Jamboree

Having spent the last few days trying to catch up with the Arctic Adventures saga I have somewhat neglected my more recent outings, and the first thing to catch up on was a weekend with some long-standing friends at Brooklands in Surrey and Cliveden near Taplow. 

Oak Galls with Acorn

On the Saturday we met at Brooklands - whilst waiting for it to open I took the opportunity to investigate the flora around the car park and found himalayan balsam amongst other plants, but also the pictured oak gall, alongside healthy looking acorns.   There was a green woodpecker calling but it remained out of view behind some large trees on the edge of Brooklands, there were also goldfinch, magpie and carrion crow.

G-BBDG

After we had planned our day we grabbed a coffee and set off towards the Concorde stand where we were treated to a guided tour of G-BBDG.   This was the aircraft used for all the testing and planning flights, around th world before Concorde went into full production.  Although only a walk-round it gave me an idea of what it would have been to fly on my dream aeroplane.

The London Bus Museum has also now resited to Brooklands as as one of my friends is a bus driver who used to drive in London, he was keen to look around.  Although it was not due to actually open until the Monday the staff very kindly allowed us a sneak preview.

After a wander around the rest of the displays, which included motorbikes, formula 1 cars through the ages and even pedal cycles - from penny farthings through to BMX and modern racing bikes, we decided to move on.

Smart Car Football

How convenient for the Mercedes fans in the group that we were next door to the Mercedes World building and we spent another couple of hours wandering through the displays of current models - none within my price range I hasten to add.   The track behind the building is used for driving experience events and you can watch the skid pan kids spinning about.   A highlight for me was watching SmartCarFootball.

The evening was spent at an excellent pub by the River Thames in Chertsey with great company, good food and a superb setting.

Day two of our jamboree weekend and we were joined by two other members of the group for a day at Cliveden.   A National Trust property this was the scene of the Profumo affair in the 60's (just a little before my time!) and although the house is now mainly used as a hotel, the grounds are lovely with woods, formal and less formal gardens all leading down to the river where we had a cruise in the afternoon.   Although the formal gardens were pretty I needed to do a butterfly count and I was surprised at how few there were given the number of flowers - presumably they prefer native plants.  

Stately Fountain

We safely negotiated the Maze (although Paul did have a bit of a hissy-fit at one stage) made a quick circuit of the rather fancy fountain and then made off for lunch.   After that it was time for our river cruise along the Thames, which was informative and relaxing.  Although kingfisher are sometimes seen we were not to be graced by them today.  We did however see grey heron, a family of great crested grebe with the youngsters showing their stripey heads.

The highlight for me (not surprisingly) were the family of red kite flying over a field at the side of the river.   The adults appeared to be training the youngsters in the art of swooping down onto the ground and then back up again.   Great to see.

After the river cruise, it was back up to the house for a quick tour of several rooms used by the hotel.   After a talk on the background of the house - this is the third one to be built on the land - and the families who have owned it, we moved into the restaurant which had previously been the main hall of the house.   A huge room with wood pannelling and old fashioned stately charm where the residents were taking cream teas.   We then moved on to the private dining room where much of the social scene which made the house so famous took place.   After we had enjoyed the delights of Cliveden it was time for dinner which we had at a local hostelry before we all dispersed to our various homes.