HUNTS
|
|
TREASURE HUNTS |
 |
In the past these foreign Treasure Hunts were nearly always based in or near the Loire Valley, but for the most recent event of this type everything was changed, and the venue moved to Belgium, with two nights in the magnificent city of Bruges and three in a hotel actually on the battlefield of Waterloo, so competitors got to see Flemish as well as French Belgium.
Competitors crossed to the continent as they wished and then travelled to the start for the first get-together. The event then lasted for five days, involving much eating and drinking and general jollification, with that little extra tease of the Treasure Hunt competition as well, most of the clues being from various visits, to places like the chateau of Gaasbek outside Brussels, the Duke of Wellington's headquarters in the town of Waterloo, a walkabout in the town of Bruges, and more. There were visits and tastings, of chocolate as well as wine (well, it was Belgium, after all), and lots of gourmet and unusual meals. Incidentally, please do not believe the oft-repeated rubbish that you can't get a good meal in Belgium apart from moules-frites, because we proved that comprehensively wrong. The event ended with a final dinner in the middle of the battlefield of Waterloo. Okay then, in a restaurant in the middle. We weren't actually sitting in a field, you know. Winners were Mike and Julie Sanders from Somerset in their 1960 S2 Bentley Continental.
These event are normally open to anyone in a classic or exotic or generally interesting car, and the price per person (assuming two people share a twin/double room) is around the £600 mark, varying up or down according to the venue. However, this price includes all visits and paperwork, all hotels + b&b, and most evening meals, though one day is always left free for you to do what you wish, as no one likes to be regimented all the time. It can not include ferries, because that may vary from entrant to entrant. Anyway, these days cross-Channel ferries are going through a difficult situation, where no one really knows what is actually going on. Even they don't.
The longer version is what we used to do, and I'm sure will do again in the future, but since it is now an undoubted fact that the Claret & Classics event in June has become a smaller and more gastronomic/intimate/friendly little shindig, to a certain extent this has taken away from the week-long Treasure Hunt format. As a result in early 2007, in response to many requests, I put on a much smaller event in England, a bit more intense because it was shorter, only Friday night to Sunday lunchtime. And for this one, since it was in the depths of winter when a lot of classic cars are safely tucked away, it wasn't really a Classic Car Event as such, more a People event. The trouble with all of this was that I contacted the normal people, the Usual Suspects, so to speak, and it filled up so fast things got positively blurred. Certain people who missed out were thus disappointed.
So in 2008, in response to even more of those "when are you going to do another Treasure Hunt?" cries in the form of letters, Christmas cards, emails, whatever, I announced another of the smaller ones, with more hotel rooms available this time, for early February 2008.
And that one promptly filled up immediately just the same. Sorry about this if you're reading this and would have wished to come, but you can't, not now, not as of January 14th. We're full.
The event is being held in and around the historic town of Wells in Somerset, and lasts from February 1st - 3rd. There could well be a write-up about it after it has happened.
DEELEY CLASSICS ORGANIZES SIMILAR EVENTS FOR CLUBS AND SOCIETIES (WE REGULARLY RUN THE JAGUAR DRIVERS CLUB ANNUAL RALLY, FOR INSTANCE) AND ARE ALWAYS WILLING TO DO THE SAME FOR ANYONE ELSE.
|
Deeley Classics 50 Uphill Way Uphill Weston - super - Mare Somerset BS23 4TN England |
 Tel: +44 (0)1934 626136 Fax: +44 (0) 1934 626146 E mail: deeley.classics@virgin.net |
©2001 Deeley Classics Designed by Chris Shrapnel of Momentai Revised 23/9/01 |