The first VW show I went to with Mark and Sheila must have been somewhere around 2002 I think. Not only was it the coldest I’ve ever been to (camping at Donington in November is not to be recommended) but it also witnessed one of the worst hangovers I have ever experienced. Mark’s home made plum wine was without doubt a key contributor to that. It couldn’t have been a more different day, therefore, when we headed up to Harewood House for this year’s VW Festival. Not only was it an absolute scorcher, we hadn’t been drinking heavily the night before either!
After a year off in 2017, the lads at the Herbie Hospital were in charge of this year’s charity raffle car again and they had done a cracking job of bringing a 90s show car, Peppermint Dream, back to life after it had been languishing in a garage for a couple of decades. Sadly none of us won, but it was great to see it finished and presented in fantastic fashion as a giant Matchbox car. Evidently Rich was having a lovely time selling raffle tickets and had even managed to come up with his own theme song!
Video: VW Festival Facebook Page
As in previous years, there did appear to be more watercooled stuff there than aircooled. That may have been down to us being there on the Saturday rather than the Sunday as in previous years. Whilst not as plentiful, the quality of the aircooled stuff that was on show was very high, in particular some of the buses. I’m also hankering after a beach buggy – although now the weather has changed of late perhaps that’s not such a good call! As Bradley keeps pointing out, I have nowhere to put another one. Damn him and his facts!
We had a great day, but at £18 apiece for a day ticket, it does seem a little steep. The same issue had put me off going to Tatton Park the previous weekend and I’m just not sure how such high entry fees can be justified when compared to either Stanford Hall or even the Volksworld Show.
