Our beautiful gypsy caravan is now back in pride of place in the Pole Barn on the central courtyard at Sheepdrove. We are pretty sure that it is a Reading “van” (named after the town in which the style was first built) made by Stubbs of Barrowden in Huntingdonshire and masterfully restored by Peter Ingram, renowned restorer and painter, in the late eighties. The carved porch brackets painted in a caramel base colour with bright highlights are apparently typical of a Reading style “waggon”.
Our caravan belonged to Thorold Dickinson, a film director much admired by Martin Scorsese and the UK’s first professor of film. He lived at Sheepdrove Cottage just down the road from Sheepdrove Organic Farm and was a great friend of Juliet’s mother Evelyn. Thorold used to write his screenplays inside the cara
Thorold’s 1952 film Secret People featured Audrey Hepburn – she performed all her own ballet moves during a dance sequence. It was Thorold’s screen test of Audrey Hepburn that led to her casting in Roman Holiday.
With that history and connection to the divine Audrey, it’s no wonder that our caravan is such a favourite with our beautiful brides!
