A 70-YEAR-OLD tractor which has spent years working in a West Somerset holiday park, has become the hero of a successful series of children’s books.

Retired Somerset consultant paediatrician Dr Alan Bosley has created four “Davey the Tractor” books for youngsters aged from two to seven based on a red 1954 David Brown 30D tractor given to his father in 1981 and still used on the Beeches holiday site in Blue Anchor.

The books, which have sold over 4,000 copies, as far afield as Spain, Canada, the USA, Australia and New Zealand, are illustrated by renowned local artist Mary Oldham, and are based on actual events involving the tractor which has several times been saved from the scrapyard and is now restored.

After launching the series with Waking up Davey, Dr Bosley followed it with Davey to the Rescue, Davey’s New Friends, and Davey and the Big Red Machine. He is now planning a fifth book.

“The tractor came from a caravan site in Porlock and was given to my father after the owners retired,” Dr Bosley remembers.

“He used it for only a short while in our woodland, but then he became ill and died in 1988. The tractor remained unused for the last four years of his life and sadly was left under a tree in all weathers.”

When Dr Bosley needed a tractor to work in woodland at Blue Anchor, he found Davey in a sad state. He wrote in the first book: “For three years Davey did not move. He got stiffer and stiffer and his paint got dull and rusty. No one seemed to care. He really would become scrap now.”

In fact it was Dr Bosley who rescued and repaired Davey and put it back to part-time work in the Blue Anchor woodland and arranged to have it taxed so that it could be used on the road.

David Brown tractors, which began as a joint project with Harry Ferguson, became a mainstay of British farming from 1936 to 1988 when a workforce of 4,000 produced over half a million small versatile machines, many still in use today.

Davey is now a familiar sight at local fetes, shows and agricultural rallies and Dr Bosley hopes to pass it on to the next generation of his family. “People are really interested in these working examples of agricultural history,” he says. “And I’m delighted that this includes children.

 “Unlike most tractors on display at events, where ‘keep off’ is the rule, Davey is insured for children and adults to enjoy sitting on it if supervised. This couldn’t happen with modern very complex tractors. They may look more impressive but Davey still works well and has given many hours of pleasure.

Recently, Dr Bosley met the tractor’s original owner, a retired Exmoor farmer from Parracombe. “He was delighted to be reunited with Davey and to know that it was still working and being looked after. That added just a bit more magic to Davey’s story.”