What a brilliant weekend we’ve just experienced at the Marston’s Beer Festival Race Day at Uttoxeter Racecourse in Staffordshire.
We stayed at the Uttoxeter Racecourse Caravan Club Site which is situated at the centre of the racecourse and is about a 20 minute walk from the centre of Uttoxeter. Prior to our stay we noticed a lot of reviews criticising the facilities on this site as being tired and in need of upgrading. We didn’t actually use the facilities though because, as is most often the case, we used our onboard facilities and were staying here purely to experience a day at the races. Therefore, we were more than satisfied with our experience at this site which is just a 5-minute walk from pitch to racecourse, without having to negotiate any heavy traffic or crowds that race days bring. Unfortunately, there are currently only a handful of hard standing pitches at this site and the rest are grass. Although pitching up was fine, we needed the assistance of the site staff’s grip mats to get off after 2 days of quite heavy rain. This wasn’t a problem, however, as they are clearly used to this service being required because they had the equipment readily to hand and were only too happy to help people. A big thumbs up to the staff for that 👍
Sunshine on arrival as we approach the course
Entrance to the site and course
Caravan park
Pitched up, with race spectator stand in the distance
We booked this Jolly Adventure about 6 months ago for the purpose of celebrating Bri’s retirement after he completed just under 30 yrs managing his local LFRS fire station. We had a ball and celebrated good-style! Firstly, we booked a premier ticket (access all areas) and our own table for the day with a 4 course silver service meal in The Silks Restaurant. We were not disappointed, and despite the typical November weather becoming wetter as the day went on, we were perfectly comfortable and warm in the restaurant, watching the live races on a big screen and placing bets from our table. Before the weather changed we also got a good feel of the atmosphere on the outside spectator stand and Suzie got her first experience of placing a bet with the bookies outside (she looked a bit of a pro actually!). We had a couple of very exciting wins – horses that brought us some luck included Hi Vic, Penn Lane and Call to Order. We had a fantastic day out and would love to do it all again sometime. Maybe Suzie needs to retire??
http://www.uttoxeter-racecourse.co.uk/whats-on/fixture/14-november-2015/
http://www.uttoxeter-racecourse.co.uk/
Walk across the course from site
Walk to course from site
Hobgoblin mobile bar, part of the Marston’s Beer Festival
Marston’s horse box bar
Vintage dray wagon (carrying Bri’s beer order for the day!)
Winner’s enclose & parade ring before racing began
A winning ticket – hoorah! 🏇🏇🏇
Celebration in Silks Restaurant 🍴🍷🍻
Happy well-earned semi-Retirement Bri! 😀
During our stay we also had an evening out in the market place area of Uttoxeter, where the 13th Century ‘Ye Old Talbot Pub’ still stands, and later enjoyed an authentic Indian meal at the Kohi Noor in town.
War memorial in Market Place, Uttoxeter
The Vault – a quirky little pub that put us both in mind of the sitcom ‘Early Doors’
A warm welcome at the 13th Century Old Talbot Pub
The weather throughout this trip was mostly cold, wet and windy; a reminder that we’ll be needing our winter woollies for our trips over the coming months. We have also ordered Jolly some Milenco Grip Mats which are not only good on wet grass, but are also effective in ice and snow.
Our next adventure at the end of the month will have a very festive feel as we approach the Christmas period, and if Bri’s good he might get to visit Santa’s Grotto … ho! ho! ho! 🎅🏻
ONWARD!>>>>
Suzie & Bri
THE JOLLY MAJESTIC 