Holland’s most distinguished henhouse

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When photographing a car last week, the beauty of the rural village where we were doing just that, struck me. There were the dyke roads so archetypical for this area, and they were adorned with large farmhouses on both sides, too, all very old but seemingly in great shape. “Yes it is pretty”, said the owner of the classic who was giving me a little tour. “And there are some nice cars, too. One of those farms actually uses a Rover 90 as a henhouse.” I had to see that. And so we turned around to have a look. And there it was, hidden behind some bushes.

The chicks were somewhere else doing what chicks do, but according to our man, they really do spend all of their nights in the old Rover. Would they enjoy the leather of the soft seats, the lacquered walnut of the door cappings and tray tables? What would the Wilton carpets look like after those regular hen visits? And will that typical perfume of leather, oil, tar and tea, which these cars of the Great British Empire so lovely breathe out still be there?

Last year I drove a 1964 Rover 95 to Germany and back and enjoyed every minute of it. Inside it's cosy and comfy and the autumn landscape went past in a classical pace, as in an episode of Foyle's War. This example seemed less fortunate, although I must admit I quite liked it, too, with its wheels sunken in de grass and its suicide door open for easy chick-entrance. I later checked the registration on the Dutch DVLA database and it turned out not to be a Rover 90, but a 110 from 1964 that was last MOT’d in 2001 – just five years after it got imported to Holland. Somebody enjoyed it only for a short period, but then the hens do now… 

(Words and pictures Jeroen Booij)

  

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