Irvine residents may have spotted a traditional traveller’s wagon parked-up by Stanecastle Roundabout last Tuesday.
Jim and Julie Pedley along with their horse Oddball were stopping over for the evening on their way back home having been on a journey to Hessilhead.
The annual Appleby Horse Fair, a gathering of Gypsies and Travellers in the town of Appleby in Cumbria, which takes place on the first week in June each yeah, had been cancelled due to coronavirus.
Instead of letting the occasion pass unmarked, Jim had encouraged a friend by the name Alec Fulton to press ahead with the idea to host a “Mini Appleby”.
Jim promised Alec to make the over160 mile round trip, and so the gathering attracted 20 or so wagons from across the country.
Oddball had brought Jim and Julie all the way from Portpatrick near Stranraer, with them now on their way back.
The beautiful green caravan is insulated with patterned carpets, heated by a wood-burning stove fashioned from a Calor gas cannister, with the stove’s flue made for the exhaust pipe of a Jeep.
It was providing cozy shelter during last week’s incelment weather when the Times paid a visit.
Safe journey home.
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