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17th June 2007Lakeland Motor MuseumIn June, a small group of XKEC members met up at the Lakeland Motor Museum, at Holker Hall, near Grange-Over-Sands in the Lake District. This small museum is now in its 30th year and is located in the former shire stables of Holker Hall, the home of Lord and Lady Cavendish. Also visiting Lakeland that day were the Renault Avantime Owners Club, but they only managed half the number of cars that we had in our reserved parking area.
The museum is not on the same scale as some of the other motoring museums visited by the XKEC in recent years, such as Beaulieu and Gaydon.
It does however boast over 20,000 objects in the collection. On display are around 150 cars as well as tractors, motor bikes, bicycles and a huge display of associated automobilia. There are advertising posters, car badges, scale models and even a recreation of a 1920’s petrol station.
On the Jaguar front, there is an XK-150 as well as some interesting scale models of various other classic Jaguars. A major part of the museum is given over to a display commemorating the famous Campbell racing dynasty of Sir Malcolm Campbell and his son Donald Campbell. The museum houses a replica of the Bluebird car driven by Donald Campbell when he broke the world land speed record in 1935. There is also a replica of the ill-fated K7 hydroplane in which Donald was killed on nearby Coniston Water in January 1967, while trying to set a 300mph world speed record on water. Between them, the Campbell’s set ten land speed records and eleven water speed records.
The Lakeland Motor Museum has now outgrown its present home and has recently announced plans to move to a new location, in Backbarrow, scheduled to open in 2008. Our visit over, some members then set off for Bowness-on-Windermere for a relaxing pub lunch on the lakefront. |
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