Category: vardo

Mike’s Gypsy Wagon

~ George Crawford ~ 10 Comments

Mike is finishing up his remarkable vardo in the great white north.  He included a mollycroft in the roof which not only looks cool but should add a lot of light and headroom.  The front storage is accessible from the outside like a sheepherder and it will have an enormous bay window in the front.  As it comes along I hope he’ll write up more about the design and construction of the wagon.  With this wagon and Jack’s build last year, I think I’ll add a page to the header bar for “other vardos” so that they are easy to find on the blog.

Enjoy!  Hopefully more to come…

Growing Up on the Range

~ George Crawford ~ 3 Comments

A great story I read years ago about being raised in a family of six in a sheep camp measuring about 7 x 8′! (I think that’s the floor space).  I recently relocated the article in Mother Earth News.

Nice layout sketch of a sheep camp.

Here’s an excerpt:

“The canvas-covered sheep wagon was roughly about seven feet wide by eight feet long. On the front end a door opened out of the middle and you stepped down onto the wagon tongue and thence to the ground. From the inside looking out, the stove was on the left of the door. On the right was a small wash stand with several wooden drawers for storage of linens, towels and socks. A bucket of water and washbasin were on the oil cloth covered top and a small mirror hung above the basin for shaving. Soap, toothbrush, razor and essentials rested on top of the stand when in location or were stowed in a drawer when moving.”

Read more here: http://www.motherearthnews.com/nature-community/sheepherders-wagon-zmaz70mjzkin.aspx

Semi-Bowtop for Sale…

~ George Crawford ~ 4 Comments

…and Some Other Nice Work

Daphne at Daphne’s Caravans has been busy this summer and appears to have another beautiful wagon nearly ready to sell.  Her description is “all cedar, with a roof like a cedar strip canoe.  7′ long, 6′ wide at the ledge, and 6′ high in the centre.”  I presume the roof will be epoxied over glass or there will be a covering over the entire thing.  If you’ve wanted your very own mini caravan but don’t have the time, tools, or inclination, this might be one for you.

Below is another creation of hers from earlier this summer.  Click the photo to see more at her website.

More Cool and Vintage(ish) Wagon Homes

~ George Crawford ~ 1 Comment

First of all, a beautiful Bristol bowtop shown on Handmade Charlotte.

Tonke Campers make some amazing caravans in the Netherlands.  The most remarkable part of this design is that the whole living compartment easily removes and can be left as an autonomous dwelling.  Handy indeed.

 

A restored “showman’s” wagon found at shootfactory.co.uk.

And a really great Art-Noveau style caravan.  I want more pics of this one.  I found this one here.

Finally, I don’t generally like the pop-up campers but when this one is “deployed” it’s pretty amazing.  Designed by Axel Enthoven, it is appropriately called the Opera.

More information about this cunning design here.