You never know where or when you’ll come across a part of Huddersfield’s heritage.

For Huddersfield couple Jennifer and Alan Calder it was in a field in France when they spotted this David Brown tractor in Beaujolais.

The couple were staying at the Hotel La Rose in Julienas and were on a four day wine buying trip following a week of vineyard walking in Alsace.

The hotel supplies a booklet of walks in the area through the vineyards of the Julienas Beaujolais region.

In mid September when they took the photo the grape harvest was in full swing with teams of pickers carefully removing the bunches of grapes by hand.

Old David Brown tractor in a vineyard near Julienas in the Beaujolais region of France. Photo by Alan Calder

Alan said: “The bunches are placed in baskets which when full are emptied into bulk containers mounted on trailers. On one of the walks we were surprised to find the trailer hitched to a very old looking David Brown tractor. We tried to ask the pickers about the machine but they referred us to the Patron who was not present so we were unable to get any information about it.”

David Brown tractors were built in Huddersfield from 1939 until the Meltham factory closed in 1988. One of its landmark years was 1971 when a new tractor assembly complex – the most modern of its type in Europe – was completed at Meltham.