Lily
For so long, we would say: "wish we had a Gypsy Caravan”. Amazingly, this wish came true when, after 15 months of construction from ground up, we built our beautiful 'Lily'.
She was named after my Grandmother Lily, one of ten children born to a Scottish mother and an English father. She sadly passed away in 1977 and although she was gone she has never been forgotten. Much later, when we were having the initial discussions about the wagon and deciding on plans, for some strange reason at that time, she was always on my mind and I felt she was there helping us along the way. I knew from very beginning that we would call this beautiful wagon "Lily".
Our Lily is a 4 metre 'Reading' style gypsy caravan. This design has pronounced outward sloping walls from the floor to the roof, is externally lined with tongue and groove boards and has upright chamfered ribs. There is a mollicroft running along the centre of the arched roof, which also has stunning leadlight windows for extra light and ventilation. Decorative timber porch brackets are featured on the front and back, with a lift up deck and removable stairs for travel.
You enter Lily through a Dutch door constructed from two halves and featuring leadlight panels depicting draft horses. And they have names! On the left, meet the lovely Vera and, on the right, our handsome Sarga!
In the kitchen, the eye is once again drawn to a beautifully crafted leadlight window of a gypsy wagon wheel. Vintage kitchen cabinets were revamped and decorated with hand painted roses and gold mouldings. The bench tops are all lined with copper sheeting, complementing the hand beaten Mexican copper sink and brass tap. All these special touches, together with the richness of the colours – oranges, purples, reds and blues- give Lily her very distinctive gypsy style.
Hanging proudly under the aged press metal ceilings is an antique chandelier. This, together with the gilded rose wallpaper and the French wall sconces, provide a beautiful and luxurious environment. A bay window at the front of the wagon allows extra space for the bed area and the ability to capture cross breezes. All windows, doors and cupboards were sourced from salvage yards and lovingly given a new lease of life.
While Lily may not be quite as highly decorative as an original Reading wagon, we are enormously proud of the fact that all her features were hand crafted by us. We hope you share our pride in this true labour of love.
Finally, we are excited to present our Lily to the wider world. We very much hope that you will have the opportunity to meet her, and us, have a coffee and say Hi!
