When I was small we lived near a large gypsy encampment, so we often had women calling to sell pegs, or you could order a clothes line prop (ours was really sturdy and lasted absolutely years).
At different times of the year they sold other things, willow baskets, bags of apples or bunches of twigs with wax flowers in winter. We always bought something.
The rag & bone man (exactly like Steptoe & Son) was exciting though we rarely had anything for him, so I never did get one of his elusive goldfish.
The coal man was a regular caller, I was a bit wary of him, what with Black Beauty and all.
It was my job to count in the bags of coal and make sure he was paid the right money, and not a penny more.
The knife grinder/sharpener towing his grindstone behind his bike always did a roaring trade.
A family up the road collected waste food for the pig-swill man to pick up every two or three days.
There was never a dull moment really!
Best of all was the mobile library van, coming every two weeks, crammed with tales of adventures with Biggles, the Children of the New Forest, or Marcus rescuing the Eagle of the Ninth.