Last weekend was one of those rare weekends where I had a choice of car shows. I could have gone the Stonham Barns or Burwell. Stonham I tend to go there a few times a year, all be it with different parameters, all in classic cars, or Americana etc. So I though I would go somewhere different for a change, Burwell Village. I haven’t been there before so it was a punt on what it would be like. They had restricted the number of cars to attend and advised not to attend if you weren’t booked in. We had to be in place ready for the museum to open at 10am and then the public could come in and see the museum and the cars.
If you ever find yourself out by the Cambridgeshire fens on the Suffolk boarder, Burwell is one of those lovely villages that just feels completely tied to its landscape, especially with the old waterways or ‘lodes’ running right through it. Tucked away at its heart of the village is the Burwell Museum, which honestly feels less like a traditional museum and more like a miniature, open-air village frozen in time. You can wander past old-fashioned shops and a blacksmith’s forge which was being worked for the day, all lovingly maintained by locals. But you can’t miss the real centrepiece: Stevens’ Mill. It’s a gorgeous 19th-century tower windmill that looms over the site, and it complements the history of the museum, giving you a genuine feel for what rural farming life used to be like around the village.
I set of at quarter past eight with Google maps telling me it would be thirty five minutes later. The email that was sent to us described how to get there, as in the lane would be easy to miss so look out for it, they weren’t wrong. I got there a few minutes after the scheduled time and see a sign to pointing down the little lane, not to bad at this point.
Down the end of the lane was another little sign – turn right, so I did which wasn’t that easy with the turning circle of an aircraft carrier!
I thought somebody was taking the stuff that turns the snow yellow! It was a dirt track through an allotment. The ruts in the track were low and the centre mound high which scrapped on my low exhaust headers, I wasn’t best pleased. I ended up having to drive on the higher parts while trying to dodge the plastic vegetable tunnels, and s ticks with shiny stuff hanging of them. Thought ran through my mind; if I was going to be told to park on some cabbage patch the conversation wasn’t going to go well for the poor soul that would deliver me that news. After what seemed like two miles of hell (actually more like a couple of minutes), I pulled onto an opening of a ‘field’ area. I was greeted by a lovely guy who mentioned me by my name and said ‘you’re from one man and his mustang .com’, a really nice touch. The fact I turned up in a Mustang might have been a clue though.
Being a little on the early side I was guided to back up to a wooden fence that was more like a dumping area for the allotments. We were forced in tight next to each other. More cars followed me in about fifteen minutes or so later and they were told to park in front of me starting a new row. If I wanted to go early it wasn’t going to happen, I was boxed in.
I got out to clean my car from all the dust and debris from the path on the way in. I could smell food, and decided to go and get some breakfast once the car was clean again, the now obligatory sausage roll. The guys asked me if I wanted cheese and salad with it and of course I said yes, it was a good choice. The local butchers supplied the food and was it was top notch, delicious and filled a hungry hole.
By the time I had finished breakfast, the cars were all pretty much in place, with only about thirty cars there in total for the day, a few nice mixtures of cars.
I wandered around the cars and took some pictures of my little ‘field’ area.
There was an opening in the fence which takes you into the museum walkways itself and a few more cars were parked up there.
I thought that this 1953 Citroen was going to be my car of the show, but as I wandered around the museum, I found something much bigger and better. There wasn’t a lot to choose from to be fair for my pick of the day.
Through the path ways there was various little rooms and working exhibits. I will add each little room or display as it’s own gallery starting with some Roman pottery.
The lower right was a hand written transcript from the 15th Century, in a display case which was in incredible condition.
Between each little exhibition room were barns of stored agricultural stuff and equipment.
The forge was working and a blacksmith was making something, I couldn’t tell at the point I took the pictures as it was in the early stages. All the equipment was used as it was back in the day.
There was a large barn that was over two floors, the upstairs being fairly small in comparison. There were mock up from different era’s.
Upstairs you got a view of a victorian bedroom.
The rest of the upstairs featured medieval dig finds in display cases.
A view from the upper floor to the windmill.
There was some World War I & II exhibits, the baby gas mask was kinda freaky!:
This brought back some memories as my grandparents had one of these in their back garden, an Anderson shelter. Made of corrugated metal I’m not sure what they would have stopped during an air raid.
Then into the windmill itself. There were guided tours around the working mill at little extra cost. I thought about it, but the very narrow stairway would have been snug for my 6’4″ frame. The guide also told me that it gets progressively narrower as you go up to the third floor. I decided against it for fear of having to have the emergency services cut me out from the narrow stairwell!
I walked back to the car for a rest and some people watching. I spent a fair bit of time talking to the guys who parked up next to me which passed time away.
Mart’s Car Of The Show:
This Tucker-Terra Sno-Cat K23 was a beast, not a car but a vehicle so it counts as I make the rules up! This was a genuine British Antarctic Survey vehicle used on the ice cap. I spent a fair while talking to the lovely guy telling me all about the vehicle.
I doubt I will ever see one again, so therefore just by rarity alone, it had to be the star of the show. He even let me sit in it which was pretty awesome.
Did you know?
These vehicles run on ‘AVTUR’ or Aviation Turbine Fuel which is used to prevent the diesel waxing up in the cold. To get round that problem of lubricants missing within the Avtur that normal diesel have, they have to inject the additives back in the fuel to allow the engine to work properly.
An incredible bit of machinery and a privilege to see it and sit in it one.
Being wedged in, I had to wait for the cars in front to leave before I could. This started to happen around three in the afternoon, with a gap eventually opening up in thew rows, with a little manoeuvring I was able to get out. The trip back down the dirt track again was just as bad as I remembered it a few hours earlier. I got home after about 45 minutes as the roads were a little bit slower. Arriving home I got out and looked at the state of my car, there was no way I could put it away without another good clean.
Would I go again? Probably not; one, the path to get there wasn’t fun, two, there wasn’t much to do with a max of thirty cars to look at. On the plus side, I enjoyed the museum and had some amazing memories triggered of my grandparents. Nostalgia vs cars? On this occasion the nostalgia won and I treated the ‘car show’ as a Sunday drive out for me with a few other like minded guys. I certainly didn’t hate it, but a few more cars would have made it a much better day.
