We needed £2,000. And didn’t know where we would get it from. We had been offered a large mobile home by the landowner we had been planting hedgerows and trees for over near Avebury. He had one for sale and we could have it for £2,000. It was like a mansion compared to our tiny caravan and we really wanted it. We persuaded him to let us pay in instalments, and he delivered it to the farm we were living on, dumping it in the yard 1/4 mile from where it needed to be. We begged the use of a tractor, and heaved it slowly to where our old caravan was. Having moved that out of the way, we drove the mobile home in for it to instantly sink into the mud at an angle. It took Phil days getting ever more covered in mud to straighten it, he looked like Stig of the dump! At last we had a ‘proper’ home. I was so excited and started to paint and make it more like a home I could live in. Phils boys and my daughter were even more excited when Phil decided to smash up the old caravan using his land rover. He loaded the kids into the landie, and setting up a small ramp, he drove repeatedly into the old van, driving up and down inside it until all was left was a heap of splintered wood and glass. I can still remember the squeals of delight from the children and my daughters face! Her father was very staid and she had never met anyone like Phil before. It took me a year to pick up all the pieces!
But the very next thing to happen was just around the corner, and it would change everything….
