This weekend was the Prestwood Steam Rally – the highlight of the local calendar, which sees exhibitors coming from far and wide to show off beautifully restored engines like this:
plus lots of vintage vehicles of all descriptions, such as this one:
The living van below was restored by the Green family, who live in the same village as me. It initially made me think of the Reddleman’s home in The Return of the Native, but it is too big for that and was not used in the wilds of the 19thC West Country but was pulled behind the steam-roller of a road-building gang.
The van dates from 1922 and housed the steam-roller driver’s family of 6 – which made it pretty sparsely populated compared with some vans of the time!
Similar vans would house the rest of the road-working team – one of these with six grown men living in it was possibly slightly less attractive and fragrant than this one.
Caroline Rance's debut historical novel, Kill-Grief, set in 18th-century Chester, is out now.
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