10:40am Friday 30th July 2010
By Tara Russell
Generations of gypsies would have called it home and its walls say much about the history of the New Forest.
Towering almost 12ft high and 15ft long, it would have covered miles of the south coast pulled by huge shire horses or a steam engine as it toured with a famous steam fair.
Now this gypsy wagon built in 1882, an inspiration for a famous writer, could be yours for £17,500. New Forest couple Sonia Aarons and Anthony Green, who have spent hundreds of hours renovating the caravan, have now put it on the market hoping it will stay in the New Forest.
Sonia, 55, a writer, said: “It really does take your breath away. It has got marvellous presence. Its history is fascinating.
“So many of the wagons have rotted away so to have it in such good condition and so much of it so original is amazing.”
It is one of just two built by Howcroft of West Hartlepool for a New Forest based show family from Blissford near Fordingbridge who put on the Bartlett’s Steam Fair.
The gypsy family would have stayed in the wagon when they toured towns and villages with their famous fairground. In the late 1940s New Forest artist Eryl Vize, who lived at Chilly Hill near Frogham with many of the local gypsies, bought the caravan.
The famous book Wanderers of the New Forest by Juliette de Bairacli-Levy was partly written in the wagon when she went to visit Eryl, who drew the front cover of the book.
Five years ago retired farmer Anthony, 67, bought the wagon off Eryl’s daughter Belinda. Sonia, of Woodgreen Road, in Fordingbridge, said: “When we discovered Belinda had the wagon covered in tarpaulin and didn’t know what to do with it. We said lets see if we can bring it back to life.”
The wagon which is 128 years old is almost entirely original. It has a bed chamber, a living area, a mollicroft roof is above the preserved arched rail.
The fitted cupboards are all original and have shelving inside.
There is also a chest of drawers, a plate rack and two trunks, along with two coach lamps and brackets.
Sonia added: “We have worked hard on it. A Romany gyspy did the roof and Anthony’s knees are nearly worn away after the hours of rubbing it all down.
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