New Forest gypsy wagon for sale (From Bournemouth Echo)

New Forest gypsy wagon for sale

6:00pm Friday 30th July 2010 in

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IT is not your average house for sale. Generations of gypsies would have called it home and its walls reflect more than a century of New Forest history.

Towering almost 12ft high and 15ft long, it would have covered miles of the South Coast, pulled by shire horses or a steam engine as it toured with a famous steam fair.

Now the wagon – in which writers have been inspired, fortunes told and history created – could be yours for £17,500.

Sonia Aarons and Anthony Green, who spent hundreds of hours renovating the 1882 caravan, have put it up for sale. But they hope it will stay in the New Forest.

Sonia, 55, a writer, said: “Gosh! 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 a piece of our local history.”

The beautiful wagon is one of just two built by Howcroft of West Hartlepool for the showman family from Blissford, near Fordingbridge, who toured with Bartlett’s Steam Fair.

The gypsy family would have stayed in the wagon when they visited villages and towns with the famous attraction.

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 inside its intricate interior when she went to visit Eryl, who drew the front cover of the book.

Retired farmer Anthony, 67, who is fascinated by gypsy history and art, then bought the wagon off Eryl’s daughter Belinda five years ago.

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, ‘Let’s see if we can bring it back to life’ – so that is what we did.”

The wagon, which is almost entirely original, has a bed chamber and living area, with a “mollicroft” roof above the preserved arched rails. The fireplace has the original stove enamel design with mahogany surround and etched mirror.

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 very hard on it. A Romany gyspy did the roof and Anthony’s knees are very nearly worn away after the hours of rubbing it all down.

“Now it would be lovely for more people to see it and see how people lived in those days.”