Fred and Pat Body invited all owners of the larger Vintage M.G.s to a few days away at the Swan Hotel in Wells. Unfortunately I did not have my car finished on time as I had hoped, despite a valiant effort of help from Chris Keevill. So Julia and I set off for a splendid welcome lunch at Fred and Pat’s home in Biddesham.
Due to the distance they had to travel some were unable to make it in time and went straight to the hotel. A total of 12 vintage M.G.s attended with their custodians, together with Jerry and Miriam Target in their Morgan, and Rodney and Alyson Kettel, whose 18/80 blew a head gasket the night before leaving and Julia and I.
I don’t think there were any breakdowns during the days away, unlike last time when Antony Littlejohn’s Tigress caught fire, reminiscent of Geoff Radford’s similar experience a few years earlier in the Lake District. This year we had a quieter room and weren’t awakened by the Market being set up. After dinner the bar was well used and the takings must have risen sharply.
The following day David and Dee Hutchison kindly invited Julia and I to travel with them in their de-luxe saloon and John and Janet Day hosted Rodney and Alyson. We set off following the instructions and arrived at Woodford Lodge on the shore of Chew Magna reservoir, where we joined by Peter Jones in his Mk1 tourer, Michael Marsh in his ex Peter Mace and Phil Jennings Mk1 fabric saloon and another gentleman whose name I never caught in a large Sunbeam 2 seater drophead coupe. We were surprised at the number of cars in the car park and so few people in the restaurant, until we looked out on the reservoir and saw the number of boats out there with the crews all fishing.
We set off having been suitably refreshed, again flowing the designed route and ended up at Oakham Treasures at Portbury not far from junction 19 on the M5. Oakham Treasures have a mind boggling collection of memorabilia from times past. This was a fabulous and unique trip down memory lane, a priceless collection of life as we used to live it.
It really needs to be seen to be believed. A breathtaking array of items – from butter churns to bubble gum, foodstuffs (much of it still in unopened packets) to helmets, stockings to storybooks. Row upon row of display cabinets packed with fully stocked items in themed shops such as a sweet shop, a tobacconist, a grocery store, a haberdasher, a chemist and an ironmonger, all with original counters, cabinets and tills. They also had a super collection of old seaside postcards which kept us laughing out loud at the totally non PC nature of them, we found it difficult to prise some members away!! There was also a priceless collection of old enamel signs. This is a truly amazing place, so much so that we have determined to go again, perhaps taking the grandchildren. They also have a very good restaurant where we lunched.
We returned the 24 miles to Wells and wandered around the town, the market was packing up , but we were drawn to one of the many tea shops where John and Janet Day were enjoying a cream tea. We asked if we could join them, which we did and were very disappointed to find that they had run out of scones, and we had to settle for a slice of cake.
The Cathedral in Wells has a famous clock with little men on horseback chasing each other around on the hour. Whilst in there we, with several others of the group decided to attend sung evensong, this was a very peaceful and enjoyable event following the events of the day.
We returned to the hotel for a rest before we were scheduled to eat again. Once more the bar must have done very well, although we were saddened to find that although they stocked Hendricks gin they had no cucumber to go with it. When we had had dinner we went to the lounge for a game of ‘feely bags’, this is a game where we divided into two teams and each side were given three bags of different colours, each contained six items, either household or motoring related.
The idea being to guess what the contents were, not easy when one had two elastic bands in it, one side one by 22 points to 20, which one? well who cares we enjoyed it and we all shared in the prize of a box of ‘Celebrations’. Some of us who lacked stamina went to bed, leaving the others to fill the tills behind the bar.
We had had a good dry day with some sunshine and Friday proved to be similarly clement. This day we visited Winchester Farm near Draycott where there was a brewery, and we were able to see how our nectar is made and to purchase examples of their brew. Then next door the ladies and some of the gents were treated to a chocolate maker, who made chocolates for restaurants and other specialist users, we were able to purchase some of their everyday chocolates together with misshapen ones at reduced prices. Before we did that we tasted some samples, which proved a good marketing move as the cash register started singing.
From there we went to Rich’s Cider Farm at Watchfield, near Highbridge. Lunch was booked for 12 noon and this was really delightful, and obviously a regular haunt for many locals. Following lunch we were entertained by one of the Rich family to a talk about the history, growing, manufacture and marketing of cider through the ages. Their small museum even had a section on the Coopers, so I was asked to stand under the sign and have picture taken.
This was the end of the Daysaway for some who were not staying the third night and then made their way home, having checked out of the hotel that morning. For some of the rest of us it was a visit to Wedmore where we window shopped and stopped for more tea and cakes and then back to the hotel.
We were fortunate that we had no rain other than when we were lunching at Fred and Pat’s on the first day. Thus Saturday after breakfast we packed our cars and headed for home after a truly wonderful three days away. David and Dee Hutchison were leaving their car at Fred and Pat’s for some work to be done, so all their bags were loaded into our car and we took them home.
Thank you so much Fred and Pat for organising such a great time for us.
