Last updated: 27th January 2008
We've just returned from Italy researching hotels, routes and places to visit on our 2008 Mille Miglia tour.
Click here to see some of the photos on our blog site!
February 24th, Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire
We shall be exhibiting here for the second year.
Stoneleigh Park is midway between Coventry and Warwickshire just off the A46 and is within easy
reach of the M6, (junction 2) and the M40, (junction 15).
March 14th-16th,
Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire
For the third year we shall be exhibiting at this popular, well-organised show. See us on stand G10.
For all the latest news on our car tours together with photos and reviews and comments on our tours visit our new blog site:
www.classiccartours.blogspot.com
NEC 2008 CLASSIC CAR SHOW BIRMINGHAM November 9th-11th
See us at the NEC on our stand no. 2T59 (located in the tunnel connecting the two halls).
ADVERTISING
Our advertising schedule for the next 3 months is as follows:
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| MG Enthusiast | |
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| Octane | |
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INTERNATIONAL MG SHOW STONLEIGH PARK, WARWICKSHIRE 25.2.07
See us at the show on Sunday
PAU/PYRENEES TOUR May 21st-30th
As a result of a change of ferry operator we have been able to reduce the price of this tour from £1,195 to £995 per person!
Our ferry now leaves Portsmouth on Monday 21st for Bilbao.It returns from Bilbao on Tuesday 29th arriving in Portsmouth Wednesday, 30th May.
IRELAND TOUR April 13th-21st
We have extended the booking deadline by 2 weeks to 28.02.07 so if you are interested there is still time to enter.
LAKES AUTUMN TOUR, SEPTEMBER 30th-OCTOBER 1st
With 25 cars embracing old classics and modern sports cars this weekend event, the last of our 2006 calendar, got off to a brilliant start when the sun miraculously appeared after 2 days of rain! Saturday's route was truly spectacular and took in most of the lakes and mountain passes.The morning coffee stop on the banks of Ullswater at Aira force waterfalls was a welcome break and the day continued in sunshine with the scenery stunning everyone.After an afternoon coffee stop at Ol' Ratty the narrow guage railway station the sting in the tail was an ascent of Hardknott and Wrynose passes with their one in four gradients.Philip Simmie from Australia in his Ferrari Mondiale convertible who with his wife Ailsa had participated on our Alps trip to Monaco's Historic Grand Prix earlier in the year claimed that Saturday's route was probably the most scenic day's driving he had ever experienced! Sunday's route took us into the little visited North East lakes and the pretty Eden Valley and provided us with open roads through sleepy villages.Our surprise afternoon "check point" at the chocolate factory in Orton resulted in everyone being given a hand- made chocolate car in CCTI livery! Our afternoon trip through tranqil moorland scenery back to the Heaves Hotel just south of Kendal finished off an an amazing weekend's driving.The celebratory dinner and awards presentation on Sunday evening was enjoyed by all and it was encouraging to see that after a number of strangers had assembled on Saturday morning these had been transformed into friends 48 hours later!
ANGOULEME CIRCUIT DES REMPARTS RACES /DORDOGNE TOUR, SEPTEMBER 13th-20th
Our 5th tour to Angouleme to watch the classic and historic car races was once again a huge success.Our route down from St.Malo via a breakfast stop at the charming Cancale Port Merand a lunch stop at medieval Vitre took us to our afternoon coffee stop at the Le Mans Museum where we joined by our friends on the Economy tour.This was followed by a drive down the Mulsanne Straight, where certain individuals may have marginally exceeded the speed limit! After a late afternoon stop at a classic car showroom in the Loire Valley our arrival at the charming Anne d'Anjou hotel on the river in Saumur was well received.The following day's route through the Vienne valley down to the Dordogne passed through some beautiful villages and everyone arrived in Bourdeilles, our base for the next5 nights,elated but ready for a welcome drink.On Friday we treated everyone to lunch in Riberac before visiting the pretty hilltop village of Aubeterre where a visit to the amazing monolithic church impressed all.Saturday's morning visit to Brantome introduced us to one of France's most beautiful towns and this was followed by lunch at the nearby Moulin du Roc restaurant, one of the Dordogne's top eateries.Our Saturday afternoon trip to Angouleme enabled us to drive around the circuit so that everyone could appreciate just what the Sunday racing involved.As usual the Circuit des Remparts racing on Sunday was spectacular and after three days of rain the sun miraculously appeared to make the racing even more enjoyable.Our Monday trip to Sarlat,Europe's best preserved medieval town used a scenic route and after a leisurely lunch was followed by a visit tothe stunning Beynac before an exhilarating drive on quiet roads back to our hotel.Tuesday's route back to the Loire valley on minor roads took us to our afternoon coffee stop at Richlieu before arriving at our beautiful hotel in St Patrice,the stunning Chateau Rochecotte. Here a welcome swim in the outdoor heated pool offered welcome relaxation before we spent our final night with a celebratory dinner in the sumptuous dining room.On Wednesday our trip back to the afternoon ferry at Caen incorporated a coffee stop at the famous Hotel de France in La Chartre sur le Loir the base of the 1950's Aston Martin's Le Mans racing team followed by lunch at the cathedral town of Sees.Our arrival in the ferry port of Caen was accompanied by brilliant sunshine and some of us took advantage of the Mediterranean type weather by sunning ourselves on the ferry deck on the return trip home.Angouleme was as ever magical and we now look forward to next year's event!
WELSH BORDERS/OULTON PARK GOLD CUP RACES August 26th-28th
This was a new tour for us and due to the favourable response is likely to become a firm fixture on our calendar.
Starting off on Saturday morning at our hotel overlooking Tintern Abbey our route zig- zagged along the pretty Welsh borders.Sunday's route took us into Shropshire the UK's most rural and least populated county before arriving in Cheshire and our hotel for the next two nights near Chester.Monday morning's drive took us to Oulton Park, arguably the UK's prettiest circuit, to watch the nostalgic Gold Cup classic car racing,which despite the morning rain, offered some spectacular viewing.Sunshine eventually appeared to enhance the pleasure of the afternoon racing and everyone agreed it had been a great event with something for all including the historic rally cars on the special circuit.
SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS TOUR May27th-June 3rd
Starting at the Heaves Hotel south of Kendal on Sunday morning our route took us on quiet country roads up to the Scottish borders eventually arriving in our Hotel in Oban where after dinner the hotel proprietor delighted us all by showing us her one- owner and very original Jaguar E type !The following morning we caught the ferry to the island of Mull our base for the next two days.Tuesday morning was a relaxed affair and at lunchtime we drove down to the nearby port, left the cars behind and climbed aboard a small boat which took us off to the island of Staffa where we had a couple of hours to explore Fingal's Cave and the nearby Puffin colony.The boat then took us to Iona the Holy Island where after a visit to the famous church and a walk around the peaceful lanes we arrived at the local restaurant for a welcome drink before doing battle with an amazing sea food dinner that could match any restaurant in Britain for the freshness of its food not to mention the size of its portions.The following day we left Mull by ferry at Fishnish to the Mainland and followed the Kingairloch coastline up to Loch Ness before arriving north of Inverness.On Thursday after a day's driving on scenic roads across the Pass of the Cattle and along the Kyle of Lochalsh we crossed the bridge over to Skye where we spent the next day on a relaxing drive around the island.Leaving Skye on Saturday by ferry this time we arrived in Mallaig and enjoyed a magical day's drive to Fort William,Glen Coe,Rannoch Moor,Glen Orchy around Loch Awe and down the Mull of Kyntyre to Stone field Castle our hotel near Tarbert.Our final day involved a ferry to Arran and an anti-clockwise tour of the island before catching the ferry to Androssan and on to our hotel at Lockerbie for our farewell dinner.Everyone agreed the week had been a lot of fun with some spectacular scenery and bookings are already being taken for 2007!
LE MANS CLASSIC RACES/LOIRE VALLEY TOUR JULY 6th-12th
Our first trip to watch the Le Mans classic races went down very well with all our clients.Four of them were so impressed that they booked straight away on our Angouleme Circuits des Remparts/Dordogne Tour in September! The clients on this 7 day tour were based in Chateau Rochecotte in St.Patrice truly deserving the accolade sumptuous with its much welcome swimming pool. The weekend's exciting racing was followed by a leisurely tour of the pretty Loire Valley with visits to some wonderful little known attractions including private chateaux,museums,churches and gardens as well as a visit to a couple of excellent local restaurants. Although the Le Mans Classic races are not held next year we will be organising a Loire Valley tour with Chateau Rochecotte as our base so watch this space!
HIGH ROADS TOUR JULY 27th-30th
Our new 4 day tour was a huge success with participants.Starting in Rugby we motored through some charming villages in Staffordshire and Rutland before arriving at our first night's hotel in the Peak District.Continuing on picturesque minor roads we travelled into Yorkshire and enjoyed the tranquil beauty of the Yorkshire Dales before arriving in the stunning Lake District where we spent our last 2 nights at what everyone agreed was a great hotel.The routes throughout were extremely picturesque with the Lake District providing arguably the most stunning scenery. This tour will certainly feature in our 2007 programme so watch out for details!
MONACO HISTORIC GRAND PRIX/ALPINE TOUR, MAY 12th-22nd
The tour was a great success with a stunning route that started in Boulogne and went through 7 countries:
France,Belgium.Luxembourg,Germany,Switzerland,Italy ending up in Monaco for the weekend of the 5th Monaco Historic Grand Prix.Everyone was impressed with the stunning scenery especially once we reached the Alps and the choice of hotels went down very well indeed.Despite some of the highest passes being closed due to snow there were still plenty of driving challenges and remarkably we were blessed with sunshine throughout each day which made the stunning scenery even more appealing.
Although the Monaco Historic races are not being held next year (they are bi-annual) we will certainly be running the Alpine tour probably towards the end of June 2007 when most of the snow has disappeared.
LAKELAND SPRING CLASSIC APRIL 8th-9th
Our first UK event of 2006 was a resounding success with over 20 cars including 3 Aston Martins. The route climbed over 7 mountain passes and visited 13 Lakes. Arthur Richards,one of our regular clients and veteran of dozens of car tours throughout Europe voted it the most scenic tour he had ever done and that includes the Pyrenees and the Alps. We agree!
THE HISTORIC MOTOR SPORT SHOW 2006
STONELEIGH PARK near COVENTRY 24th-26th February
For the second year we will be exhibiting at this extremely popular show at Stoneleigh. You will find us in Hall 1 the designated hall for Classic and Stage Rallying and Touring Events. We'll be occupying stand H2/H20 located on the top wall by the Gents' toilet, (very convenient) and opposite Footman James Insurance stand .Mike and I both look forward to seeing old clients and new so make sure you come along and introduce yourselves!
Stoneleigh Park is midway between Coventry and Warwick just off the A46 and is within easy reach of the M6 (junction2) and the M40 (junction 15)
PRIZE DRAW WINNER NEC SHOW
Thank you to all those who visited our stand at the NEC Classic Motor show and for participating in our prize draw.
The winner was Carol Bradshaw of Abram, Wigan. Carol and her partner, in her 1979 MG Midget, will be our guests on our 2006 Lakeland Spring Classic, (the prize is worth £290).
This 2 day event, which we are running for the 5th year, follows one of the most dramatic routes imaginable and, based in Cumbria's beautiful Lake District, visits 13 lakes and traverses 6 major passes including the infamous Wrynose and Hardnott passes with their 1 in 4 gradients!
If you don't know the Lake District that well then this is a tour not to be missed, and the entry fee of £145 per person includes overnight accommodation on Saturday at the Heaves Hotel, our Lakeland base hotel,
heaveshotel.com with dinner, bed and breakfast, morning coffee ,lunch and afternoon tea on Saturday and Sunday and entry to the Windermere Steam Boat Museum .Even if you think you know the Lake District we guarantee that we will take you places you didn't know existed and that's a promise.
ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL CLASSIC CAR SHOW AT THE NEC
It was nice to see so many clients and friends at the Classic Car Show on November
4-6th at Birmingham's NEC.
Once again we had a lot of interest in our stand and our new 2006 brochure was
in huge demand from both regular clients and prospective clients alike. We were
both kept on our feet all day long and we're feeling very optimistic about 2006.
2006 BROCHURE NOW OUT
Our 2006 brochure was hot off the press the day before we set off for the NEC.
We hope to mail it out in the next few weeks so contact us if you don't receive
a copy Please let us know if you need extra copies for friends.
NEW WEB-SITE
As you can see it's up and running and we hope you enjoy it, let's have your
comments please!
LINKS TO OTHER SITES
Over the next few weeks we hope to arrange links with other relevant sites including
some of the hotels that we use on a regular basis.
Best wishes to all, Brian and Mike
