A couple’s identity as Travellers, and thus their right to live on a plot near his farm, has been questioned by the actor’s lawyers
The spot is idyllic – a wooded West Country hillside with tumbling streams and banks of bluebells rising above a picture postcard Dorset town built of honey-coloured stone.
“I am a new traveller,” Langton said. Over the years there have been a number of decisions and rulings that have concluded the pair are indeed Travellers. “I can’t believe I’m having to prove myself again,” he said. In the spring sunshine it had the air of a scene from Thomas Hardy, who set his stories in this landscape and often wrote about the travelling people who lived in and moved through it.
The dispute is causing consternation in the nearby town of Beaminster, where most residents the Guardian spoke to expressed empathy for Langton and McGill. It also highlights the chronic shortage of Gypsy, Traveller and new traveller pitches.