The planning for this event started at the Christmas Party when Bentley Orchard approached me to see what I thought of his idea for a visit to Pendennis Shipyard where they build and refurbish Super Yachts. Did I think people would be interested? That was easily answered and as we chatted the event started to grow and became a weekend to properly kick the season off. Not surprisingly we had a stunning weekend and follows a very brief summary of what happened.
The event was limited to 28 people and the available rooms at the Carbis Bay Hotel went very quickly and we were fully subscribed. Our rooms had stunning views over Carbis Bay and were idyllic. The group congregated prior to dinner on the Friday evening and Bentley ran through what looked to be a very exciting itinerary.
Saturday started with a slightly extended drive along the Cornish coast to get us to Falmouth in order to visit Pendennis Shipyard for a tour of their facility and see the nine vessels they were working on followed by a pastie lunch. We were shown around by Mike and Toby and their passion for the business is very clear and Ally looked after our culinary needs.
We then drove to the gardens at Glendurgan to wander around the beautiful gardens set in three sheltered valleys and to take in the exotic flowers at what happened to be the perfect time of year. Most also took the opportunity to walk down to the hamlet of Durgan on the banks of the River Helford where many enjoyed an ice cream.
We then drove back to the Carbis Bay Hotel via another scenic route planned by Bentley and Victoria and the day ended with sitting down to another wonderful meal.
On the Sunday we went on a beautiful coastal drive which included visiting an abandoned tin mine, a quick drive through Lands End before heading to the Minack theatre which is set into the cliff side.
On the way to lunch at the Polurrian Bay Hotel we called in at the Portleven Food Festival where they opened the roads for us to drive through! After lunch we headed back to the Carbis Bay Hotel where Nigel and Mary would complete the weekend by giving a presentation about the adventure they had had on the Rally of the Incas in their pre-war Aston which covered 6,150 miles on the Rally.
You can see we had an action packed time which was made even better by the fact that Bentley and Victoria's planning had been immaculate and everything went really well. We also had a great bunch of people taking part who really to enjoyed themselves. Just one other thing - the weather, especially on the Sunday, was stunning.
Our thanks to Bentley and Victoria for putting together such a fantastic weekend and for all the hard work you put in to make it run like clockwork. Just brilliant!