The blue herd
I meet many interesting people through this magazine, a vast proportion of which have an equally-interesting story to tell, but how Richard Jones’ came to end up with such a vast collection of tractors is fascinating.
As an owner of approximately 80 acres of grassland, as well as around 50 acres of woodland, in West Wales, it’s hardly surprising that there’s a few tractors about the place – but it hasn’t always been this way.
Richard’s family is synonymous with teaching – his grandparents were teachers, his parents were teachers, his brother is a teacher and he was once a teacher, too. Like so many of us, his early years had a profound impact on his outlook and it was his rural upbringing that ultimately led to a change of lifestyle.
His childhood home had a neighbouring farm and it was here that a young Richard would spend many hours watching work take place in the fields and, when he was old enough, drive a tractor for the first time. The farmer’s children were too young to help on the farm, and so from the age of 14 Richard became the ‘farm lad’, operating an International Harvester B-414 that the farm had purchased new, in 1965.
Enjoying the outdoor life and working with his hands, it was perhaps inevitable that Richard would end up with a self-employed practical role,
