CARAVANNING IN ENGLAND.

Northland Age, Volume VI, Issue 40, 30 May 1910, Page 2

CARAVANNING IN ENGLAND.

A DELIGHTFUL HOLIDAY. It

Experiences of a varied character are sure to mark a caravan holiday. Some are comical, some nearly approach tragedy, and many are pleasant. For example, amateur gipsies are sure to be taken for various things they are not, including the real article ; travelling politicians ; ‘"Wycliffe Zreachers "Beer and Bible Leaguers ;" dispensers of patent medicines ; sellers of food for cattle, sewing machines, hymnbooks, or what not ; and even a ourcus advance van ; all of which mistakes add not a little to the excitement and gaiety of the holiday.

To the average caravaner it is a matter of some embarrassment to be taken for a travelling "cure all” or "quack, ’’ and to have his services requisitioned by a buxom dame for her "darter who’s been took bad,." And scarcely less embarrassing is it to be requested to undertake a funeral, "cost* vicar be away to seaside on a ’oiler-day,” under the mistaken impression that the van is that of a "missioner." One might be persuaded (if it were legal) to wed a blushing pair of yokels, but one naturally bars a funeral when out for rest and recreation ! It is one of the misfortunes of a caravan holiday that someone may possibly have been taken there before, the previous year perhaps, who was not a desirable type of AMATEUR GIPSY.

On more than one occasion the present writer has been accused of planting unworkable sewing machines upon an industrious but too credulous villager ; and of having on the previous trip sold some "cure air’ which "only made my ole man a thousand times wuss." Argument generally fails to convince the accuser of one’s innocence. Sometimes indeed, one is told "you’m be he to the life which may or may not be a compliment to the sinner's personal appearance, but is none to one’s own honesty. One of the pleasantest features of caravan touring through rural England, even nowadays when country districts are each month becoming less remote, less rural, and alas ! more cheaply and incompletely sophisticated, is the kindly hospitality of the peasant as well as the squire. The latter, when he is quite sure that you are only "playing at being gipsies," will on occasion place his park at your service for a delightful- camping ground, to which he and his lady and children (if there are any) will come down after dinner of an evening to SEE HOW IT’S DONE. And often next morning butter, cream, eggs, fruit, and vegetables arrive with "t’ squoire’s compliments," and with kindly wishes for a continuance ? fine weather and a good journey. he peasant is often proportionately no less generous. Nosegays for the ladies, plenty of hot water, ar: l a picking of peas or beans from the vegetable patch often make t! appearance through the medium c a shy little maid or boy, with finger or pinafore in corner of mouth. And one is glad to think that payment was not contemplated.

The village green and the village inn in the districts farthest away from the high road and railway line are never failing sources of interest to caravan folk of an evening. So are the village children, who so often ta 1 e the caravan for part of a circus, and hang around persistently in the neighbourhood of the van till long after dusk in the hope of seeing "tbe lady what jumps through them ’oops," and " THE GENT WITH THE PAINTED FACE " emerge from their jealous obscurity. Alas ! there are no short tarlatan skirts in the wardrobes of the lady members of the party, and even the funny man (one always hopes for one in the party whom rain and dust will not depress, nor finding oni’s self ten miles from anywhere at sundown cause to grumble) refuses to paint his face, and imagine that tennis flannels or pyjamas can be made to fit substitutes for a proper "pierrot" costume. Then there are the joys of camping out at night in the open fields, or on a broad stretch of heath, with the pure air singing in the trees or whispering amid the heather and gorse, and the deep blue sky above one, spangled with stars, and on moonlight nights more like a silvery canopy than the '"night-dark." VAULT OF HEAVEN. And even the work of a caravan camp, the washing-up, the cooking, the packing away in the early morning, is full of delight for all save ! the most confirmed Sybarite and | those for whom the "call of the iroad" has no son of meaning or I lure. -

At the end, when the time comes for breaking the last camp on the homeward way, and the tour and its varied incidents—many of which are sure to be tragio-comedy in character—are things of the past, it will be with genuine regret, if our experience counts for aught, that the amateur gipsy leaves the open road and returns to civilisation and the conventional.— Clive Holland. in "Travel and Exploration."