Terry Hyatt, Traveller
We arrived at York this morning and no sooner had we set up than some blokes from the council arrived. They asked how long we would be staying and I said “Oh, six or seven months” – you should have seen their faces!
If we’d had the pickup they would have moved us on straight away, but they can’t when you only have horses because the law says you must be able to rest them. Anyway, I reassured him that we would be gone by the early hours, so we can move the horses through the city before there is any traffic. We won’t leave any litter and no-one will know we have ever been here.
Me and Barnesy are on our way to the Appleby Horse Fair for the last time. I was born somewhere near Mansfield and my family have travelled the Midlands for generations. We have always gone to Appleby, but a while ago I bought a farm and converted the barn for a home for my family.
They are settled now and my wife gets grumpy about me going travelling, so if you want to buy a caravan and some horses just let my daughter know. I never went to school but she knows all about computers and the internet, so she can handle the sale.
I shall miss travelling. You get a different sense of place when you travel at a horse’s pace. When you dash about in a car you don’t notice the changing seasons or the smell of the wild flowers.
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