Goodbye to an Old Friend

When me moved to North Wales almost 7 years ago, we bought, along with the house and holiday cottage, a 1964 Fordson Super Dexta tractor and Amtex topper which the previous owners had used to cut the grass in the one-acre field.  We also inherited a finger-mower and lots of spares and maintenance kit for the tractor.

We (that is, I) really enjoyed having the tractor.  It was well used in the early days and has always been a great attraction for the children and children-at-heart of our family.  It has survived the last two cold winters, wrapped up in old quilts in the open-sided post-barn to prevent the block from freezing and cracking.  With just the occasional oil change, greasing and battery-charging, it never failed to start.

But the one-acre field has been developing.  From our second year here, we have been planting trees and hedges to divide the space into a number of different gardening spaces.  We have dug 5 large beds to grow flowers, fruit and vegetables.  This year we have had a large area devoted to annual meadow flowers and grasses.  So the tractor, with its towed 5-feet wide cutter, has become ever less useful, just not nimble enough to cut around and between all these elements.  Grass cutting is now done on a second-hand ride-on mower picked up on Ebay.

So when our trusty builder, Gareth, indicated an interest in buying the tractor to restore, we reluctantly agreed to say goodbye.  Although I am averse to de-stocking on this scale, it obviously made sense.  And now I have lots of space in the barn to think about!

So last weekend we said goodbye, and hope to see the Super Dexta again in its pomp at future agricultural shows.