HCI Spring Gala & Annual General Meeting
Wednesday 14th to Sunday 18th May 2025 ( 4 nights)
Woodland Waters Holiday Park, Willoughby Road, Ancaster, Grantham. NG32 3RT.
Welcome to a New Venue and a more informal format for the HCI AGM.
This year we are heading to Ancaster in Lincolnshire. The settlement of Ancaster sits astride the old Roman Road of Ermine Street midway between the market towns of Grantham and Sleaford. There is a bus service to both, plus a railway station within walking distance of the site giving access to Nottingham. The area abounds with a number of incredibly picturesque historic houses you can visit, including Belton House and Belvoir Castle. The city of Lincoln with its Cathedral and the moving International Bomber Command Centre is only 20 miles away.
Some of the highlights for this year’s rally programme will be:
Wednesday. Arrival, informal get together.
Thursday. Free time.
Friday. AGM meeting 2pm when you can have your say on the running of the club.
Saturday. Free time during the day followed by an evening Hog Roast.
(Vegetarian and Gluten free options available)
Woodland Waters Holiday Park is set in beautiful peaceful wooded valley covering 77 acres with many marked walks. Available on site is Woody’s bar which has an excellent range of Ale’s and menu of Homemade locally sourced food. There are 5 fishing lakes on site and daily fishing tickets can be purchased. Full services of showers, toilets and electric hook-up are included in the price.
Rally Fees will be £150 per unit of 2, Single person £115, Extra person £30.
This includes Pitch Electric Hook-up and a Hog Roast on the Saturday evening.
For booking information please see the latest newsletter
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HCI Rally to Suffolk Brecks
2nd – 6th June 2025 (5nts)
The Suffolk Becks Bash will take place at Little Lodge Farm, Santon Downham, from Monday 2nd June to 6th June 2025 (5 nights) departing on Saturday 7th June
This is a new rally venue for HCI although personally we ( Sally & Pep ) have stayed on this site many times. We will have our own field/paddock surrounded by horses that are brought to the farm for a holiday in the Thetford Forest. There is a river at the bottom of the adjacent paddock which is very good for swimming, paddle boarding and canoeing. There is an on-site outdoor mobile bar providing bottled beer, draught lager, wine etc. They also provide breakfast rolls, burgers etc. Usually, a very quiet site but there could be some air traffic from the nearby USAF airbase at Lakenheath.
The nearest shops and pub are located at Brandon approximately 2 miles from site so, with that in mind, we would recommend that you bring enough supplies for the 5 days. This is lovely walking and cycling countryside with near by High Lodge Forest Activity Centre for those that want to venture out on forest trails. We will probably cycle out with a willing group somewhere !!. There will also be a group walk and a couple of other ideas in the pipeline.
Please note that there is are no electric hook-ups, toilet or showers but the usual water, toilet emptying facilities and bins are close by.
The rally fee will be £120 for 2 people for 5 nights (£110 for singles).
For booking information please see the latest newsletter
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HCI Rally to Weymouth
9th to 19th June (10 nights)
Peter & Viv with Charles & Carolyn invite you to join them at this site with a cycle/walking path at the gate either into Weymouth or to Dorchester. Also outside the gate is an open-air café if you don’t feel like cooking breakfast or meals in your van! Within a very short walk you can catch buses into Weymouth or Dorchester and its Wednesday market with 200 plus traders.
For provisions, Sainsburys, Aldi and Morrisons are a short walk from site. Weymouth offers an historic old town and harbour, restaurants for every possible cuisine and pubs from Wetherspoons through to a micropub only serving real ale from the barrel.
It boasts a good sandy beach so bring your bucket and spade if that’s your wish. There’s a castle and gardens galore with Bennetts Water Garden offering the National Collection of Water Lilies These will be in full bloom in June, spread over 8 acres of numerous lakes including a Monet bridge! All within an easy cycle ride from our rally site.
From the Kings Statue bus terminus, you can take buses to Portland Bill, Swanage, Poole, Bournemouth or the Jurassic Coaster with stops at picturesque towns and the famous Abbotsbury Gardens and Swannery.
Apart from the usual Meet & Greet on Monday evening, every morning bring your own drink and we’ll supply the biscuits and there will be options of boules, quizzes and games BUT you can please yourselves on this free and easy rally in which activities you wish to join.
Own sanitation is essential as only the basic facilities of elsan/grey waste emptying point and drinking water are available and no EHU.
THERE IS NO LIMIT ON NUMBERS
For booking information please see the latest newsletter
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HCI Rally to Stoke Bruerne
25th June – 1st July (5 nts)
This rally is on banks of the Grand Union Canal close to a flight of 7 locks. Within a 5 minute stroll along the towpath lie two pubs, The Boat Inn and The Navigation and the Spice of Bruerne Indian Restaurant & Takeaway plus the Waterside Cafe and the Stoke Bruerne Canal Museum. The area abounds with marked walks and cycle ways. There is an elsan on site and fresh water tap but rubbish disposal will be the ralliers responsibility. The Rally fee will be £90 per unit of 2 (single £70) This will include a wine and nibbles meet and greet on Thursday evening. However, there are a number of optional extras, including.
Options available at extra cost:
1. A group meal on Saturday night at The Boat Inn with a choice of mains and desserts to suit all dietary needs catered for + tea and coffee for the price of £30 per head. The upstairs restaurant overlooks the top lock. (There is disabled access via a lift). The meal to be paid for with the rally fee at the time of booking.
2. A coach trip on the Friday to Bletchley Park, the home of the Code Breakers. Entrance to Bletchley Park is £20 per head and this is
an annual pass. The cost of the coach will be around £10 per head providing we can fill the coach. This is to be paid for with the rally fee at the time of booking the rally.
The reason for the two payments for require Option 1 and 2 is because we have had to personally pay a non-refundable deposit. Please note that pets cannot be taken to this location Bletchley Park, however, we can arrange dog sitters on-site if required.
3. The Spice of Bruerrne has offered a set meal for £15 per head to be booked by individuals or groups. The restaurant is only open in the evening (we are working to persuade them to open for Sunday Lunch if I can guarantee enough bookings (16))
4. On Sunday morning a canal boat trip from The Boat Inn through the historic Blisworth Tunnel, a marvellous feat of engineering, to Blisworth village and return with an audible guide. This trip leaves at 11am and the cost is £13 a head to be paid on the day, on the boat (we can organise the booking of the seats).
5. On the last night we will have a visit from the famous Howes Fish & Chip van the best in the area, orders will be taken nearer the rally and pre-ordered and paid for on the day.
For booking information please see the latest newsletter
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HCI Rally to Bedfordshire Steam Fayre
11th 12th 13th 14th 15th SEPTEMBER (4 nts)
It’s full steam ahead for this year’s HCI Steam Rally which again is at the home of the famous Shuttleworth Collection & Swiss Gardens. More details at shuttleworth.org and the Steam Fayre website bseps.org.uk .
Includes entrance to the Steam Fayre every day (normally £16 each), entrance to the Shuttleworth Collection which includes Shuttleworth House, The Swiss Gardens and the Aircraft & Vehicle Museum, one of the best in the Country/World. Entrance is normally £15.50 a day (note admission to the Collection and the Swiss Gardens is valid for any day but can only be used once). There is the Runway Cafe & Gift Shop on site. Also this year The Cambridge Flying Club will be giving air experience of lights in their Tiger Moth aircraft. For more info see www.flyvintage.co.uk.
Gillian has offered to do us a meal again on the Thursday evening in the John Crawley restaurant (marquee) at £22 per head for a 2 course meal with tea or
coffee (this is not included in the Rally fee). Menu details to follow and to be paid for on the evening. A full bar will also be available.
The Steam Fayre organisers are expecting a good turnout of exhibitors again this year. Saturday night is the highlight of the weekend with all the engines and
fairground lit up and you can enjoy fairground rides and all the fun of the fair.
There is live music from lunchtime and each evening in the real ale tent. We will be located in our own camping area a short walk to the rally field. There
will be a fresh water point and an elsan dump BUT NO EHU. Dogs are welcome but on leads.
For booking information please see the latest newsletter
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HCI “A Christmas Present” Rally
“A CHRISTMAS PRESENT” Rally with the HCI in deepest Leicestershire
Monday 15th to Friday 19th December 2025 (4 nights)
At Eye Ketleby Lakes Campsite, near Melton Mowbray
Four nights of Christmas celebrations with a Dickensian theme on a full service campsite close to Melton Mowbray, famous for its pork pies.
We have 30 hard stand, EHU pitches reserved on this adult-only site. Facilities include clubhouse/tea room (open for breakfasts and lunches etc), bar, and with fishing available.
Countryside walks from the site.
Dress up in your best Dickensian style for our two-course meal on the Wednesday evening in the clubhouse, prizes for the best costumes. Decorate your vans with Christmas lights etc., prize for the best. Plus other ideas TBN. Because it is a commercial site it will be a pay bar each night
For booking information please see the latest newsletter
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