Roy Young was born in 1951 in Hamble, Hampshire, a village which grew at the point where the River Hamble joins Southampton Water as it opens out into The Solent and famous for its sailing and aero-structures history. Roy was brought up in the countryside there and later he lived for a number of years in the nearby village of Old Bursledon . At the age of twelve he started to work part time on the land and also as a gardener. He met and befriended a number of travellers. Throughout his teens he worked on the land and on building sites, and was taught some of the old country crafts and customs