Only a shortish drive today to Yaxley, just south of Peterborough in Cambridgeshire. We took the cross country route to get there through Kimbolton and a number of other villages that we'd never driven through even though they are not that far from where we live. The yellow rapeseed crop is in abundance over here too and I'll be glad when it's gone. It smells like cats pee and is making me very chesty. As soon as we crossed the A1 we were in Fen country. We'd left the rolling hills and now it was as flat as a pancake as far as the eye could see. The soil was a rich dark peaty colour all ready for another crop, agriculture being the the main industry around here.
We arrived at the Three Horseshoes at the stated time of 11 o'clock (American friends please note the English don't do early morning starts!) and found that unusually we were almost the last to arrive. A very good turnout it was too. There was an eclectic mix of around 100 cars, an excellent turnout for a small out of the way venue. A lot of small classic cars including a Wolseley, identical to Dave's third ever car. He looked inside it and wondered how on earth four of them used to get in it, complete with camping gear and then drive 300 miles to Scotland with canoes on the roof on a Friday evening for a weekend's canoeing! There couldn't have been much room for clothes or toiletries so I can't imagine what the aroma was like on the Sunday return journey.
Dave's sister Janet was there in her yellow Mustang and her hubby Andy in his red Dodge Dart so we joined them and their friends in the Peterborough Pushrods and Pistons club for a Sunday roast in the pub.
Afterwards we went to Sophie T's vintage tea shop next door and it was really lovely in there. All the staff were dressed in forties clothes and the decor was all laid out in forties style. Tea was served in china teapots with cosys on them and of course china cups. They had a delicious array of home made cakes so Dave and I shared a tasty piece of bread pudding.
Back at the car show we had a good look round and were surprised to see an immaculate black 47 hot rodded Pick Up with Colorado on the number plate. We've put Colorado on our now UK registered plate because that was where the car originated. Bearing in mind that most Brits think the only place to get or see a Hot Rod is California what are the odds of two Coloradoan vehicles turning up in the UK let alone in a small village car show? The truck deservedly won best in show and we chatted to the owner. He doesn't know exactly where it came from except it was on a farm in Colorado and was still being used in its original state as late as three years ago and had no paint left on it. He was very surprised that it hadn't rusted at all as he was aware of how much it snows and how cold it gets over there until we explained how dry the climate is there.
A close second was Dotty The VW camper van, another beautiful restoration but this one was a rust bucket before they started and it was a real labour of love to get it to its current condition.
There were a number of the Jap cars too. It was nice to see lots of younger lads with some pretty impressive motors happily mixing with us old codgers.
After we left we called round to see a friend who had moved to Yaxley from Oakley a number of years ago and who we'd been threatening to visit ever since before heading home. Another good day out!
Links: Sophie T's Vintage Tea shop
http://yaxley.ccan.co.uk/content/catalogue_item/the-inside-of-sophie-ts-vintage-tea-shop-main-st-yaxley
Approx mileage: 100
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