Warwickshire Wanderings - Part 4 and the End!

After the visit to the excellent Coventry Transport Museum at the weekend, the motoring theme continued on Wednesday with a trundle back down the M40 to Gaydon and the British Motor Museum, close by to one of Jaguar Land Rovers’ sites.

Originally opened in 1993 the museum building also houses a conference centre and there were quite a few suits milling about when we were there. Car parking looked plentiful – and was free – although it didn't seem particularly busy given it was half-term.

The collection comprises over 300 cars and there are some great examples of the British car industry's finest – and not so finest – achievements.

The collections centre in a separate building opened in November 2015 allows the public to see the reserve cars – those that they do not have space for in the museum, and the workshop where the cars are restored. There were some great finds here too – the last ever traditional – some say proper – Mini to be made and the last ever car to bear the Morris name – The Marina’s unloved successor the Ital.

Downstairs you will find Jaguars – lots of them, with examples all the way through the company's history including concept and super cars from various motor racing categories. My personal favourites have always been those from the seventies – what I like to call the ‘Arthur Daley’ Jags. Lovely looking motors.

Got to my British Motor Museum Photo Blog for more pictures.

The evening brought with it another ‘research’ expedition, centred at the Red Lion in Corely Moor, about a 10 minute drive from the site. Well, what a find. I had the best meal of trip here – by some margin and although I’m no foodie and like good honest pub grub, opted for a Cajun chicken pasta and it was divine. Absolutely wonderful. Trev opted for more traditional roast beef in a giant Yorkshire and was equally impressed. Add to that crystal clear well kept ales and friendly prompt service in what was a great experience. Not expensive either. My only regret was not having room for a dessert – I can imagine them being equally scrumptious.

Thursday saw us enjoy a nice long lie in followed by a visit to Solihull – somewhere I knew next to nothing about other than it being voted the best place in England to live – and second in the UK behind Edinburgh – in 2015

The properties lining the road in gave you an idea of it’s affluence  and the town centre was clean – very – and had a nice feel to it too. There were the usual chain store suspects on the high street and Solihull too suffered like Coventry in the second world war so a lot of it is not that old. Pleasant enough though and certainly a lovely place to live.

‘Research’ that evening took us to The Brickmakers Arms – again less than 10 minutes from the site. Plenty of real ale on offer and good honest pub grub too. Somehow we both managed to squeeze in all three courses. Once again,  great food, great ale and friendly service in pleasant surroundings and another one I’m pleased to recommend.

Many of these pubs came on recommendation – thanks again to Richard whose local knowledge has been invaluable. However, I’ve also been using www.whatpub.com. An excellent online resource put together by CAMRA – the Campaign For Real Ale. It has a comprehensive search and filter facility so you can find exactly what you are looking for. For my separate blog about all the ale I get to sample go to www.alearchive.co.uk.

Friday was, sadly to be our last day at Somers Wood. We had a party to go to on Saturday night back in Saltdean and wanted to be able to make an early getaway in the morning. So, much of the packing up was done and Patsy was soon smelling of Mr Sheen too.

The late afternoon saw us back in Birmingham to meet up with a friend and fellow caravanner we’d not seen for a while. We took the train in again, parking this time – for free - at the station at Hampton-in-Arden. Five minutes drive from the caravan site and less than twenty minutes by train from Birmingham's New Street station. There was no ticket machine and no ticket office open so we assumed a conductor would appear at some point on the journey.

They didn’t, so we had to ask to be let through the barrier at Birmingham, so we could go and buy return tickets. Yeah right. Now, I’m not dishonest, but neither am I stupid. Well not that stupid. Single tickets for the journey back procured, we headed for something to eat – a largely forgettable burger – then a mooch around prior to our meet.

You may recall me mentioning that on our Sunday night visit with Richard, one of the pubs on our visit was closed. Well, the Old Joint Stock was most certainly open Friday afternoon so, in the interests of ‘research’ obviously we had to pay a visit. It’s a Fullers pub – all that way from that there London and does the usual Fullers ales as well as specials and seasonals. Being a Fullers fan there wasn’t too much I hadn’t already tried but did find one. It’s about the surroundings here though and it has, apparently been voted one of the Top 25 pubs in Britain. I only took one – very poor – photo on my phone, so check on the Gallery and 360 tour on their website to have a closer look.

Next up was our meeting point with our friend Pete. A good twenty minute amble across to the Jewellery Quarter and the Rose Villa Tavern. Again, another good selection of ales in great surroundings and a great chinwag and catch up before it was time to head back.

Neither of us fancied the walk back to New Street but fortunately, the new Metro was just five minutes walk away and would take us to the station for the princely sum of a quid. I was very impressed with this. Not only was the journey smooth but the maps, timetables and pricing were clear and concise – not always the case with public transport. Particularly when you don’t carry your reading glasses…..

And that was the end of our time in Warwickshire. The journey home was good and just over four hours after leaving Somers Wood, Patsy was tucked up in storage. We had a cracking week in Warwickshire. Lots to see and do and all easily accessible thanks to the great location.

So, to finish, a bit about the site. Easy access from the motorway – no more than a few minutes from the M42 and there’s no single track roads – so beloved of caravan sites – to negotiate. The village of Meriden is around a mile away but close by you have a golf course and fishing lakes. Somers Wood is a member of the Tranquil Parks group of sites and is thus Adult Only. There are all the usual facilities on site and a barrier at the entrance ensures security for your beloved tin tent.

Check out my Somers Wood Photo Blog for a look around the site.

Keeping in touch wasn’t  a problem. Trev used the site WiFi – provided by Caraweb – at a cost of a tenner for a week with a maximum data usage of 2GB. I used the Hotspot facility on my ‘Three’ phone with no problems, but the EE loaded dongle also reported a good signal and Vodafone was fine for both voice and data on Trev’s mobile.

We found TV reception fine on our directional aerial on the van with out a booster, but satellite hook-ups were available if you bring your own receiver.

Right, that’s it for us until the Christmas holidays, when another ‘Festive Threesome beckons’. So until then…

Warwickshire Wanderings - Part 2

With the body clocks still set to wake at silly o’clock it was no surprise that we stirred early but it was nearly lunchtime when we eventually emerged and pointed Rosie in the direction of Coventry in general and it’s Transport Museum in particular.

It was well signposted and we even happened upon a car park nearby that had spaces and was reasonably priced – by Brighton standards anyway. The only problem was, we didn’t have any change.

So we jumped back in the car in search of a shop, found one and jumped out. It was a busy road so I said I’d see Trev back at the car park. Eventually. No luck in the first shop, but another one across the road was happy to take my money although I did have to remind him that it was a twenty I handed over and not a tenner. In the meantime, Trev was having a nightmare negotiating Coventry’s ring road and one way system, but eventually our paths crossed again and we settled down to a restorative coffee before commencing our look around.

Following the trail around the museum takes you through a timeline of Coventry’s motor manufacturing history charting it’s rise – and fall. There is plenty to look at, from the earliest cycles to the latest concept cars including a gas turbine powered Jaguar. You will see cars and bikes bearing names, once famous and now long gone, such as Alvis, Hillman and Humber.

I picked out my favourite – a 1935 Jaguar SS. You can guess the colour:

The best – or certainly the fastest is kept for last. As you round a corner you are greeted by the stunning sight of first the Thrust 2, then Thrust SSC, the latter holding the current land speed record of a bowel emptying 763 miles per hour. In the flesh – or metal – they look absolutely awesome.

The museum is well worth a visit – not least because it is free – and you could spend considerably longer in there than we did. For more photo’s go to Coventry Transport Museum Photo Special.

Lunch was taken on a pub on the road out of the city. Again an opportunity to try a new ale was thwarted. The house ale – brewed by the Black Sheep brewery up in Yorkshire was the target of my attention, but sadly it was cloudy and on the turn. The wait for something new would continue.

Somers Wood caravan park is in it’s 20th year of operation and a party was held to celebrate on the Saturday night. As dusk fell many of us gathered around a warming log fire, partaking of the lovely food – a stew, two soups and a seemingly unlimited supply of hot dogs. Later on,  the Travelling Wannabies  - two former site wardens - entertained us with a great selection of songs that had folk singing along and dancing. It was a great evening.

With the prospect of a tour of some of Birmingham’s hostelries later on, we did little on Sunday other than a quick drive in to the nearby village of Meriden to procure some provisions. On the village green there is a Sandstone monument that is said to mark the very centre of England although that is now disputed. Also on the green is a memorial to all cyclists who died in the service of their country and the village is a popular stopping off point for cyclists from all directions. Meriden can also boast of being the home of Triumph motorcycles for over forty years.

At 5:30pm we met with Richard again for the short drive to Birmingham's International Station, less than 10 minutes away, to board a train into the city. Over the next few hours we saw a good portion of the city – and some of it’s pubs obviously, starting just around the corner in John Bright Street and Brew Dog, heading through the Mailbox shopping centre and along by the canal to the Canalside Cafe.

Next up was The Malt House but, given that they had appeared to have run entirely out of real ale we didn’t stop. Further on was The Shakespeare in Summer Row, a beautiful old Victorian watering hole and it was time to go on to pints. Yes, I had been sensible and stuck to halves – at least for a while.

The Old Joint Stock was to be our next port of call, but sadly it closed on Sunday nights. A shame because it looked wonderful too. Fortunately just a short walk away was The Wellington and wow, what a choice. Seventeen, yes 17 hand pumps, many of which featured ales which were new to me. Sadly I could only sample the one but a return visit – on this trip or next – is definitely on the list.

Last but not least was another The Shakespeare where the opportunity to absorb some solid as well as liquid nourishment was a welcome one and the pies were delicious.

Richard’s wife Diane had again offered to be chauffer and she picked us up from the station and dropped myself and Trev off at the campsite. They lived only a few miles away and were off to Wales in their motorhome first thing in the morning. We had a thoroughly enjoyable evening, both entertaining and informative and would both like to thank Richard & Diane for looking after us. It was really appreciated.

Look out for Part 3 soon…