themini5

Coopering the U.K.
(or Toad's Not-So-Wild Ride)

Finally after almost a year of restoration work from bare metal at Woodbridge Classic Cars, the 1967 Mk. 1 Morris Cooper S is built, running, MOT'd, insured. What next? Why, we USE it, of course. A Mini Cooper exists to be driven, not to gather dust as some sort of garage-queen. So on 4 July 2001 (rather an ironic day, is it not, for a Yank to be "liberating" a British icon - or is it all going to be some sort of devious British pay back?), we are collected from the Bull Hotel by Andrew in verrry interesting Cosworth Sierra to go get WAR 501E from Blomvyle Hall Garage. What follows next is an almost 3-week tour covering 1400 miles in England and Wales. Rather than put you to sleep (that Esc key can do dreadful damage to your nose when your head hits the keyboard) by going into onerous details, we'll just touch on some of the highlights. Some hints on places to stay (via links to their sites), some links to photos of interest (most of those only 20-30KB; you will be warned about the bigger jpg files that may take a while to load up), and some don't miss-places to visit.

East Anglia

Toad claims that England is no longer England. That may all be nostalgia viewed through rosy glasses (remember that Toad first set foot on English soil in 1966, during his undergraduate years). But East Anglia is most certainly still much like the England-of-old. Still serene (not overrun with those dreadful American tourists), with quiet winding lanes, sleepy town, hardly yuppified (well, maybe a few parts have been discovered by The London Crowd). In other words, the perfect place to run-in a freshly-built 1275 "S" engine!

First, we head a bit south in Suffolk to the Constable (the painter, not the cop) country around Dedham. Since we are by now peckish, and it is noonish, we pull into the Dedham Boatyard, on the banks of the Stour. Pulling in just ahead of us is a glorious Talbot (London) Tourer, top down, full of three adults and one large dog. See, the British still use their automotive heritage. As we consume our lunch of baton sandwiches (gee, the British have discovered great bread), we watch two of the adults jump into a rowboat, while the third adult and the dog pace them on the riverbank. What a great toadish afternoon, messing about on the water. We spend the next several hours walking the countryside. I pose Willy Lott's Cottage. Had I a hay wain, I could have done a replica of Constable's "The Hay Wain." Well...

We head for our home base for the next couple of days, The Angel Hotel in Lavenham. I am happy to report that Basil Fawlty is dead and buried, and that Manuel no longer works in the kitchen. The food (as it was for much of the rest of the trip) was fabulous. The memories of The Angel's lamb shank in mint sauce, and the duck oriental, still summon forth the drool. A worthy day-trip is Audley End, a magnificent pile near Saffron Waldon. In town there are great antique shops, particularly the bookshop in the Sun Inn (earlier the HQ for Cromwell). There I found a mint, 1975 edition of Hayne's Mini Workshop Manual for two-pounds-fifty. Sold.

Like Cromwell, we keep moving. Our next base of operations is in Norfolk, at Lodge Farm (near Castle Acre). This is a very rural B&B (the road there is about one-and-a-half Minis wide). We are the only guests. This is not your typical rural B&B. On the walls of the family wing are hung recent photos of the sons at Eton and Cambridge, plus associated memorabilia. These folks don't really need to be running a B&B. Our room is very large, with an immense bay window overlooking miles and fields of the Norfolk countryside. Swallows have set up a mudnest in one corner of the bay window. The family dog (one of those truncated, sausage affairs) keeps on sneaking into our room. The next day it is mine hosts wedding anniversary, and because they are going to be about and around through late evening, we are given the keys to the house and directions on how to operate the alarm system, so that we can come and go at will. (Quick, load up the Mini with the antiques and make a run for it - right). We hardly feel like paying guests. In the tiny village of Castle Acre, the ancient Priory ruins are well worth visit: an excellent self-guided audio tour, not a soul about, makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up.

Another super day trip is to the northwestern corner of Norfolk and the Royal Sandringham. That is assuming that the Queen is not in residence, in which case we proles can only look through the gates and tug our forelocks. We were there before mid-July, so it was open to tour. In addition to the gorgeously kept grounds, and the moderately interesting interior of the great house (it might be of more interest to royal watchers/groupies), there is a worthy museum. This was formerly the fire house for the grounds and now contains a collection of royal vehicles (down, Toad) and much history (especially, a poignant exhibit for all connoiseurs of military disasters on the Battle of Gallipoli and the Royal Norfolk Regiment that totally and mysteriously disappeared). And of course, there is a tea room with glorious scones. (Toad only visits British museums for the opportunity of having tea and scones afterwards.)

In the vicinity, Castle Rising is another must-see. This is claimed to be the best preserved Norman castle in Britain (Toad will not argue the point), built in 1138, with another of those enormously effective audio self-guided tours which give one a deep sense of the significance of the place. And a third must-see is a commercial establishment (hang on): Norfolk Lavender. Normally Toad has zero tolerance for anything lacking gears and cams and wheels and sprockets. Pooftah flowers?!? But it's a strangely seductive place, and anyone failing to take their mini(see!)bus tour of the lavender fields is an idiot. You see, the tour gets you back on the Sandringham Estate where most people don't get to go, and the tour guide is full of naughty stories about the kleptomaniac Old Queen Mary and the general Norfolkian dry wit about "their royals." And finally, if you are making a big loop of Norfolk prior to heading back to Castle Acre and can point your way to Blickling Hall a bit north of Norwich, do stop in. Yes, it is a magnificent Tudor mansion, with Jacobean modifications, where Anne Boleyn spent her childhood. But there was this gorgeous old Roller parked outside, and the Tea Room rated four stars from Toad.

Okay. Enough of East Anglia. Time for the big Cooper S blast, all the way across England into Wales.

On to Wales!!

Or go back Home...