September has been quite a busy month, starting with the Salon Prive Concours event at Blenheim Palace which took place on 7/8th September and what a splendid weekend it was.
Saturday started with meeting friends from the Bentley Drivers Club at the hotel where a rather splendid dinner and dance was held in the evening which enabled my wife and I to dance the night away which was a great way to start the weekend.
Bentley Motors were celebrating their centenary and to that end they were hoping to gather 1001 Bentleys to celebrate 100 Extraordinary Years, however on the Sunday there were gathered together 1321, a world record.
We started the day by meeting a friend of mine from schooldays when everything was in black and white and corporal punishment was rife, ah happy days!
I was very surprised to learn it was in fact 14 years when we last met but the great thing about old friends is you just start chatting as if it was yesterday.
Here is a photo of my friend Francis and his partner Tracy standing in front of my Bentley Mk VI and looking rather splendid I think.
Obviously with that number of cars gathered round Blenheim Palace we were spoilt for choice.
Two rather special ones were The Bentley, known as The Grey Lady belonging to Jimmy Medcalf often to be seen on Downton Abbey.
Another car owned by Bentley Drivers Club member Richard Freestone and often seen on Peaky Blinders.
Moving on to the Salon Prive and some of the rarest and most expensive cars in the world on display.
One of those on display was the new Bentley Flying Spur W12 and rather splendid too.
Personally I wasn’t that certain about the new Bentley concept car but it certainly drew a crowd, one had to wait quite some time to grab a quick photo without it being mobbed by people.
More my cup of tea was the original Sir Henry Birkin 1929 Supercharged 4 1/2 Blower Bentley which raced at Le Mans.
Or the more recent Le Mans winning Bentley.
All in all quite a splendid weekend followed the next weekend by The Goodwood Revival, but more of that later.
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About The Diary of a Country Bumpkin
I am a retired actor, although to be honest I only retired because I wasn't getting any work due to losing my agent when I became a full time carer to my mother who had dementia. and the option of becoming an unemployed actor/waiter at my age was ludicrous, especially as my waiting skills are non-existent.
Having said I’m retired, I don’t think there really is such a thing as a retired actor for I am still available for work, I just don’t have an agent or any connections with regards to obtaining any worthwhile work.
I have over the years done student films when there is nothing else available, always low paid (if at all) the only incentive was always the promised copy of the finished film for your show reel which nine times out of ten always failed to materialise.
I spent many years looking after my aged mother and shortly after her death I was lucky enough to run into an ex-girlfriend of many years ago and our romance blossomed once again, resulting in us getting married in 2013.
My move to the countryside inspired me to write The Diary of a Country Bumpkin which tells of my continuing dilemmas in dealing with the rigors of the countryside from the unexpectedly large number of pollens, fungal moulds and hay products waiting to attack the unsuspecting townie.
I enjoy writing, see my play Dulce Et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori on The Wireless Theatre Company, The Plays Wot I Wrote and The Battle of Barking Creek both available on Amazon.co.uk and am very fond of classic cars so my ideal occupation would be acting in a film I had written set in the 1930s/40s, we live in hopes.
I am delighted to say that since venturing to the countryside where space is not quite the premium it is in town, I have due to the availability of two double garages acquired more classic cars to form a small collection the pride of which are a 1947 Bentley Mk VI and a 2000 Bentley Arnage.
My various blogs and websites are continually evolving and I’m sure that by following the appropriate links you will find something which will edify or amuse.
I have written a number of different books all available on Amazon, so don't be shy should you feel the urge to purchase. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mr-Joe-Wells/e/B06XKWFQHT/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1
The Diary of a Country Bumpkin 
Lovely photos. What an amazing collection!
It certainly was.
Very posh!
In the early seventies we had a couple of very old Bentleys, and my late husband loved them.
If my son had been born back then I would have known exactly which models.they were. He is an encyclopaedia of cars, but unfortunately for me he was born 20 years later!
I love all of these models 🙂
I’ve always liked Bentleys, they seem so quintessentially British.
Exactly!
How fabulous! Especially the ‘movie star’ cars.
Lot’s of very nice expensive cars!
Yes, and a world record number of them, it was a good day out!