MEMORABLE MG ROUTES
Places to visit.
Details of opening times and entrance fees etc,
can be obtained by visiting the websites.
Silverstone Motor Racing Circuit
Silverstone was created as a World War Two airfield
in 1943 close to the village of the same name.
Once the war had ended in 1945, Britain was left
with a number of redundant airfields. The Royal
Automobile Club approached the Air Ministry and
a lease was arranged and, on October 2 1948,
amid straw bales and ropes, the first event, the RAC
Grand Prix took place.
In 1951 the lease was taken over by the British
Racing Drivers’ Club who set about turning the
temporary airfield track into something more
permanent, which is the circuit we see today.
www.silverstone.co.uk
This Memorable Route was used as the 2008 'Tour de
Stowe
The current house was built on the site of an earlier
Silverstone', which took place in June as part of the
structure in the 1680s and remodelled by Earl
Temple in 1770. Silverstone International weekend. A circular tour of
In the 1740s, 'Capability Brown' swept away the
formal gardens and created the Landscape Garden
80 miles starting at Silverstone, journeying to the
that we see today, which are now cared for by the
National Trust and can be visited.
Heritage Motor Museum at Gaydon and returning, by a
www.stowe.co.uk www.nationaltrust.org.uk
different route, to the home of British motorsport.
The Oxford Canal
Canals were introduced into Britain in the second
The route leaves Silverstone Circuit, heads
half of the eighteenth century, and the Oxford canal
was one of the earliest to be constructed.
in a south-westerly direction through the
It runs for 78 miles between Coventry and villages and gently rolling countryside of
Oxford and is one that maintains a horizontal
Buckinghamshire, crossing at Twyford four
course by traversing around the hillsides in a
meandering route and consequently is considered
generations of transport systems: the River;
to be one of the most attractive in the country. the Canal; the Railway; and the Motorway.
www.waterscape.com
Skirting Banbury, passing Broughton Castle,
Broughton Castle
then swinging northwards through the
This delightful fortified manor house was built in 1300 attractive lanes of Oxfordshire and
by Sir John de Broughton, and was subsequently
Warwickshire to the halfway point and a
purchased in 1377 by William Wykeham, Bishop of
Winchester. A later relative of William Wykeham
lunch stop at the Heritage Motor Museum
married into the Fiennes family in whose hands the at Gaydon. Re-crossing the M40, the return
castle still rests. In the seventeenth century, Sir William
route proceeds eastwards through the
Fiennes was one of the leading activists against Charles
1, who allowed Broughton to be used as a meeting
green and pleasant fields of
place for those plotting against the King, and later raised Northamptonshire, with both Canons
troops to fight against the King at Edge Hill in 1642.
Ashby and Sulgrave Manor on the route,
www.broughtoncastle.com
before returning to our base at Silverstone.
Upton House You should allocate a full day for this
One of the National Trust's most important collections
route as each leg takes about two hours, at
of Old Masters, Tapestries, Sevres Porcelain, Chelsea
& Derby figures and eighteenth-century furniture can
country lane speeds, together with a good
be found in this house. two hours for the Museum (more if you
Built in 1695 of mellow local stone and
take lunch),and then possibly visiting some before re-entering Northamptonshire at
remodelled in 1928 by Walter Samuel, 2nd Viscount
Bearsted, son of the founder of the Shell Oil Company
of the other attractions along the way. Evenley, with its large attractive village
and Chairman from 1921–1946. The countryside is pleasant, the villages green. After crossing the busy A43 dual
With a motoring theme, there is a display of
are attractive, the views stunning and carriageway, the route is soon in open
paintings and publicity posters commissioned by Shell
during Viscount Bearsted's Chairmanship.
delightful country houses combine with countryside again passing through Charlton
A stunning garden, with terraces, ornamental rural lanes to make this a truly Memorable and on to Kings Sutton. The church of
pools, herbaceous borders complete the attractions of
MG Route. St Peter & St Paul is particularly noteworthy.
this fine country house.
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-uptonhouse
As soon as you have left the circuit, we Leaving the village you pass over the
enter Buckinghamshire where the railway and the road drops down to cross
Burton Dassett Country Park
impressive building that is Stowe School the river Cherwell and the Oxford Canal,
The remains of a windmill thought to have been
constructed in 1664 dominates this group of hills
appears on the horizon, you pass through as we re-enter Oxfordshire, and then
which cover 100 acres and are some 200m. The the small hamlet of Dadford before turning steeply up over the M40, before
nearby twelfth-century church, of All Saints in Burton
at the main entrance to Stowe with its proceeding to the A4260. A short distance
Dassett hamlet is well worth a visit. The MGCC
Midland Centre holds its Autumn Trial here.
delightful lodge cottages. A brief spell in on the main road leads into Adderbury, a
www.warwickshire.gov.uk Oxfordshire, leads on through pleasant delightful village of mellow Oxfordshire
countryside passing several small villages ironstone.
62 Safety Fast! NOVEMBER 2008 www.mgcc.co.uk
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