Thoughts on car club meet at Sywell, Northamptonshire

[ollyhammond]

Good afternoon everyone,

Has anyone ever been to a car owners club meet at Sywell Aerodrome / the Aviator restaurant in the winter months? I'm planning a meet in Northamptonshire in December and am keen on this venue as it seems popular with other car clubs - but the majority meet in the spring/summer and I've been told by Sywell that they would have to open the museum and airfield specially for us in return for a donation, otherwise we're limited to the Aviator restaurant. In which case, are we better off going to some other restaurant/pub in Northants i.e. the edge has been taken off Sywell?

Any ideas on good routes to go on afterwards for a convoy drive and group photos?

We're expecting about 15 cars, so not masses.

Thanks very much in advance for any thoughts.

Olly

[Blipi]

Hello

Not sure I am familiar with the meet you talk about, however, have been to sywell a few times, and for some car meets. It's a lovely location so I would say go for it. Hard standing carpark too.

The venue is in Art Deco / Nouveau style and tastefully done, the bar has a reasonable range snd grub wasn't bad either

[na]

sadly most car clubs dissappear in the winter or at least the cars

the big Sywell car park will take 120+ cars

there are loads of good roads and good pubs in Northamptonshire

what cars are you bringing? when in December?

[ollyhammond]

Thanks for the thoughts so far.

I wouldn't want to get told off by PH for seemingly promoting my owners club, but basically I'm based in Manchester and the meets we've done so far have been closer to home than Northants, which is relatively unknown to me (well, the in-laws live there) but is central for our southern and Midlands members).

Expecting about 15 cars, in early December. They're big, floppy cars, so we're not wanting very twisty country roads, but a nice decent route to drive along for a while, with some good photo opportunities along the way.

Chen you say the big Sywell car park has about 120 spaces, is this the same as the Aviator hotel car park, as that one looks small from online photos? And the aerodrome itself will be more or less closed at that time of year, I think...

[combine]

Second sunday in month from nov to march at sywell lunchtime would be good as tvr club meets there anyway then , great place as there is often flying going on at the aerodrome too.

[ollyhammond]

Sywell does sound like a good place, then, if other clubs use it.

Shame we won't be able to drive our cars near the airfield itself or get a photo right outside a hanger, but still sounds good meeting at Aviator.

We do one-off meets in different places, so won't be regularly meeting at Sywell.

Last year we did a pub meet in Staffordshire with a local drive and pics by a reservoir, followed by a meet in Cumbria in the winter with rural photos.

[BarryP]

I would be interested in a meet at Sywell, last time I was there was in early 70s when my father used to fly from the airfield.

[na]

big floppy cars I'd guess would have to go down less interesting roads to less interesting places or am I being sizest

have a look on Google Earth, the car parks are seperate but side by side, if the gate is shut you wont get into the big car park but I'm sure it's been open over winter when we've done runs but don't know if arrangements were made for this

the Motel car park isn't that big and 15 big floppy cars may not be welcome in December there and other places because of Xmas parties

perhaps you could arrange a meet with other clubs at Santa Pod, lots of floppies go there

[percy]

If it's a one-off meet, contact DT Performance cars http://www.dtperformanceltd.co.uk/index.php and see if they can arrange something special? They are based at Sywell and show some of their cars during airshows etc. Maybe worth a ring?

[DamienB]

Sywell Aerodrome is open throughout the year and certainly not closed over winter.

The Museum car park is this one:

http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=52.302129&lon=-...

...it is opened each morning (all year round) and shut at around 5PM (an automatic exit gate will open to release vehicles that stay beyond this time - just drive up the gate to the right of the normal entrance gate).

The Aviator Hotel and bar is open every day and does food and drink of course; on the airfield itself there is also the Pilots Mess cafe for sandwiches etc.

The Sywell Aviation Museum is staffed by volunteers and generally closed during the winter as there aren't enough visitors at a weekend to justify having cold volunteers and/or a big heating bill at the Museum. If you do have a large group intending to visit, we'll open up for you - just get in contact - details on the website: http://www.sywellaerodrome.co.uk/museum-contact.ph... - naturally a donation would be appreciated.

As regards parking in front of hangars, the layout doesn't really lend itself to doing that easily but the Museum does have a rather nice Hunter jet parked outside and we're working on getting a smaller fence up around it (currently hiding behind a big fence while we work on the jet). That smaller fence may be in place by December so you'd have a backdrop of a shiny classic jet to any photos.

[na]

this may not matter to OP but DB we stopped going there because the real ale was regularly of poor quality - less is more, one good ale is much better and will probably sell more than three very poor ones, before you say I'm told the beer at the fest wasn't great either

[DamienB]

I'm a Museum volunteer and IT contractor at Sywell so can't comment on the beer beyond the fact that the beer fest has had a lot of good comments from visitors and I've never had a bad pint at the bar myself...

[na]

fair enough, at least 6 of us had poor quality ales for serveral meetings running - not bad bad beer or it would have been returned to the bar

it is true that four of the six of us (there were more than that at the meetings but the six in our 'round') are used to good quality real ales and avoid places that serve poor quality ales

I'm certainly not knocking a local beer fest that features local ales just that many don't ask or take advice on storing, racking and keeping the beer so the served condition isn't the best, very few beer fests serve beer that is very high quality


anyway . . .
OP the gates are open, the car parking space is certainly there, close to main roads

if you wanted, perhaps a few (time of year) local PHers would also meet your group there in the car park (and bar)

[ollyhammond]

Thanks so much for all the further thoughts, guys. Very interesting to hear from DamienB who volunteers at Sywell.

I was in contact with the Museum last week and although the idea of having it opened specially for us sounded good at first, I'm not sure our members would provide a big enough donation (not that I know how much you'd expect) and there may not be enough time for the museum and airfield tour in the narrow window between the end of lunch and when it gets dark.

Our last meet was at Tebay services where the food was great, it's right on the M6 for our northern and Scotland members and with nearby country roads for a drive. Only 4 cars turned up but that was due to the weather and other genuine reasons.

As long as you all think Sywell is a reasonably good place in terms of its nearness to motorways and also country roads for a bit of a drive, the food and drink is decent even if not amazing, the car park is big enough for 12-15 cars and the aerodrome USP gives the meet an 'extra something' even if we can't really get access, then I reckon we'll go for it for our particular owners club meet.

[ollyhammond]

PS - DamienB, and anyone else... do you know of any good routes for a drive from Sywell? My inlaws live near Kettering and last year they took us on some excellent windy country roads out to Oundle...

[na]

to where, what cars, how many miles, one lane tracks, grass growing in middle or not, through villages, etc. ?

[ollyhammond]

Fair questions!

Hopefully 12-15 Vel Sati, which don't cope with anything too twisty, so grass and mud are definitely out. A nice, scenic B-road jaunt through some villages, with a couple of places for that number of cars to stop along the way, would be ideal. Not sure miles-wise, but I'd say no more than 90 minutes in total including stopping for quick group photos, and perhaps do a loop back to Sywell to the Aviator, to have a final coffee and say goodbyes.

[DamienB]

Most of the local small roads are fairly decently twisty without being particularly challenging. The triangle bordered by the A45 / A428 / A509 that contains Castle Ashby etc has some nice bits, worthy of a drive - have an explore on Google streetview.

[Tyre Tread]

I did a run not too far from Kettering for the Rover P5 Club a year or so ago and produced some Tulip Book type directions if you'd like a copy or copies. It commences at the Castle Inn pub car park in Caldecott and does a circular route via points of interest including Sywell back to Castle Inn.

I can scan and email if you're interested

[ollyhammond]

Tyre Tread said:

I did a run not too far from Kettering for the Rover P5 Club a year or so ago and produced some Tulip Book type directions if you'd like a copy or copies. It commences at the Castle Inn pub car park in Caldecott and does a circular route via points of interest including Sywell back to Castle Inn.

I can scan and email if you're interested

Yes I would be very interested in your map - very kind of you. I will try to PM you my email address now.

Thanks in advance!