Barrel Top Wagons

I have been involved predominantly with food for the last 20 years, and have ran a catering business in Brighton and then a restaurant here in Devon for 5 years with my partner, Ben. We sold this on the day Alistair Darling announced we were going into recession and went travelling for a year in a 6 ton Mercedes truck, living and working in Greece on organic olive farms. On our return, we ended up living in a static caravan, and out of necessity, Ben began to make us a wagon to live in. His background is both as a conventional builder and a specialist in traditional carpentry. We lived in our first structure, and were then asked to build a lodge as a granny annexe, and from there Barrel Top Wagons was formed. The company is now in it's fourth year, and we have recently gone through a lengthy planning application to get permission to set up an eco-campsite using our structures. We were, ultimately, successful - hurrah! - and work has begun. In 2014 we also moved to bigger premises and have not only focused on producing beautiful, unique wagons and lodges, we also take on smaller bespoke carpentry projects. There are many shepherds hut companies around - in fact, we think that market has reached saturation point - but no-one is making wagons of this size, to this standard. Bens vision and design continues to astound me, and his craftsmanship is extraordinary to the point of making those in the know regarding woodwork, gaze open mouthed at his work. The challenging part has been to make sure these works of art are both marketable and competitively priced. 2015 started with 2 orders on New Years day and it is continuing with a feeling of great optimism and excitement. We now have a small - but perfectly formed! - structure going to RHS Chelsea and have had 3 more commissions so far this year.....