2,000 turn out for big auction at Shropshire farm
[gallery] About 2,000 people turned out to view and bid on a diverse collection of vintage vehicles and machinery which went under the hammer at a farm in Shropshire.
The visitors browsed 650 different lots at The Brow Golf Club in Welsh Frankton, near Ellesmere, which used to be Brow Farm until the mid 1990s.
The farm was run by former blacksmith Alf Strange and his wife Vera, who ran a working smithy and farming museum until Mr Strange's death in 2000.
Mrs Strange died in April last year and the golf club is now run by the couple's son Alan who described his father as "a great hoarder."
Items that went under the hammer on Saturday included a collection of large dolls' houses, a vintage motorbike, horse-drawn ploughs, a complete blacksmithing forge, and a large bath taken from a squire's house.
The items were spread out across the golf course green, in barns and sheds, and in the yard near to the clubhouse.
Auctioneer Allen Gittins took more than eight hours to work his way through the lists, with bidding on some items of farm machinery fiercely contested.
Alan Strange described the day as "hugely successful."
He said: "The day went very well indeed. In the region of 2,000 people attended with some travelling from as far as Cornwall and Scotland – from one extreme to the other.
"It was a very busy day but all the lots were received well and they achieved good prices. It was also nice because we had really good weather which really added to the occasion."
Mr Strange said the star item was his father's Morris 8 Vintage Tourer which sold for £7,800.
"The vehicle was very popular and received a lot of interest," he said. "It really is a beautiful car and a lot of people showed an interest.
"The star novelty item was a 100-year-old mousetrap which went for £230 which is astonishing really seeing as though it's just a small block of wood but it was very sought after.
"The bidding was also competitive on the tractors with the Bristol Crawler, which is like a mini JCB, achieving £1,350. It was a very old track machine and fetched a lot more than we thought it would.
"But in general there was active bidding on all the items and the prices were good."
Mr Strange said he was shocked at the turnout.
"We estimated 500 people would come but with the internet word spreads so quickly," he said.
