ROOTS IN THE HEART OF WALES

Alun Lewis’ family has a long history of working the land in their peaceful little corner of Wales. However, as the ‘Taid’, or grandfather of the family, Alun now takes a back seat to watch his son Phillip and grandson Harri take the yoke with contracting work. In semi-retirement, Alun dedicates some time to tinkering with his old tractors. “Except my son and grandson still find plenty of jobs for me to do!” laughs Alun.

Proper tractor

During Alun’s childhood, horses were still in regular use on the local farms. Although there were tractors around, they were still something of a novelty. However, Alun’s father, Richard Lewis, was a forward-thinking sort of gentleman as while he still had horses, he also invested in a Fordson tractor. Richard Lewis also bought a Bristol Crawler, on which Alun learned to plough and harrow. “Even though it looked like a toy, the Bristol crawler was a strong little thing, and on the flat, it would pull a three furrow plough,” says Alun. He remembers the first ‘proper’ tractor he drove