Two stimulating days out with our Great Savings Guide

As a Club member, enjoy discounts at these two enthralling family days out with our Great Savings Guide

British Motor Museum, Warwickshire

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As a club member, I’m guessing you may already have more than a passing interest in motoring? You might not be a petrolhead as such, but I’m sure you’ll have done a fair few miles and probably have views on subjects like driving etiquette, road surfaces and parking space sizes. I’d go as far as putting money on it that you even have a favourite motorway services (mine’s Tebay, for the record).

If so, the British Motor Museum, in Warwickshire, might be right up your street. Situated mere minutes from the M40, on the site of a former RAF airfield - also now home to Jaguar Land Rover and Aston Martin - the museum claims to hold ‘The world's largest collection of historic British cars’. But while the cars may be the obvious stars, the museum also tells the wider story of the development of motoring as a leisure pursuit, among others.

Housed in an enormous rotunda amid an open and well tended park, the long driveway and vast carparks hint at the museum’s scale from the start. Their collection currently runs to 400 vehicles and over a million items of automobilia. From a historic Ford Model T to Doc Brown’s time-travelling DeLorean, via an SAS ‘Pink Panther’ and a Monte Carlo Rally winning Mini, or the Queen’s personal Land Rover and Del Boy’s ‘Pratmobile’ - there should be a ‘cor, look at this’ moment for everyone. Of particular interest might be the only surviving example of a 1935 Royal Winchester caravan, described at the time as ‘the Rolls Royce of caravans’ (complete with it’s own bath and crockery set, no less!).

Once inside, the museum itself is bright, spacious, and methodically laid out. In the main space, grouped themes of vehicles are displayed in fanned-out formations. There are sections for both sports cars and cars of motorsport (a subtle but important distinction), and clusters of sleek record breakers, concept prototypes and instantly recognisable stars of the screen gather together. Land Rover and Jaguar get their own sections, being neighbours, but other marques have dedicated floorspace too - Vauxhall take over the mezzanine level (with it’s sweeping aerial views of the museum), and Ford have a heritage display in the entrance. 

Encircling the museum’s interior is the Time Road, a reconstructed carriageway that chronologically illustrates the changes in motoring from its earliest days. Walking between the period vehicles parked along it, clever details like changing road surfaces and signage, and an accompanying display of motoring news and pop-culture (Charlie Chaplin and the first caravan for the 1910s and compulsory seat belts and Madonna in the 1980s) give it context.

Curiosity cabinets provide fascinating side bars, such as ones for Jaguar’s racing trophies, a collection of petrol station paraphernalia, and Dunhill’s period motor clothing (look for the ‘wearable umbrella’ and an advert for ‘bottomless motorcycle trousers’) - while screens showing vintage TV ads provide as much of an insight into the fashions and attitudes of the day as the history of the cars they’re selling. There’s even an opportunity to dress up and strike your best pose in a retro Austin Healey convertible advert.

Nice period touches include a recreation of a 1930s garage, and an art deco cinema showing reels of archive footage. The office of William Morris, founder of Morris Motors and ‘the most famous industrialist of his age’, has also been restored, exactly as the last day he left it.

Other diversions include a regularly updated gallery exhibiting motor-inspired art, and the Automobilia room - with its engrossing array of rarities, such as a 1970s police breathalyser kit and remnants of long-extinct factories - that feels like a happy marriage of archive and flea-market.

Children will be kept busy with activity sheets to fill and a dedicated interactive area. I liked how tiny desks and chairs were dotted among the collections to be worked at. Look out for the life-size Lego car (the museum accepts brick donations towards new builds) and the flying Ford Anglia from the Harry Potter films.

For the mechanically inclined, some vehicles have had sections exposed to reveal their engineering. The most impressive of these is a 1965 MGB GT (AKA the ‘poor man’s Aston Martin’), which has been meticulously cleaved in half. Walking between the two sections gave me the fleeting impression of being in a Haynes manual come to life.

The adjacent Collections Centre building, which houses the reserve store of cars, has more of a smart garage feel, with vehicles literally packed in bumper to bumper, and where visitors can view the museum’s Restoration Workshop in action (approximately 80% of the collections are in working order). The ground floor of this building is home to the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust collection, with rare examples and displays of its history and engineering. It may say something about me that I was most fascinated by how the brand’s symbol morphed from a diving swallow to a leaping jaguar.

Apparently, cars can swap in and out of the collection’s buildings several times a week (much to the consternation of volunteer guides whose favourite subject has just disappeared), with vehicles being loaned out or taken to rallies and other events. The museum also hosts an annual program of enthusiast days in its surrounding grounds - from young driver experiences to Busfest and the Banbury motorbike run, brand-specific meet-ups, and even Rustival - a day for clapped-out all-comers. An option to declare your entry fee to the museum as a donation is rewarded by converting your ticket to an annual pass, at no extra cost. Which makes good sense, considering I spent a whole afternoon there, didn’t see all the cars, missed the cafe and shop - and still found myself rushing to get round.

With so much to see and a constantly changing program - why wouldn’t you go back?

Members save £2 on admission with the Great Savings Guide. Find out more here.

Stay at: Warwick Racecourse, Moreton-in-Marsh, Chapel Lane Club campsites

Cotswold Falconry

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A friendly warning: Your SatNag (not a typo) device may disagree with reality as to where the entrance to the Cotswold Falconry Centre actually is. It’s important you know this, as the highlight of your visit is likely to be one of the live displays held there every day, so making sure you’re in the right place at the right time could be crucial.

Situated in Batsford Estate (of Mitford sisters fame) Cotswold Falconry Centre is home to over 150 birds, spanning more than 60 species, including (not just falcons, as I naively thought) hawks, buzzards, eagles, kites, owls, vultures, and my new favourite, the handsomely odd-looking secretary bird. Many of these birds are from critically endangered breeds, and the Centre’s conservation programmes are key to their survival.

A volery of birds greets you on arrival, sitting patiently by their open-air weatherings, while others can be observed in aviaries appropriate to their needs - some tall and spacious, others with discreet peepholes to view the shy inhabitants within - amid rich greenery that straddles the aviaries’ fencing, often causing it to blend away. You could be forgiven for thinking you’re strolling through lush wild gardens, until you spot keen eyes watching you from within.

Of course, falconry is about training birds of prey, and the highlight of your visit will surely be seeing this in action. A small exhibition by the entrance shows equipment used in falconry, and the Centre holds three live displays daily, with different birds given an outing each time. The staff are incredibly informative and entertaining, but it’s a testament to the effect of watching these graceful creatures in free flight that the only fact I took away was that a pigeon can out-fly a kite (apparently, it’s the kite’s dive speed that’s lethal). It’s hard to listen attentively while a large raptor is swooping towards you, talons out, because its keeper has quietly moved behind you with an enticing titbit. Braver visitors can even have a private hands-on (gloves-on?) experience of flying a bird of prey themselves, and pre-booking this is recommended due to popularity.

Despite my intransigent SatNag, I managed to catch two of the displays and ambled happily around the aviaries in between, soothed by the surround-sound birdsong (definitely take a moment to close your eyes and just listen). I left the Centre feeling calmer, with a better understanding of the lives and plights of these animals, and a sense of awe at having met them.

The Cotswold Falconry Centre can be found at the end of a long stately drive (look for the beflagged turning just east of Bourton-on-the-Hill) and shares a large car park with neighbouring Batsford Arboretum (also worth noting for its Garden Terrace Cafe if watching the birds feast has you feeling peckish).

My SatNag, on the other hand, can be found, crushed and discarded, in front of the locked gates on the far side of the estate.

Members benefit from a 2-for-1 offer on admission with the Great Savings Guide. Find out more here.

Stay at: Moreton-in-Marsh, Bourton-on-the-Water, Broadway, Burford Club campsites

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Please visit camc.com/greatsavingsguide for vouchers, discount codes and pre-booking where relevant, as well as terms and conditions for all offers. Please check site and attraction opening dates and times before visiting/travelling.