International Mini Meet 2019

If ever an image summed up the day.... A hope for sunshine, a reality of rain.

The trip to this bit of the world was driven (if you'll pardon the pun) by a trip to the IMM 2019 - a huge event, held every 5 years in the UK, and this year being special for the 60th anniversary of the Mini. Sadly it was all a bit... meh....

It wasn't just the weather, there seemed a certain lack of 'celebration'. No big gathering of Minis. No barn showing the key models from the 60 years as some sort of museum. Even as we arrived we were siphoned off into a car park where Minis and other cars weren't separated off. Granted another layer of organisation required, but it would have made anyone with a ini (having paid £80 a ticket...) to feel like they were part of the show. But nowhere was there really any big gathering - instead all those camping were obviously parked beside their pitches; all us visitors set aside and mixed away from the main site; and the only small collections were outside the big tents run by the likes of MiniSport and MiniSpares.

I dunno, it was just missing 'something', and we only stayed around 3 hours (which felt about an hour too long, but was lengthened by an initial queue for food being arrested by a hugely heavy shower. It felt a missed opportunity. Maybe local vineyards and breweries and cider producers and castles and abbeys could have been contacted to see if they'd have liked 15-20 Minis turning up for tours, and they could use it as good publicity, with tickets sold to those at the event to go along. With 6,000 or so people there I'm sure they could have filled that.

As it was there were a few fields, with stalls selling new and used Mini bits, a dozen or so food vans, a barn with a bar, and... not much else; the only events being one stand with musicians, and tomorrow a couple of hours Q&A with a couple of Mini legends (including Paddy Hopkirk).

So we headed back north, bought some cheese and wine at a farm shop, and kicked back in the (finally arrived) sunshine at our vineyard lodge. Oh, and that after a brief walk with a first ever spot of a Green Woodpecker, so certainly the day ended on a high!