Vintage tractors and memories of summers past, with Oliver Godfrey

Oliver Godfrey, head of machinery at Cheffins, joins the Country Life podcast to talk about the joys of vintage tractors

Image of Oliver Godfrey standing between two tractors
(Image credit: Cheffins)

Everyone has their passions. I, for example, enjoy collecting football shirts. Other people like stamps. Some people like vintage tractors. Oliver Godfrey, from Cheffins, is very good at auctioning them. It is important to understand people and their passions.

So we asked Oliver to join the Country Life Podcast, to talk us through the slightly niche world of vintage tractor buying, selling and collecting. He is the best man to ask. Not only is he a man of the countryside, who has a burning passion for all things tractor, his work at Cheffins sees him handle the largest sale of vintage tractors in Europe, which takes place this weekend.

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We talk about what makes a tractor great, his record-breaking sale in 2022, and crawling around people's dusty old sheds looking for hidden gems ('There's a lot of dark sheds in this country, and we've not been through all of them. You never know what you're going to find').

But most importantly, we discuss why people love them. They are fun. They bring back memories of summer. You can drive them around. And the market for them seems to be doing better than ever. Is now the time to move away from gold and invest in Vintage Tractor? We don't do financial advice.

It was a great episode, and something a little different. I hope you enjoy it.

Episode credits

Host: James Fisher

Guest: Oliver Godfrey

Producer and editor: Toby Keel

Music: JuliusH via Pixabay

James Fisher
Deputy Digital Editor

James Fisher is the Deputy Digital Editor of Country Life. He writes about property, travel, motoring and things that upset him. He lives in London.