A grieving former escort has swapped her life working in the sex industry for travelling around the country in a motorhome reviewing pubs.
Mother-of-two Charlotte Rose quit the industry last year after the sudden death of her partner Colin Chapman.
In an attempt to overcome the grief of losing him, she bought a 30-year-old motorhome and in October and set herself a challenge, Devon Live reports.
Charlotte is trying to break a Guinness World Record by visiting 150 pubs across England, Scotland and Wales in 12 months during the coronavirus pandemic to celebrate the pub industry.
Although Lockdown 2 scuppered the attempt, she is determined to carry on with her mission on a much smaller scale, and is looking forward to a return to Devon next year.
Charlotte has faced many mishaps, such as two wheels falling off as she was on the move, but she has not been deterred.
The 40-year-old was forced to leave her home in Exeter in 2014 when she was evicted by her landlord after she appeared on Channel 4 documentary Love for Sale, presented by Rupert Everett.
She spoke of having won the award of Sex Worker of the Year at the Sexual Freedom Awards in 2013, and how she began her journey in the sex trade at the tender age of 17 when she agreed to take part in a dominatrix-themed photoshoot.
After delving into the world of domination she fell pregnant and had the first of two children with her childhood sweetheart.
But after the man she loved had an affair with a neighbour, their seven-year relationship broke down.
(Image: Matt Austin)
Charlotte left Nottingham and moved to Devon where she completed a hospitality degree at Plymouth University.
She worked in hotels and as a hospitality teacher at Exeter College, before deciding to combine two of her passions – people and sex – and become an escort.
After losing her home in Exeter, she moved to London and continued to advertise her services as being a sex worker, dominatrix, sexual trainer, as well as being a political candidate.
However, she found herself evicted for a second time by her new landlord after she organised a porn protest outside Parliament and was interviewed across the globe.
By then she had long given up hope of finding love due to her line of work until she relocated to Essex.
It turned out to be the best move Charlotte made because that is when she met her partner Colin and their whirlwind romance began.
Together they enjoyed travel adventures in an American motorhome they called Hank the Yank, until Colin’s untimely death.
(Image: Charlotte Rose)
The 50-year-old was tragically killed in July 2019 when his motorbike was involved in a collision with a car.
Charlotte said: “It’s been an awful 18 months to be honest. After Colin’s death I went through severe depression. I’m still trying to get through grieving.
“I used to be a very sociable person but then with what happened to Colin I became withdrawn, and then there was Covid-19 which didn’t help. People don’t realise how grief hits someone.
“For someone like me, in the job I had, I thought finding true love was non-existent.
“Then all of a sudden, this wonderful, amazing guy comes along and blows me away. We should have got married in May just gone.
“We would have been together four years this April. It doesn’t sound long but we were living together after six weeks. Everything was just wonderful.
“I was still working as an escort when I met him. He was incredibly supportive of what I did. He became my co-host on my radio show and was an advocate for the adult industry and published a book about it.
(Image: 1stladyofsex)
“When I first met him I immediately disliked him because he called me Scarlet instead of Charlotte. He was never my cup of tea and was not a man I thought I would go for, but there was something about him.”
Colin was happy for her to continue with her line of work, and Charlotte says she can remember only one thing that upset him about it.
She recalled: “He would come home from work at 4pm and I would cook dinner and we would sit down together. If my work phone went off I would answer it, but he said that upset him as it was our time together.
“When he explained that to me I understood and the phone went off. Everything else was just work.
“When Colin died I couldn’t think about sharing myself with anyone but Colin. I didn’t have enough energy for myself, let alone give it to someone else.
“A lot of my clients were disabled so it’s not always straightforward, and then there is the admin on top such as responding to messages, uploading pictures, booking hotels and listening to voicemails which took up 80 per cent of my time.
“I just couldn’t do it anymore. I get a lot of clients asking me to see them and as much as I would like to on a social level I can’t.
“When Colin died I think that side of me died with it.”
(Image: 1stladyofsex)
When asked if she misses being an escort, Charlotte honestly replies: “I’ve not thought about it. I have missed the people in it, but what with Covid it would have changed things anyway.
”I have hosted online adult industry events, I have still got my radio show and I’m happy to talk about it so I have still got that side of it. It means I’m not out of it completely to miss it.”
Before Colin’s death they had planned to go to Europe to keep doing their radio show abroad.
Knowing that Colin would have wanted her to continue having motorhome adventures, she bought ‘Hank Junior’, along with a beagle dog which she aptly named Marvin.
Charlotte says her gear stick suddenly snapping off when she was reversing causing her brakes to set on fire, getting stuck in mud, two wheels falling off when she was moving are just some of the problems she has so far had to contend with.
Clearly not deterred by the mishaps, she said: “There’s always a challenge every week.
“If the motorhome is not level it has no gas, the ignition switch you have to take out from time to time and leave on the table overnight for elves to fix it by the time you put it back in come the morning, and the vehicle has no power steering.”
It certainly makes entertaining reading and viewing on her social media platforms after launching A Motorhome Life of Hank and Marvin when she began her pub challenge in October, while still continuing her weekly radio show Rose Talks Sex.
She said: “It’s my personal journey which I call my road to recovery. I was loving my world record attempt until lockdown 2 came along.
“The plan was to eat, drink and film in each pub to help British tourism which stems from my background teaching at Exeter College.”
The adventure was certainly not fuelled by a love of drinking alcohol.
Charlotte confessed: “I’m a lightweight; I get a bit squiffy tasting two drinks.”
Instead of the image conscious lifestyle Charlotte once lived, she is now embracing a more natural look.
She admitted: “I used to wear the most beautiful dresses, but none of that actually means anything really. At the moment I’m wearing tracksuit bottoms with a grubby hoodie that has my logo on it. My hair is curly as I don’t straighten it anymore. I don’t even have a hairdryer.”
Charlotte’s pre-planned pub tour has had to take a significant detour as some of the areas she was due to visit are in tier 3, and only pubs serving substantial meals being able to trade.
The direction her motorhome will be heading for Christmas is to Barking where her daughter lives to enjoy the festive celebrations.
Charlotte is hoping to make a return to Devon in February , and has already had a brief virtual appearance in Exeter after taking part in an online debate at Exeter University.
Looking firmly ahead to the future, instead of her eventful past, she said in between pub stops: “I’m having the best time of my life at the moment.”
