Traditional Gypsy wagons
Staying in a bow top wagon over a hundred years old
Yes, you can sleep in a real Romany wagon in the UK. The wagons here are traditional Gypsy wagons over a hundred years old, all lovingly restored, and they are what you book a night in.
Ring Clarence to ask which wagons are free and what a stay involves.
The short answers
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Can you sleep in a real Gypsy wagon in the UK?
You can here. The restored wagons at Romany Ri are the accommodation, not an exhibit you look at from behind a rope.
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How old are the wagons?
Over a hundred years old, and all of them have been lovingly restored.
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What kind of wagons are they?
Bow tops: the type with a canvas tilt stretched over hooped ash above a painted wooden underbody.
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Is there anywhere to cook?
Every pitch has its own kitchenette with a gas cooker, and there is a traditional cooking pot on each pitch as well.
What you are staying in
A wagon that was somebody’s home
These are not reproductions and they are not themed sheds. They are traditional Gypsy wagons over a hundred years old, restored and kept in the condition a wagon of that age deserves. One of them is called Maggie’s Wagon.
A bow top is built light on purpose, because one horse had to pull it. A low wooden body carries the floor and the bed, and above it a canvas tilt is stretched over bent ash hoops. What makes a wagon like this worth a hundred years of care is the work in it: the chamfered timbers, the lining, the scrollwork picked out in gold. There is more about how that was done on the museum page.
Because the wagons are what they are, the site treats them accordingly. If something about your party or your plans needs checking against that, ring and ask rather than guessing.
What comes with the pitch
Everything on this list is on your own pitch
- A kitchenette of your own, with a gas cooker and a hob or an oven
- Twin USB charging sockets
- A firepit, raised off the ground
- A barbecue
- A private seating area outside
- A traditional cooking pot
- Ten gallons of fresh drinking water, delivered daily and replaced when the drum empties
Shared across the site there is a shower block, toilets, a washing-up area and a car park.
Cooking with Clarence
How meals were actually cooked
There is a traditional cooking pot on every pitch, and Clarence is on site to show you how they would have cooked their meals. That is the part guests remember, and it is the reason a stay here is not the same as a night in a pretty wooden box.
He is from a travelling family and a proud historian. If you want to know what you are looking at before you arrive, the museum page explains what a vardo is and how these wagons were built.