The greatest families behind the greatest showmen

Behind the greatest showmen you'll find the greatest families. It's a world of thrill rides, fairground work and weeks on the road.

But the traditions of showpeople present a unique challenge for the children growing up in this close-knit group.

Raecher and Rachael Hiscoe, with their two children, Bella, six, and three-year-old Archer, continue a long line of travelling families.

They are part of the 1,600 people in Scotland's showpeople community.

For 10 months of the year they travel to bring funfairs to towns and villages around the country, setting up their rides and stalls whatever the weather may bring.

The family features in a new BBC Scotland series Showpeople: Licensed to Thrill.

"I don't think there's any other life like it," says Rachael, 45, who spent her own childhood following her parents around funfairs in England.

Rachael was only ever at school in the winter months, never completed her education, and went to work when she was 14.

And Raecher, 37, who is a fifth generation showman, went from school to school across Scotland, travelling with his family for months on end.

He could be in 15 different schools a year, rarely in one classroom for more than two weeks.

"You can imagine it being quite hard for a small primary school kid," Rachael says.

For showpeople, trying to navigate how to best bring up their children is tougher than any fairground challenge.

Rachael and Raecher live in Glasgow - where 80% of Scotland's community is based.

The vast majority of families live on a yard, in chalets and trailers. It's their base for the periods when they're not on the road.

For four weeks of the summer, Bella and Archer join their mum and dad at the Ardrossan Fair, in the seaside town in Ayrshire on Scotland's west coast.

"It is absolutely brilliant," Rachaer says. "They've got a funfair as a playpark where everyone knows them.

"They run around in a pack. It gives me and my wife a bit of a break because they're entertaining themselves"

The family's main attraction is the Star Fighter - a giant spinning thrill ride that they own and operate.

"For some showmen it is like a sports car. They want to wash it, polish it, present it," Raecher says.

Most showmen buy their rides, many costing hundreds of thousands of pounds. But Raecher made this one himself.

Although his travelling schooldays were unconventional, Raecher completed his eduction. He earned a degree in civil engineering from the University of Strathclyde.

With his skills he spent months designing and building the Star Fighter ride.

"It was my dream - I started it and saw it to the end," he says. "I'm probably more an engineer than a showman".

Raecher knows how hard it is to run a business on the road, while having having two young children.

"Education is one of the number one things, you've got to do the best for your kids.

"It would be unfair for me to benefit from my education, then make the life choices that takes the education away from my children."

School term-time can be difficult when Raecher is away at funfairs

"More for Rachael than it is for me if I'm going to be honest," he says. "My work doesn't change.

"But her workload doubles, she goes from dual parenting to practically single parenting."

Rachael knows her husband's time away is all part of being a show family, but admits he can be a "workaholic".

"He enjoys what he does," she says. "But I'm the one who has to say, take it back a little step, you've got a young family you need to come home.

"At the same time he's out earning money, he's out providing for us so there can be that bit of tension."

There are times during the school term that the funfair business means both parents need to work the rides.

They asked Bella's school to take her out of class for two weeks to go on the road.

"I was worried they would hold that against her," says Raecher.

"My fear was if we went in and said, 'We are showmen, we travel the country, and from time to time we'll have no other choice - our child will have to come with us'.

"But it was unjustified, the school took it in their stride and have been absolutely fantastic."

Rachael wants to find a happy medium of keeping their children in school, but also experiencing what it means to be part of the show family tradition.

"I think it's important for them to be there and experience that and know that it isn't all fun.

"But I always knew that if I had children, I wanted them to finish school and even go on to higher education - like Raecher did."

The family has moved away from the community's traditions in other ways - they no longer live on a yard like most showpeople.

They felt they didn't have room to grow in a four-room trailer. They now have a house of their own, on a suburban street.

Raecher, who calls himself as a "modernist", says he was comfortable with the move. His parents had done the same when he was young.

For Rachael however, owing a house was a leap into the unknown.

"I had fleetingly thought about it, but probably thought it was more into the future," she says

"It's so different to a trailer. A trailer was all I knew.

"All of a sudden we had an upstairs and a downstairs and I'd never had that before.

"But it totally shocked me - because I absolutely love it."

Raecher and Rachael are now looking to move their family off the road.

But they don't want to leave their community and traditions completely behind.

Raecher is building his next thrill ride and wants to go into manufacturing them full time for other show families

He knows that together with Rachael they will make it a success.

"Rachael is absolutely a fantastic mum and a great partner," he says.

"I hesitate to say she's a great wife - as if it's something less - because she's the other half of everything we do. I cant do what I do without her there backing me up.

"She makes me feel 100 per cent confident. I can't imagine doing what I'm doing with anyone else."

Showpeople: Licensed to Thrill is on BBC Scotland on Monday nights, with the full series available to watch now on BBC iPlayer.