Set deep in the heart of the Cotswolds, is a quintessential English town full of tea rooms, antique shops and well-heeled locals in waxed Barbour jackets. Kate Moss and Liz Hurley live nearby. It's picture-postcard perfect.
But not today. As Fabulous arrives in Stow-on-the-Wold, the atmosphere is tense. Some businesses close early and an increased police presence adds an air of malevolence.
Each May, hundreds of gypsies arrive for one of the highlights of their social calendar. The Stow-on-the-Wold gypsy horse fair is an opportunity for travellers to see and be seen - their version of a festival with the chance to conduct a little business, do a little shopping, maybe meet a future husband or wife. And all done in brash, glorious, larger-than-life gypsy style.
Horse fairs are a long-standing gypsy tradition - a place where travellers would meet to sell horses and catch up with old friends and relatives. For years it attracted little attention outside their own community. But recently, gypsies have been big news - unfortunately, not all positive. After years of fighting prejudice, the travelling community is once again an easy target for mockery.
When we catch a taxi from the railway station to the fair we get our first glimpse of the social hostility gypsies struggle with. The driver looks at us as if we're mad and asks: "Why do you want to go there? You do know the gypsies are in town, don't you?"
Driving through the market square, we see pensioners hunkered down in quaint tea rooms, staring slack-jawed as a tribe of curvy girls in skimpy bra tops and hot pants strut by.
The goods on offer are not the home-made jams and crafts you'd find at a normal country fair. Want a horse? There are hundreds. How about a dog, a cockerel, heels for your toddler, a sequinned bra for your pre-teen, a full tweed suit for your six-month-old baby or a crystal-encrusted white leather armchair? No problem.
Dressed to impress
The dress code for girls this year seems to be R&B-video backing dancer, featuring leopard-print bra tops, belly piercings and faux-fur capes. They're dressed provocatively, yet are strictly decent in their morals and attitudes - a mind-bending contradiction. And the hot topic of conversation is that TV show.
Behind a beaten-up van in a dusty field, Jill Smith, 20, is holding court. Surrounded by her pals in hot pants and mini-dresses, she tells Fabulous exactly what she thinks: "That Thelma," she says in an accent somewhere between gangsta rapper and West Country native. "She's got no right to speak for us, she isn't one of us."
The subject of Jill's rant is dressmaker Thelma Madine; the Sarah Burton of the gypsy-wedding-dress world whose 25st satin and tulle masterpieces were the highlight of Channel 4's hit series, Big Fat Gypsy Weddings.
Non-traveller Thelma's comments on the quirks of gypsy life have made her an unofficial spokeswomen for gypsies everywhere. But Jill's not a fan.
"I'm not a non-traveller so I can't speak about what non-travellers do," she tells us. "I haven't tried living that way of life. Thelma hasn't tried my lifestyle, so what right has she got to speak about it? People shouldn't judge me until they've walked my path. Thanks to that show we're all now judged by what was shown."
It's not just Thelma who draws criticism. While over 8 million of us were hooked on BFGW when it was broadcast earlier this year, reactions to the show in the traveller community have been mixed.
Many gypsies feel unhappy about the way their lifestyle was portrayed. They argue that the controversial customs and traditions revealed by the show, such as "grabbing" (a courtship ritual in which an amorous young man shows his admiration for a girl by, literally, grabbing her and then attempting to get a kiss out of her), were wildly exaggerated.
Jill says: "The programme made out that all gypsy girls are forced to leave school at nine so they can stay at home cleaning until they marry. Yes, we're expected to cook and clean, but we do have our own lives too. We're not shut in the caravan with the door locked.
"Most girls have the opportunity to go to school, many of them have jobs. It depends what part of the community you are from, whether you're English or Irish. The Irish are stricter on girls, but the show didn't make that distinction. We all got tarred with the same brush."
The brush that Jill herself was tarred with appears to have been dipped in generous amounts of St Tropez and as the heavens open she scurries off in her heels, shaking her head and muttering: "My tan's going to run."
Jill's complaint about being misinterpreted is not uncommon. The travelling community's profile has never been higher, but many aren't happy.
In the wrong
ne older gypsy mum with a teenage daughter, who won't give us her name (gypsies are notoriously private) says: "No one liked the series, it presented us in a bad light. The grabbing was the worst thing. It does go on - some teenage boys do it - but it's not as widespread as it was made out.
"I don't agree with it and neither do many other travellers. It's tantamount to sexual assault. I have two teenage boys and I wouldn't want them to do it."
It's a theme that's returned to often throughout our day at the fair.
Irish traveller and mum, Maria Doherty, 34, explains: "It is a playful thing. If a boy fancies a girl he may nudge her, but it is not violent or sexual."
And she argues that it's non-traveller prejudice towards gypsies that forces many to take their children out of school.
"I have a son who's 13. He did go to school, but as soon as the other kids found out he was a traveller he was bullied, so I home-schooled him.
"Things like bare-knuckle fights are exaggerated. It may have been common years ago, but not now."
Lucy Fuller, 18, explains: "The boys don't grab, but now everyone thinks they do. The only detail the programme got right is that we all have firm morals."
As we move through the fair, it seems that while superficially perceptions of gypsy life appear to be true (there's a lot of fake tan on display), once you get to know the travellers it's a different story.
Although many shy away from revealing their ages and we suspect many give false names, they're happy to talk about the reality behind the clichés.
Outspoken Pearl Davis, 20, jabs a manicured talon and dispels the myth that all gypsy girls get married young.
"We don't have to get married at 16," she says. "We can get married whenever we want. You're a long time dead and a long time married, so live your life to the full, then settle down and have kids. That's what modern traveller girls believe."
And are traveller girls denied a social life? "We can go out, but we have to be in groups. We can talk to boys and boys can talk to us,'' she explains. "It's rare for travellers to have relationships outside the community, but only because traveller boys understand traveller girls better."
Amy Louise Buckley, 18, scoffs at the suggestion all traveller girls are expected to stay at home when their men are out.
"You don't stay at home," she insists. "You can go and have a sunbed. It's your choice. It's not enforced that you can't work. A lot of girls have cleaning jobs."
And as for the furore over the way that traveller girls dress, Amy argues: "Everyone's made a big deal about young gypsy girls getting spray tans, but there are beauty pageants in the US where young children have spray tans. No one makes a fuss over that, so why us?
"We like to dress up and look good. You can be too tacky, there is a level. But there's no harm in making the most of what you look like when you're young."
Mum Rosie Smith, 27, certainly believes in dressing up. In a skintight leopard-meets-snakeskin dress and pushing nine-month-old Tiana - herself adorned with jewellery - she's eager to make the point that, despite appearances, barriers are breaking down.
"Everything's changing," she says. "English travellers are becoming more like non-travellers. There are even mixed-race traveller marriages. Our way of life is not as strict as they say on the telly. The older people try and keep it pure, but ultimately you can't halt progress."
A man's world?
However, it's not all good news. While the girls are mostly excited to talk to us, pose for pictures and share fashion and beauty tips (keep it short, make it bright), few men want to talk.
We finally manage to chat to laddish Levi Harley, 19, about the perceived sexism of gypsy society.
"We're not sexist," he insists. "It's up to the women whether they want a job. It's fine by me. Some older men think it's not right, but times change."
But when we mention the tradition of grabbing, a group of older men starts to congregate and the atmosphere turns menacing. Levi continues: "Some boys grab. It's a joke, a laugh. There's no harm in it and no girls get hurt. We respect our women and they respect themselves."
At this point a burly traveller interjects angrily: "Why are you asking this rubbish? What business is it of yours?"
It becomes apparent that Fabulous' line of questioning is no longer welcome. We leave - quickly. But despite this incident, the majority of the people we speak to are good-humoured, open, polite and candid - not at all like the closed, suspicious community often presented.
We see no trouble and the fair is attended by non-travellers, who are welcomed. Despite the heavy police presence, there are no reported problems.
Before making our way back to the station, there is time for a last word from Violet Gilheaney, 18. Dressed more soberly than her friends, with a baby bump under her dress, she leaves us with a positive impression of what she says is Britain's most misunderstood community.
"We're raised to be clean and decent with one man," she says. "You have your point of view on us - we have our point of view on you - but everyone's the same underneath. Gypsies, Irish or travellers... we're not all the same. We're humans trying to get on with our lives and that's it. We just want to be happy."
http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk
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