A Norfolk farmer has celebrated the end of the 2015 harvest by gathering his last strip of wheat using a vintage 1948 Massey-Harris combine harvester.

In today's frantic farming schedule, there's rarely time to stop and celebrate the completion of the harvest.

But one Norfolk farmer makes it a special, nostalgic occasion every year – by wheeling out his vintage 1940s combine to gather his last remaining strip of wheat.

James Graham is the fourth generation to run his family business, based at Rookery Farm, in Thuxton near Dereham.

Although best known for Peele's Norfolk Black Turkeys, the farm also grows 100 acres of wheat, 30 acres of barley and 30 acres of oats for the poultry.

And with this year's arable harvest all but done, the time was finally right for Mr Graham to indulge in the annual outing for his 1948 Massey-Harris 726 – which, despite minimum maintenance, still fires up first time.

Despite its age, rust has not overcome its characteristic red colour, and the bodywork remains robust. The heavy clutch and levers are also in good working order, the original wooden struts on the 8ft reel, and the visible gears and belts allowing the purpose of every clunk and grind to be watched.

Mr Graham said: 'It might be 70-odd years old, but it still works beautifully.

'A lot of people like to see them restored to their original condition, but I like it with all the scrapes and batterings of time. It tells a story.

'This machine has been here for 25 years. I bought it because my grandfather and father remembered using one of these. It caught my eye in a farm sale, and I thought: 'I rather fancy having a go on that'.

'It cost £200 and I actually thought it was expensive, but I didn't want the scrap boys to have it. It belongs out here.

'I do this every year to mark the end of the harvest. If you turn back the clock to the 1960s they used a lot of labour and it was a lot of effort to get the harvest finished. Everyone wanted to celebrate when everything was safely gathered in.

'But now some people are drilling next year's crop before others have finished combining, so there is no final finish to it. Everyone is flat out all the time.

'This thing was designed for about one tonne per acre of wheat, but the field we are looking at is pushing 4.5 tonnes per acre, so I have to creep along in bottom gear as it was never designed for today's high-yielding crops.'

The harvester was originally fuelled with Tractor Vaporising Oil (TVO), but Mr Graham runs it on a mixture of petrol and heating oil.

It is part of a collection of more than 40 old machines at Rookery Farm, including the 1950s Duffield 4DM tractor used to pull the trailer collecting the wheat from the combine.

Are you preserving a piece of farming heritage? Contact chris.hill@archant.co.uk.