Regular readers will know that I enjoy visiting Living History events as much as museums and game conventions. The War and Peace show in Kent is one of the largest events of its kind spanning five days and thousands of exhibitors and their vehicles. So on Saturday I and my family headed down the M20 (somehow avoiding the traffic jams) and basked in what will probably turn out to be a short lived British summer. Unlike previous years I didn't walk around the whole site but stuck relatively closely to the main arena.
The headlines on the BBC would suggests that the whole of Kent was gridlocked due to problems at the Dover crossing but frankly we didn't see any sign of this at all. Our journey was trouble free and the only congestion we encountered was a little bit of a queue entering the car park to the show. Similarly we waited until after 6pm to leave and avoided getting caught up in the rush to exit that happens at these sort of events. Frankly I have never understood why visitors are in such a rush to get home. The tickets aren't particularly expensive, but they aren't cheap either and I always take the view that I want the maximum time on site for my money. This is particularly true for an event like this as its impossible to get round in a single day so no matter how late you stay there is still plenty of new stuff to see.
Its a pity I didn't have more days to visit but I have to say I was absolutely knackered by the time we got home. My old body was protesting, loudly! Despite being the coolest day of the week so far it was still very hot and there is little or no shade to rest in. The arena was very dusty which makes for some excellent photos but meant I went home with dust in places I never knew I had!
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| A row of impeccably restored vintage Jeeps |
The headlines on the BBC would suggests that the whole of Kent was gridlocked due to problems at the Dover crossing but frankly we didn't see any sign of this at all. Our journey was trouble free and the only congestion we encountered was a little bit of a queue entering the car park to the show. Similarly we waited until after 6pm to leave and avoided getting caught up in the rush to exit that happens at these sort of events. Frankly I have never understood why visitors are in such a rush to get home. The tickets aren't particularly expensive, but they aren't cheap either and I always take the view that I want the maximum time on site for my money. This is particularly true for an event like this as its impossible to get round in a single day so no matter how late you stay there is still plenty of new stuff to see.
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| Studebaker M29 Weasel (American) |
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| Mk 1 Carrier (British) |
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| SdKfz 6 Kettenkrad |
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| M113 APC (American) a stalwart of the Vietnam War |
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| OT90 (Russian) and still in service today |
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| Hensel - A German prototype that never went into production and one of kind |
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| Centurion ARV (British) - Armoured Recovery Vehicle |
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| Centurion AVRE (British) - Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers |
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| Normandy Veteran Don Shepard being driven around the arena |
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| The big Re-enactment Battle - British Paratroopers dig in and prepare to defend their positions |
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| A British Achilles tank destroyer - This was a British version of the American M10 but sporting a British 17pdr gun. |
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| A British 17pdr Anti Tank Gun being set up |
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| BOOM! Its kicks up a lot of dust when fired.... |
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| ....a LOT of dust! |
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| The Achilles |
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| The Centurion AVRE crushes an illegally parked car! |
Very nice indeed. Great to see such wonderful vehicles in action. Hope you did not get too much sun..... after all mad dogs and Englishmen .... I bat you will be singing this in your head for the rest of the day!!
ReplyDeleteNice one mate.
There's not a lot of shade so when the dun is out your very exposed. I slapped on the dun dream so didn't burn, but I saw a few people who will regret their lack of sun protection today!
DeleteSome neat stuff there, Lee. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteLooked fun!
ReplyDelete