Sunday 23rd April 2017
We were going for a leisurely 10 am pick up of Ash in Leicester, but got somewhat delayed by McD’s not-so-fast breakfast service. It put us almost an hour behind schedule, but it was a small price to pay! At around 11 we picked Ash up and headed off to Stoneleigh for the Great British Landrover Show. I had high hopes for the show, and we were looking forward to seeing some large chunks of 4×4 greatness. When we got there, it was like a 1970’s military base crossed with a 1970’s industrial estate. It was very well signposted from the road, but once in the grounds we were left to find the show halls on our own. We followed the crowd and eventually found it. It was £10 each for me and Ash to get in, while Erin went in for free. No tickets, just a black ink stamp on the back of our hands.
Camel Trophy 110. My dream car!
As we went in there were a dozen great vehicles. The new Discovery, a Camel Trophy 110, a couple of tweaked defenders, an old Series pick-up and the millionth Discovery. All very impressive. Then we went into the first of 2 halls. Basically, it was a spare parts warehouse for Defenders. There were a few odd stands for Greenlaning, clothing and the Billing show. That was about it. I was somewhat disappointed. A more accurate name would have been the Mediocre Defender Parts Show. There was not even an official Land Rover presence. There were a lot of nice Defenders on some of the stands as well as a couple of ‘Classic’ Range Rovers. There were only 2 Freelander 2’s on show, and the only other Freelander 1’s we saw were in the car park (5 in all, not including us). The cars in the car park were far more interesting than the show.
The Classic Range Rover opened up.
We decided, as usual, to go an find somewhere to eat. After a bit of cogitating we decided to National Trust it and looked for a relatively close property to visit. Coughton Court jumped to the top of the list. We trundled over there in good time. First stop once in was for food. The place was heaving as the sun was still out. We had the last but one of the sandwiches in the coffee shop. Didn’t go down well with the folk in the queue behind us.
Coughton Court from the grounds.
As usual, we had to go to the shop to get Erin something. She decided to buy a red and black football. It was then off to the grounds to make use of said ball. Many photographs were taken of me literally looking like a professional athlete as I ran around kicking the ball with Erin. I await my call up to the England squad. Before I keeled over in cardiac arrest, we headed over to the house for a tour. Its a fantastic house, and still in use by descendants of the original family. It is great to see modern family photos alongside the antique portraits of yesteryear. The NT staff/volunteers are always beyond compare and here was no exception. I think all attractions across the UK should send their staff for training with the National Trust guys. After a good day out it was time to head home. Horrible roads all the way – A46 & M69 being 2 of them – we dropped Ash back in Leicester and headed home.
Todays Mileage
Total Miles: 146.9