Cheddar Gorge & the Mendips
Eight explorers in four TR’s and Dave and Jan Hankin in their Toyota left Hartley Wintney at 9.30 am to follow the A30 and A303 en route for Revington TR. Pausing, just before arriving, we enjoyed a very nice lunch at the nearby Bere Cider Company, locally known as Scrumpy Jack’s, recommended to us by the Revingtons and their staff who are regular patrons.
After lunch Neil Revington conducted us on a tour of his extensive premises. His wife, Sue, not far behind provided us with the wife’s perspective and a plentiful supply of tea and biscuits. It was a very enjoyable and informative tour covering the history and development of the business, its operations and his amazing collection of classic TRs which included a Zoom prototype currently under restoration, a replica of the buck used for the creation of the body shells for the famous TRS Le Mans cars and Neil’s unique and splendiferous TR3 Beta.
We then headed for Glastonbury to stock up on all things spiritual. Finally arriving at our hotel in Ditcheat in time for dinner. We were joined their by Neil and Sue Revington and Nick and Heather King from the Apple County TR group. Nick and Heather had been very helpful in supplyng local knowledge and assiting us in organising the trip.
Day two was a top-down day as the sun that had appeared at lunchtime the previous day was still shining. We started the day with a scenic drive through some wonderful countryside, following the road round though Burrington Combe, the Ebbhor Gorge and then into Cheddar Gorge where we spent the morning. After driving up through the imposing Cheddar Gorge, lunch was a leisurely affair in the garden of the Queen Victoria Pub in the small village of Priddy before heading to Wells where we spent the afternoon sightseeing and sampling the local ice cream.
Day three took us north of the Mendip Hills to visit an area dominated by Blagdon and Chew Lakes which were built as reservoirs to supply Bristol. They are both very popular with walkers, cyclists and anglers and provide stunning views of the surrounding countryside. Nick and Heather had already forewarned us of the popularity of the area so we had booked well in advance and were able to enjoyed a pleasant lunch with them at Woodford Lodge overlooking Chew Lake before heading for home via the A4.
