SE Area's Summer Picnic
Saturday 17th June, the day when the SE area finally took up the long standing invitation for a picnic in the garden of Alistair and June Martin down in Clovenfords. Meeting up at Dobbies car park at 11am there were 6 cars present ; George and Jean in their RMB, Alex and Janet in their Adelphi, Tom in his RME and Andrew and Sheila in their recently reclassified historic Daimler ( having now seen it’s fortieth birthday), Ian and Jane in their modern classic MG and Liz in her modern. Alistair, having too much on was unable to come up in time to join the procession but arranged to meet the gang part way down the road.
Taking the scenic route, the team left Dobbies, drove through Newtongrange up to Middleton on the A7 then turned off onto the B7007 which merges with the B709 and leads down to Innerleithen. A very nice easy drive with no steep sections and fairly smooth, but a very picturesque wander through the Moorfoot hills . Alistair was waiting for the team about 3 miles out of Innerleithen and took the lead from there, totally confusing Liz who hadn’t seen him joining and was wondering how she’d been following 2 RMs and now there were 3….
Wending our way down through the golf course into Innerleithen our convoy attracted quite a few admiring glances and a couple of real gentlemen in a White Van and Landrover respectively who gave up ‘right of way’ to let us through.
Arriving safely in Clovenfords, Alistair led the team to the house to find that Donald in his Lynx, (having undergone yet another resurrection following bottom end bearing gremlins on the return journey from Aberdeen) having come from the opposite direction, was already there and parked up in the drive, where it was quickly joined by the Adelphi and RMEs of Alistair and Tom. What would a SE Area meeting, of any sort, be without Donald. It see ms that he drove past the house to start with, despite June putting out the bunting to show everyone where to stop (in case Alistair hadn’t had time to meet up).
Fully assembled on the patio there was a happy contingent of 13 all told. In addition to the humans, there was Alfie, Alistair & June’s Border Terrier and Gem, Andrew & Sheila’s spaniel, both on their best behaviour.
As arranged at the previous weekly lunch, everyone brought their own picnic lunch , and taking advantage of the fine warm weather we all dined Al Fresco on the patio. June had advised that she would kindly provide a dessert – or 2, a bit worrying from a former bank employee, but her counting was a bit off and It actually turned out to be 4, not that there were any complaints!!! Everyone got stuck in and in some cases more than once. There were more than a few “seconds” off the dessert tray, so much so, that Alistair and June never got any of the trifle and only what was left of the others… oops!
Must have been the fresh air. Just hope that on the way home, nobody was stopped and breathalised as the trifle had more that a generous “splashing” of Dubonnet in it. No wonder there were several “seconds”.
Everyone swapped seats from time to time and the natter flowed quite freely. The weather stayed fair, overcast but warm and everyone enjoyed a stroll around the garden, with Alistair pointing out particular plants which are quite rare and which he and June had collected during their caravan travels, such as wild licquorice from Southport, wild Chicory from Abbey Wood in London and giant cowslip from the Castle of Mey in Thurso. The visitors were impressed with the garden’s layout, where you can’t see all of it from any one point, making you want to see round the corner to see what surprise comes next. A particular talking point was Alistair’s 3 beehives which drew a lot of attention, especially when it was pointed out that he’d already taken 24lb of honey from them and expected to do the same later the following week. Quite a few cases of plant envy by the end of the afternoon.
As for the cars, they attracted a lot of attention from the neighbours, as you’d expect of a Riley. Nobody came in to disturb the picnic and ask about them, but after everyone had left for home, Alistair and June were approached by a few wanting to know what they had been.
So, all in all, a very successful outing. Seldom have we picnicked in such splendid surrounding without being in professionally tended gardens. The hospitality was excellent , the company was good, the weather gods were good to us ( it totally poured down only half an hour after the last car left) and all the cars performed impeccably , so no complaints and many compliments to our hosts.
Same again next year? Possible but totally dependant on Alistair and June’s caravan travels. We’ll live in hope!!!!
Having taken our leave of Alistair and June, they refused help with the washing up, Tom, Alec and Janet set off in tandem back to Biggar, Donald ploughing a lone furrow back to Coldstream, with the remainder following George’s lead over the hill to Bowland, thereafter following the A7 back to Edinburgh, passing our NE colleague Jim Leslie just South of Stow on his way back to his digs in Innerleithen on his way back from the Thirlstane gathering.
So to quote Wallace and Gromit, "A Good Day Out"