In the brilliant sunshine that was Wednesday 27th May nearly 20 cars and double that number of people enjoyed a splendid visit to the Badminton Estate followed by an equally excellent lunch at the Cat & Custard Pot Inn.
First of all though, came the rendezvous point at the Cross Hands Hotel in Old Sodbury. Our Events Rep, Karen Bryant had everyone lined up and led an impressive convoy the few miles to the Badminton Estate. Once they were open (!) we nosed through the main gates and round to the front of this quite beautiful stately home to line up in a fan for the obligatory photographs. The two attendees who had arrived in machines other than Aston Martins were gently nudged to one side thus the 17 cars you can count in the photograph.
All other photographs are in the Area 22 Photo Album page of the website under the heading "Badminton Cats & Custard" which you can access here
The Estate put its drone up for some aerial shots of the house and cars and have promised to send those through to us in due course. In the meantime, they lent us a somewhat less elevated step ladder for a slightly higher shooting position which will have to do for now.
The house is private and home to the Duke & Duchess of Beaufort & their family. An Estate has been in existence on the site for over 1,000 years with Roman Villa remains in the grounds and a Domesday Book record when it was known as “Madmintune.” The Dukedom was created by Charles II in 1682 and successive generations of Beauforts have made extensive additions, alterations, expansions and other changes to the house and grounds ever since. The Estate gave its name to the game of Badminton when Army officers in the mid-19th century played a modern version of “shuttlecock & battledore” there whilst on leave from India. They must have played in the main entrance hall which today reflects the size of a modern badminton court.
Splitting into two groups we visited the walled garden and the main gardens interspersed with the inevitable tea and cake.
The walled garden is a haven of herbaceous and cutting plants manicured and well protected from any extremes of weather. It is though right next to the "garden" used for the Hounds and as such has an odour perhaps less floral than we might expect!
The formal gardens that wrap around and behind the house are created in a series of “rooms” before they spill into parkland and meadow. It’s all beautifully cared for by four gardeners (there used to be 36!) and even the family swimming pool is an ornate circular structure with a fountain at the centre and a set of metal steps to get you in and out!
A handful of us split off to get a little extra photography done in the Estate Office courtyard. Our resident semi professional photographer, Nick Vee, had spotted the photographic potential of the corner of the yard and even delivery vans couldn’t spoil the ambience.
Departing reluctantly and with the promise of lunch ahead we left the Estate the way we came in, and trundled again just a few miles to the creatively named Cat & Custard Pot Inn in Shipton Moyne.
This is a pub name that goes back to the 18th Century and is a bit of a morality tale about the consequences of getting into mischief. A household cat is purported to have fallen into a pot of custard, whilst on a thieving mission, emerging squealing and yellow to the amusement and fury of the household! It’s a memorable and expressive tale and the pub sign that goes with it becomes something recognisable for locals and visitors by which to orient themselves at a time when nearly everyone is illiterate.
Either way its current ownership really does know what it’s doing and delivered about 35 tasty high quality multi course lunches in their Chalet restaurant. This is at the back adjacent to the car park which was, guess what, full of Aston Martins!
Thus ended a fabulous day out with a photograph album of memories to help it linger.
As well as our Area 22 cohort we were joined by several friends from other AMOC Areas and were delighted to welcome them. Our thanks are due to Karen for organising the day – it has set a very high bar – and to the staff at Badminton and the Cat & Custard Pot who were all endlessly welcoming and helpful.