Or to be more precise, it’s an Abbot FV433 SPG (Self Propelled Gun) and she does have a very big 105mm gun.

She was built by ‘Vickers’ in Newcastle in 1963 and went straight to work for the British Army. We believe she spent time in Germany and also on ‘Salisbury Plain’. She was finally decommissioned in about 1989, and retired to a Ministry Of Defence yard.

The British Army must have gone a bit short on cash by the mid 90’s, and she was offered to us in 1995 for £10,000. Less than the price of a car, and she ran as sweet as a nut.

Before we could take delivery, we were ‘vetted’ by the local police and the Abbot had her barrel plugged and firing chamber defaced so that we could not bring her back into ‘active’ service.

She was delivered to us on a Walkers Transport of Aberdeen articulated lorry, who had enjoyed his run up from Nottinghamshire as he’d created a fair stir wherever he stopped. Thankfully, the lorry driver was an ex tank driver and he carefully unloaded her at our farm, a short distance from Deeside Activity Park.

To begin with, we ran her in stubble fields but she did make an awful mess digging up the ground, and at 24 tons, she would stick in soft spots!

Eventually, after a visit to Mallory Park in Leicestershire, and seeing their (tiny) tank track, we built a track of our own, with some really interesting ups and downs.

This worked very well, and we were lucky that our gamekeeper, young Colin Stewart, had ‘served an apprenticeship’ at Websters in Arbroath, and could make or fix almost anything.

She was a noisy sod. Not so much the engine, but the cooling fan that sucked air in through the louvers at the front, past the engine and radiators, and out through vents on top. The fans were operated on thermostatically controlled hydraulic pumps and they did give us a lot of stick.

By 1997 we’d acquired another engine power pack, and could take one ‘pack’ out and another in, in less than 2 ½ hours. The theory being, was whilst one pack was in use, the other could be in the workshop being serviced; and they needed a lot of servicing. We did/do have the service manuals, but the different oils required were all out of date. However, BP has a department who were very helpful in assisting us with finding modern equivalents.

In 1999, we had the opportunity to acquire the Abbots wee sister. The FV432 APC (Armoured Personnel Carrier). She was bought from a farmer in Essex who was a very keen collector and had bought one very similar, but his had a rocket launcher on the back. Unfortunately, the ‘432’ is petrol driven, and at 50 odd gallons an hour, very soon became too expensive to run. She now sits on the lawn at Deeside Activity Park, and children love to climb all over her, playing ‘war games’.

In 2001, Foot and Mouth disease was found on the English/Scottish border, and immediately all trade in livestock ceased, and people were encouraged not to go to the countryside. Even if they did come, my neighbours would not have appreciated vehicles from ‘who knows where, arriving, and possibly taking the dreaded disease with them. Tank driving came to an immediate halt.

For three months we had no income from the farm or from visitors, and then, a guy called offering to buy the two engine power packs for the Abbot. I bit his hand off, and we survived the 2001 Foot and Mouth disease outbreak.

Today, our Abbot FV433 SPG sits on the grass across the road directing our many visitors to Deeside Activity Park.