THE curious tale starts in the early 1970s with a gipsy caravan lying derelict in a field near Beverley, North Yorkshire.

Caravan company boss Jim Robson and his brother, Clifford, spotted the bow-top van, made by William Wright, of Leeds, in 1900 - and after haggling with the owner managed to buy it for £200.

"It was in a bit of a state, and when we brought it home the family were not impressed," said Jim Robson, chairman of a caravan company at Wolsingham, County Durham.

But after rebuilding the caravan's wheels and springs, replacing a lot of timber and its canvas roof and giving it a good coat of paint, it was ready for the road.

Mr Robson bought a horse he christened Rocky from a pal at Tow Law, then he and his wife, Moira, and their three children, set off for a week's holiday at nearby Saltersgate.

"We had a smashing time," he recalls.

Years later, at a carriage sale at Reading, Berkshire, the gipsy caravan started on its long journey across the Atlantic.

It caught the eye of James Coson, a shipping container millionaire, who has built up one of the most famous carriage collections in the world at his Beechdale Farms, Bird in Hand, Pennsylvania.

He paid Mr Robson £1,800 for it, and had it shipped out to the US in a container.

"As far as I was concerned, that was that," said Mr Robson, who over the years has established himself as one of the leading carriage drivers in Britain.

He is to compete next month in the single-horse class with his 15-year-old horse, Duke, at the Royal Windsor Horse Show against enthusiasts from all over the world.

Three years ago he was presented with the winning trophy by the Queen.

And it is that royal connection that has reunited Mr Robson with the gipsy caravan he so lovingly restored all those years ago.

A leather-bound book, published by the Carriage Association of America and entitled The Coson Carriage Collection at Beechdale, has an introduction written by the Duke of Edinburgh, an avid carriage driver, and includes two photographs of Mr Robson's old caravan.

"I was absolutely stunned," said Mr Robson. "I knew that Mr Coson had included it in his collection, but I never expected to see it in a book about some of the greatest carriages in the world.

"It has travelled a long way from that little family holiday at Saltersgate."

Mr Robson reckons the caravan is now worth more than £30,000.

In his introduction, Prince Philip writes: "I am delighted that the Carriage Association of America has chosen to publish this splendid book so that enthusiasts everywhere can get a glimpse of the range of the collection and an impression of the loving care with which all its vehicles have been restored and maintained."

And that includes Jim Robson's bow-topped caravan.