family

03 Mar 2024
  During their spent time on manufacturer’s press fleets the cars we motor-noters are privileged enough to be lent must inevitably lead a hard life. All those miles; all those different drivers; all those different driving styles…     So far, so good. In over thirteen years of borrowing myriad motor cars from myriad marques (some now defunct), fortunately – touch wood and all that – I’ve never...
01 Feb 2024
     I’ve driven Aston Martin’s DBX707 before; an all-too brief blast in August 2022 from Dormy House in The Cotswolds, down to Clivedon House – where the scandalous Profumo affair is said to have started – and back again. I wound my way down on A –roads through the Cotswolds (AML’s PR people do seem to love The Cotswolds) before cruising my way back via an almost unnaturally empty the M40. As...
01 Jan 2024
  If you’d just read that an SUV that had recently been judged  “Our stand-out winner as Large SUV of the Year as it really does everything for everybody. Practical, stylish, packed with all the tech and luxuries we love as standard” by the motoring experts (apparently) from The Sun, The Sunday Times, Driving.co.uk and Luxx Magazine, you’d know no-doubt, these days, be expecting said SUV to be...
25 Aug 2023
  Out here in The Far Unlit Unknown, electric cars more often than not get a mixed response. A combination of their cost (They won’t spend money in these ‘ere parts if they don’t have to), a limited charging infrastructure – although, gradually (glacially?) it is beginning to get better – and people’s general unfamiliarity with such modern fangled things, means, more often than not, the electric...
The Wisteria Tours Team
23 Feb 2022
As Covid-19 restrictions are eased this week, one Shropshire family business is celebrating being back on the road heartened by the support it received during the pandemic. Wisteria Tours, which specialises in giving its customers unique visits to famous gardens and historic homes in coach tours from its Shropshire base, had to run a very limited service during the pandemic and no tours at all...
03 Feb 2022
       My cousin Jayne called: “I’m getting married. The invitation is in the post”.     Great news! And I mean it when say it genuinely couldn’t happen to a nicer couple. But while she and soon-to-be husband Stuart busied themselves with the minor details: venue, rings, dress, cake etc, I was left pondering how I was going to get six people, and no doubt copious amounts of their luggage, from...
12 Dec 2021
      I know, I’ve said it before: If only every car manufacturer made seats like Volvo does. After what quickly became a 12-hour day after a poor night’s sleep, spent at The Goodwood 78th Member’s Meeting, the soft leather front seats of Volvo’s latest version of their XC60 were a very welcome site indeed - and especially-so with the seat heaters set to their maximum. By the time, we’d slithered...
31 Oct 2021
  There’s a list on my desk, of cars I’m trying book from various manufacturer’s press fleets, for review purposes over the coming months. My scribblings run to nine cars currently -no doubt I’ll add more - and with the exception of one electric city car and one slinky supercar (I’m a sucker for both), everything else I’ve written down, from Bentaygas to Qashqais, is SUV shaped.     It’s perhaps...
09 Jun 2021
      Not so long ago we used to consider Kia as very much a budget brand, their cars the kind of things you would buy simply because you needed (rather than wanted) a cheap run-around – albeit always a cheerful and reliable one. Kia though had other ideas. They headhunted their now chief designer from Audi, and moved their design centre from their home in Korea to central Europe, so as to appeal...
happy dog in a park
22 Apr 2021
As lockdown restrictions start to lift, and the warmer weather starts rolling in, families can finally start to plan some fun days out in the sunshine. For families with dogs, that means planning activities that include your furry friend - but look no further, as ABC Boat Hire have compiled a list of the 10 best rated dog friendly activities in Shropshire. After compiling a list of all of the...
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