuges that encapsulate the necessities (and more) while you travel through life," Brian explained in an interview in 2022. "They're also large, heavy, and more substantial than standard travel trailers. Lots of RV companies use ethereal words that have to do with aviation. A Land Ark is somewhat the opposite of that."

The latest addition to the lineup, Uhtred, is a solid example of that.

Introduced that same year, it's a beautiful, angular, stark trailer that hides a very cozy and surprising interior despite the minimalist styling. That's another thing that makes Land Ark RV products stand out from the crowd: the stark, contrasting styling and the heavy accent on minimalism, which, nonetheless, doesn't translate into a compromise in functionality.

The Uhtred is 24 feet (7.3 meters) long and sits on a triple-axis trailer, though the unit shown in the gallery (and on the official website) is based on a double-axle trailer. It uses a rather standard lofted layout to provide sleeping for an entire family, on the condition that it's not larger than six.

Despite this high occupancy capacity, the Uhtred doesn't feel cramped thanks to the use of minimalist furniture and plenty of glazing, allowing natural light in.

Entrance is done directly into the main living area, which, in the case of tiny houses, almost always means the communal area of the kitchen, dining, and living room. The whitewashed pine surfaces combine with vinyl plank flooring and acrylic to create a clean-lined, airy interior, with black pieces of furniture offering contrast – and obviously matching the black metal siding on the outside.

The living room couch converts into a queen-size bed, so the entire space becomes a guest room. Three deep drawers offer plenty of storage underneath regardless of whether there's company over or not. Additional storage is under the main bed.

There's a main bedroom on the ground floor as well, which remains a novelty in tiny houses or, at least, in tiny houses of this size. That meant using the bathroom as a divider by placing it in the middle of the trailer. It's small even for tiny house standards, but it's a complete solution with a shower, a teeny-tiny sink with custom vanity, and a toilet, either an incinerating or composting model.

The loft is over the bedroom, offering enough space to put a king mattress or twin beds, but no standing height.

Like the other models from the Land Ark RV lineup, the Uhtred comes with all-around insulation and all the systems in place, including 50 amp connection, and standard RV water and sewage connections. Speaking of the other models, they can be further customized to be rendered off-grid, and this might also apply to Uhtred. If it does, it goes unmentioned on the official presentation page.

But you know what they say: the sky's the limit, especially on a limitless budget. Just keep in mind that any further personalization to the standard model brings the final cost higher, and Land Ark RVs aren't exactly cheap to begin with. There's no mention of the starting price for Uhtred, but for reference, a smaller, three-person Quatro starts at $150,000, while the deluxe Drake at $205,000.