Old Pond publishing days

Middle East trucking classic Cola Cowboys is now available as an E-book

The latest title to be digitised as an e-book by Old Pond is Cola Cowboys, the classic account of Middle East trucking by Fanklyn Wood. It is now available to download on Kindle, iPlayer or similar devices.

A great read for Nuffield tractor fans

'This is a great book, certainly a must for any Nuffield/Leyland enthusiast, and with its great story and marvellous photos will keep the reader involved for many hours - a great read.' So says the reviewer in Vaporising magazine, Winter 2013.

The commendation is for Tony Clare's recently published book,The Nuffield Tractor Story Volume Two (details here), and it is typical of the response we are receiving.

Vaporising is the magazine of NVTEC, the National Vintage Traction Engine Club. Their website is here.

Old Pond at LAMMA'14

In 2014 Old Pond will be showing and selling a range of books and DVDs at LAMMA, 'the UK's leading farm machinery, equipment and services show' for the 11th time.

Previously we have always been associated with the vintage exhibition put on by the Nottinghamshire Group of the National Vintage Tractor and Engine Club (NVTEC), and this has been a happy arrangement.

However, now that the ownership of the show has passed to Briefing Media Ltd and the venue has moved from Newark to the East of England showground, Peterborough, you will find us separated from the new vintage exhibition.

The date is 22-23 January, our stand is 421 in Hall 4. We hope you will come and see us.

For more details about the show itself see here.

The Nuffield Tractor Story Volume 2: Nuffield and Leyland 1963-1982 is now in stock

At long last! Anthony Clare's book,The Nuffield Tractor Story Volume 2: Nuffield and Leyland 1963-1982, has come into stock at Old Pond. It is a hardback with over 200 photographs and a carefully researched text. Secure online ordering and more details are here.

Eddie Stobart Trucks and Trailers Series 5 DVD is now in stock

Another five and a half hours of enjoyment are now available for Stobart fans with the release of their 4-disc DVD Eddie Stobart Trucks & Trailers Series 5. It is now available from Old Pond at £19.95. More information and secure online ordering are here.

New farm machinery 2014 calendar now available

Weekly Calendar: Agricultural Machines Worldwide 2014, Photographs and Text by Jörn Gläser. Spiral bound paper 225 x 245 mm (landscape), 56 pages plus paper covers. Now in stock at Old Pond at £14.95 inc. VAT.

Over fifty stunning full-page photographs illustrate this 2014 calendar, one page for each week with space beneath for brief notes. Many of Jörn Gläser’s photographs were taken in his native Germany and they are supplemented by shots from the USA, Canada, Australia and central Europe.

All the images are of machines at work on farms. Many of the scenes, from sugar-beet drilling to the potato harvest, will be familiar to British farmers; others will be less so, including views from Australia of the cotton harvest or a 90-foot Airseeder.

The photographs are all captioned in three languages: British, German and French. The hooked spiral biding makes it suitable for wall hanging and it also has a card base for desk-top use. Thework of the  Gläser brothers, Jörn and Tammo, will be familiar to British farm machinery enthusiasts through their series of DVDs.

Martin Phippard

I am very sad to learn that Martin Phippard passed away yesterday. He died peacefully after a year's courageous battle against illness. He had just passed his 70th birthday.

Working with his colleague Pete Connock under the name CP Productions, Martin was responsible for many fine programmes about trucking and heavy loads around the world. Martin and Pete have brought pleasure to thousands of truck enthusiasts during their twenty years of filming and video/DVD production.

Our thoughts go out to Martin's widow Annie, daughters Jackie and Elizabeth and their families.

Old Codger's Cookbook stocking filler for the old codger in your life

Here’s an idea for a Christmas stocking filler, not published by Old Pond but by our friends at Camden Miniature Steam Services.

David Curwen, a prolific designer of miniature railway locomotives living deep in the countryside, faced changed circumstances in his eighties which meant that if he wanted to eat, he had to learn to cook. He thought, “I’m not a grumpy old codger, I’m a happy-go-lucky codger, and I’ll face up to this in a practical way.”

You can discover how he got on in his Old Codger’s Cookbook. Besides brief accounts of kitchen equipment, basic tools and recipes from tomato soup to beef stew with pigeon, David Curwen diverts to a wide range of topics such as cats and their behaviour, recalcitrant cookers and the joys of a good butcher. It makes delightful reading, beautifully illustrated by Wendy McCleave

The Old Codger’s Cookbook, paperback, 62 pages, costs only £6.75 and is available from Camden Miniature Steam Services, telephone 01373 830151. More details and online ordering are on their website here.

Full of zest for living until the end, David Curwen died two years ago at the age of 97, just after handing his manuscript to Camden.

Old Pond stand at the Zwolle farm model show

Visitors to the 25th Landbouwminiaturen Beurs & Tentoonstelling at the Ijssenhallen Zwolle in Holland on 23 and 24 November will be able to examine and buy copies of Farming in Miniature. Old Pond will be there with a stand and hope that you will visit us.

We will also have two tables at Sandown Park this coming weekend, again to promote and sell Farming in Miniature.

The book proved popular at the Newark Tractor Show last weekend. Thank you to all of you who visited the Old Pond stand. It was good to see so many familiar faces and we enjoyed the fine weather on Sunday. This show seems to go from strength to strength.

If you want more details about the Zwolle event you can email [email protected] or visit the Agritoy website.

Country Calendar on Horseback DVD is now in stock

The view of New Zealand's rural life as seen from the crowded and controlled perspective of the UK is a rosy one. The dream of beautiful landscape, space to spread out and make a living from family farming and at the same time indulge an enthusiasm for horses is reinforced by TVNZ's Country Calendar programmes.

The latest offering from Old Pond is a DVD of Country Calendar on Horseback: a special collection. It has lots of variety and lots of inspirational accounts of how New Zealand's residents can really indulge their passions for horseback activities. Details and secure online ordering are here.