Tasty Cars and Vintage Ice Cream

On the recent bank holiday Monday, a village near us had a Transport Festival. For Graham and Toby, any display of interesting cars within 20 miles is an opportunity not to be missed, and even I can admit they're quite photogenic. So off we went.

It reminded me of the Wood, Wind and Waves event we visited in Texas, although of course with a British slant. Instead of longhorned Cadillacs and shiny Mustangs, there were stripy Minis, bug-eyed Rolls-Royces and sleek Jaguars.

Over here, iced drinks come a distant second to a nice cup of tea. One car owner had carefully set up a kettle next to his antique vehicle, complete with proper china mugs. Someone else was handing out luscious slices of Victoria sponge cake to his friends from the back of a Landrover.

And naturally, a nice bottle of beer never goes amiss! This specimen belongs to the National Brewery Centre, just down the road in Burton-on-Trent.

At least one American car had found its way across the Atlantic - this bright blue Mercury Monterey. The friendly British couple who owned it said they use it to raise money for cancer research.

Oh, the vintage ice cream? I guess I should have said vintage ice cream van. Toby selected toffee fudge from their range of unvintage and very tasty ice creams.

He also enjoyed the giant Thomas the Tank Engine railway, set up in a tent. Not touching it all was pretty hard, though.

To top off the day, the festival organisers were running free bus rides around the village on some nice old buses. We sat upstairs and enjoyed our elevated view, enlivened by tree branches occasionally clonking on the roof.

Just a few more photos for you (I told you the cars were photogenic!)

And in true English fashion, we escaped just before it started pouring with rain. I think we've had the best of the day, don't you?

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