British Hotchkiss Society

Our meeting point was the National Herb Centre in Warmington near Banbury and all 20 members gradually arrived on a blustery but mainly sunny day. It was a great pleasure to see Anthony’s newly acquired 1934 615 Monaco Cabourg which had behaved well on its first outing. Everyone enjoyed the delicious lunch, during which the talking started! There was time afterwards to explore the herb garden, established in 1997, and take in the lovely countryside.  A 13-mile drive took us to the Walton Hall Hotel, our base for the 3 days. After checking in and finding our rooms (some with difficulties!), everyone met up in the bar before our evening meal served in a private room.

Following a rather chaotic breakfast, we were on our way in the sunshine to the British Motor Museum at Gaydon which has the world’s largest collection of historic British cars. We all enjoyed guided tours of both the main collection and the Collections Centre and afterwards had plenty of time to wander round at our leisure – and also to enjoy the café facilities and to sit in the sunshine. A pretty drive took us the 6 miles to The Merrie Lion in Fenny Compton, our lunch stop. The pub is in a small Grade 11 listed building and run by the community. We were made very welcome and enjoyed a very leisurely satisfying lunch. The 13-mile drive back to the hotel was very pretty – despite the very heavy showers! The gala dinner that evening was another enjoyable get-together – despite the very slow service! The raffle was as noisy as ever, and Anthony was presented with the Ainsworth trophy.

On the Thursday it was raining! S0, after checking out we watched the 1910 having difficulty starting up. A few of us gave it a push and it fired up. Most of us meandered the few miles – still raining – to the Touchdown café for a welcome coffee and talk by one of the family who owns the airfield, which was originally a farm. In the meantime the 1910 had stopped again so it was towed back to life by Anthony Godet’s 1934. Our final venue was the Gilks Garage and café where we enjoyed a pre-ordered lunch. Our goodbyes followed.

Thanks to Michael, Clive, Toddy and Anthony for making the Drive so enjoyable.