TOTALLY SCALE AT OLD WARREN

Whittaker visits this mythical area of England for the famous Shuttleworth scale bash.

- Alex Whittaker

What can be said about the magical Old Warden and its Shuttleworth Collection that has not been sad before? It is unique. It is quintessentially English. It is delightfully unexpected. Every time I visit Old Warden, I have to pinch myself that it actually exists. The village and the surrounding estate are set in the deepest English countryside. Old Warden possess a timelessness which is hard to describe. It always astounds me to think that the mighty workaday A1 thunders north and south just a mile or two away. Somehow that should not be allowed. We aeromodellers don't want the contagion of modern life to contaminate our midsummer night's dream that is Old Warden.

A FINE EXPERIENCE

Visit on a high summer's day and you step back to kinder age. I love the small Old Warden traditions, like the impromptu car park ‘luncheon brigade’. Whilst the rest of us are on the burgers and beer, these refined ‘aeromodellists’ (so the sign says) set a higher tone. Gracious Jaguar car boots disgorge Fortnum & Mason picnic baskets onto the green grass. As diesel powered old-timers burble high overhead, smart ladies in elegant summer dresses take tea and nibble their cucumber sandwiches. Well-preserved chaps in panamas and blazers (no doubt with a well-tuned Junior 60 in their past) sit contentedly, sipping a chilled chardonnay. Ah, the English Season! For many of us the ModelAir Old Warden Scale Weekends are up there with The Boat Race, Wimbledon and the Henley Regatta.

WALK THE STALLS