'Vanping' with Ian Smail

VAN MAN: Ian Smail outside the living van at the Bridge Estate with a book which shows a traction engine hauling a living van along a road in Lincolnshire, England.

IAN Smail gets excited when he sees a set of cast-iron wheels, the older and rustier the better. For him such wheels hold enormous potential as the foundation for his latest building project, recreating replicas of historic “living vans”.

They are modelled on the traditional cabin-on-wheels that itinerant agricultural workers used to tow behind traction engines as they moved around farms in England from the early 1800s.

“We had them in New Zealand too but here they were called ‘stinkies’ presumably because the shepherds and workmen who lived in them seldom washed,” says Ian.

“I’ve always loved building things since I was a child,” says the man who has turned his hand to many creative ventures in his 66 years, including pottery, designing and building movie and theatre sets and museum exhibitions. But for as long as I can remember, I’ve had a hankering to recreate one of these vans.”

Finding a set of cast iron wheels from an old agricultural machine was just the impetus he needed.

“They were exactly what I was looking for so I acquired them and began building the van in my backyard from the wheels up, which took about eight weeks.”

The completed van, now set up as holiday accommodation in the vineyard at the Bridge Estate, is fully self-contained with a double bed, ensuite bathroom with toilet and shower, a small gas cooker and tea and coffee-making facilities. Outside under an awning, a wine barrel table and two chairs sit on a wooden decking facing the historic vineyard.

Constructed with tongue-in-groove walls and curved ceiling with macrocarpa beams, Ian says he had enormous fun building the van and decorating it with such treasures as his father’s old cookbook and leather suitcase which stores the linen, hand-made model boats, battery-operated storm lanterns, a macrocarpa hand-basin made by furniture-maker Chris Wilson and a cupboard unit with a chicken wire door.

Rustic appeal with modern comfortsThe walls are stained to look aged, part of the rustic appeal of the place. The van is fully insulated and powered by solar panels. It has three-inch galvanised steel guttering which was specially made, so the project has not been cheap, says Ian.

“The concept is about small, intimate, rustic spaces . . . and romance,” says Ian.

“There’s a certain magic about them. Before we moved the van out to the Bridge Estate, my wife Sheryl and I really loved sitting out on the little verandah with a glass of wine, watching the sun go down.

“We’ve been known to go out there for an hour or so in the evening and never quite make it back to the house.”

It’s the antithesis of sleek, spacious and modern and will appeal to travellers who are looking for somewhere unique to stay.

“So far we’ve hosted a few honeymooners and travellers who want to get off the beaten track. Visitors can wander through the vineyard to the Bridge Estate cellar door to enjoy Klaus Sorensen’s fine wines and a lunch platter or a little further and have dinner at the Colosseum Restaurant.”

Ian is now building a second van, inspired by a set of cast iron wheels from a thresher that was used on Glenroy Station.

“These wheels are even better — they are bigger and will be a real feature of the van,” he says gleefully.

“The next model will have stable doors and an extra art deco-style window.”

Ian thinks his interest in quaint dwellings on wheels dates back to when his parents took him caravanning around England as an infant.

The memories were further reinforced when his parents emigrated to New Zealand in the 1950s with their three young sons and lived in two vans on land they bought at Mairangi Bay on Auckland’s North Shore.

The Smail family’s dwellings — one a small caravan and the other steel-wheeled contractor’s van — featured in the Auckland Star in 1953.

“I was very young at the time so my memories are largely based on what I have seen in photos. But this affinity with vans must be in my blood somehow, part of my family mythology.”

There’s another family connection too, a brother whose hobby is building traction engines, the kind of machine that towed these sorts of contraptions around rough roads and tracks in days gone by.

In keeping with small dwellings on wheels, Ian and Sheryl own a modern caravan which they tow all around the country, another version of ‘‘vanping’’ — camping in a van.