When John Sanderson, a pupil of the famous English landscape architect Lancelot \u201cCapability\u201d Brown, initially laid out the Claydon Estate gardens for the 2nd Earl Verney, in the 18th Century, the first steam-powered horseless carriages were at a very embryonic stage and the first petrol-fuelled internal combustion engine was still some 100 years away. There was, therefore, no need to make any provision for them in his plans. Move forward to the 21st Century and all forms of cars, motorcycles and even tractors became the focal point of the gardens as the foliage withdrew from center stage to provide an excellent backdrop for the inaugural celebration of motoring, \u201cCars in the Claydons,\u201d a joint venture between Nicholas and Alexandra Verney and James Beckett of James Beckett Motorsport.<\/p>\n
The Kitchen Garden held a delectable display of Audi\u2019s finest competition cars, from the 2013 R18 e-tron Quattro Le Mans car to the Audi 80 formerly raced by Sir Stirling Moss and Martin Brundle in the BTCC, an R8 GT3 and Frank Biela\u2019s A4 Super Touring car. While Audi \u201cstole the show,\u201d there was a plethora of other competition cars to keep those racing memories flooding through the mind. The Pool Garden became the motorcycle paddock for the Claydon Cup machines and display arena for all things two-wheeled. A step through the wrought iron gate took visitors to the concours lawn, where examples of Fraser Nash, Invicta, Riley and Vauxhall were on parade\u2014gleaming in the morning sunshine.<\/p>\n
The South Lawn was covered with another copious collection of cars with the Ford RS Owners Club displaying the powerful Tony Southgate\/John Wheeler-designed RS200 Group B rally car. Other rally cars included two WRC Subaru Imprezas of the late Richard Burns and Colin McRae, and McRae\u2019s WRC Martini-liveried Ford Focus. For good measure, there was even a Delorean DMC-12\u2014star of Hollywood\u2019s Back to the Future film\u2014and maybe, once again, back in limited production next year?<\/p>\n
The static display of cars was augmented by the arrival of the first \u201cCars to the Claydons Scenic Tour,\u201d as competitors took their place in the Prestige Parking area. The Courtyard offered a magnificent exhibition of paintings, drawings and sculpture entitled \u201cA Celebration of Motoring and Motorsport Art,\u201d presenting works by more than 20 top artists from the Guild of Motoring Artists. Show organizer James Beckett remarked, \u201cWe are thrilled that \u2018Cars in the Claydons\u2019 proved to be so popular, and Nicholas and Alexandra Verney (below) and myself are determined to make 2017 an even bigger success.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yes, this first \u201cCars in the Claydons,\u201d despite the afternoon showers, was a great event and well received by the public. If you didn\u2019t make it this year, make a date in your diary for the first weekend in September 2017, for next. It\u2019s amazing what you may find in an English country garden!<\/p>\n
When John Sanderson, a pupil of the famous English landscape architect Lancelot \u201cCapability\u201d Brown, initially laid out the Claydon Estate gardens for the 2nd Earl Verney, in the 18th Century, the first steam-powered horseless carriages were at a very embryonic stage and the first petrol-fuelled internal combustion engine was still some 100 years away. There was, therefore, no need to make any provision for them in his plans. Move forward to the 21st Century and all forms of cars, motorcycles […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":140,"featured_media":574313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[260,16932],"tags":[432,17982,16936],"class_list":["post-495986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-car-events","category-festivals-shows","tag-events","tag-event-cars-in-the-claydons","tag-festivals-shows"],"yoast_head":"\n