Barny is Norfolk born and bred. He lives with his wife Myrtle beside the magnificent windmill at Thelnetham and has accumulated his huge, amazing collection of tractors over a period of 40 years.

Barny is Norfolk born and bred. He lives with his wife Myrtle beside the magnificent windmill at Thelnetham and has accumulated his huge, amazing collection of tractors over a period of 40 years.

His first purchase was made when he was 16 years old.

And every year, in August, Barny puts on display all his tractors and rare and unusual farm machinery in the field near his home.

The occasion attracts visitors from all corners of the country - I met a man who had travelled from Edinburgh to be there. There were also stalls selling everything from tractor-related items to food and drink, plus competitions.

Money from the events is raised for charity, and this year the proceeds are going to Macmillan Nurses. In the past Barny has supported the East Anglian air ambulance, blind people, Quidenham Children's Hospice and other deserving causes. Each year £100 is given to the local church, too, as a thank you for the use of its land for parking.

Barny is a man with a big heart. He works hard, driving a truck for more hours a week than I'd care to consider, but his great love is tractors.

His most prized possessions are his Waterloo Boy, built in 1921, an Oliver Row Crop tractor (1941) bought at a sale at Worstead and the rare, very unusual Bolinder-Munktell, a two-stroke,

air-start machine. He owns the biggest collection of Oliver tractors outside North America, one of which is the red-painted, Canadian-named Cockshutt.

Barny also has a large collection of horse ploughs, many made locally, and he has a horse-drawn trenching machine.

When I met Barny I knew next to nothing about tractors.

He walked round the field with me and told me about all the different tractors sitting there in the sunshine. His commentary was really inspiring and I now have a new interest... in tractors!