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Appleby Horse Fair

June 7th, 2009

It may not be America but they’re arguably the ultimate roadtrippers so I hope this qualifies as a relevant entry. This weekend we visited the Appleby Horse Fair, an annual gypsy gathering that has been taking place in the north England town of Appleby for at least 270 years, possibly as far back as 1685. Thousands of gypsies, Romanies and other travellers come together from all over Europe (mainly, it must be said, from Ireland) to trade horses, show off their trotting skills, look as intimidating as possible and generally block off all the roads to and from this part of Cumbria for the week before and after the event.

Here are a few photos to give you a taste of what it’s like (and yes, sadly, this is indicative of the weather in England in June).

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  1. June 8th, 2009 at 09:22 | #1

    Very cool event — those traditional caravans looks a little chilly to live in. We wouldn’t mind a little of that moisture right now in Las Vegas though!

  2. June 8th, 2009 at 10:53 | #2

    Mark Sedenquist :
    … those traditional caravans looks a little chilly to live in.

    If you look closely, you see that they all have a chimney/flue coming out of the roof. I reckon those winters back in County Clare can get a bit nippy so they’ll need those stoves.

  3. June 8th, 2009 at 11:28 | #3

    Very similar to the sheep wagons that I used to see on my family’s ranches (in the 1960’s).

    Mark