Family fun at Flywheel Festival

Family fun at Flywheel Festival

Two years ago whilst I was in the midst of the Britmums blogging conference, Monkey and his Dad went to a new local event.  They loved it and Monkey raved about it for months afterwards, telling me I had to go the next year.  So I did, and yes, they were right it was fab.  The highlight of our visit was when my son got to meet Sir Stirling Moss for the first time.  He’s now the third generation of my family who can claim that experience.  As soon the dates for 2017 were released I popped them in my diary so we could enjoy another day of family fun at Flywheel Festival this year.

Family fun at Flywheel Festival

The annual event is held on the site of the old RAF Bicester on the outskirts of the town, in North Oxfordshire. We live close enough that we can walk to the event but there is plenty of on site parking also available.

Family fun at Flywheel Festival

Family fun at Flywheel Festival involves being able to see a range of classic vintage cars and motorbikes, both on static display and being driven round the demonstration track.

From Lotus, Allard, Bentley, Model T Racers right through to the Toledo Steam Car, there’s always lots to see when having family fun at Flywheel Festival. It’s a great place to get up close to some really beautiful classic cars.

Then being able to see them driven around the demonstration track is rather wonderful as again, you can get so close to the action as they take turns to drive around.  These are just a handful of some of my favourite vehicles on show.

Not only that, but you can also see a range of old aeroplanes both on the ground and taking part in aerial displays.

On show at the Flywheel Festival this year were the Great War Display Team, Tiger 9 Aeronautical Display Team, Sioux/Scout helicopter pair and the Spitfire IX MH434/Hispano Buchon pair.

My son is pretty obsessed with Spitfires at the moment, having been to RAF Cosford recently, so he couldn’t wait to see one flying overhead again this year in a dog fight.

The Pitts Special aerobatics display was wonderful, with loops and spins and plenty to keep us entertained.

There really is something for everyone, including a range of army displays and you can even ride in a tank.

One day I’ll hopefully be able to persuade my son to try this out! There are stalls a plenty, a music marquee, fairground rides and lots of vendors selling food and drinks.

We always go on the Sunday, as it’s the day Daddy P isn’t working, of course this year the glorious sunshine decided to play hide and seek with us.  Whilst the forecasted rain stayed away it was often rather windy, which did cause issues for the aerial displays and there were a number of changes to the schedule. But there seemed to be pretty much constant track action to make up for this, so we were still kept entertained.

We arrived at 10am as the doors opened and left at gone 5pm as the planes were flying off.  I always think that that is a sign in itself of a good full day out.  We still didn’t get round everything, I’ve yet to get up close to the tank action and I missed out the cream teas again this year.  Next year, I think I might set up camp there, as they look so good.

There had been a Dakota on static display for the weekend and we stayed on at the end of the event to watch it take off.

See you again next year Flywheel Festival.  My son has been reliving the action since we’ve been home to make sure we don’t forget the fun we had.

disclosure:  we were given complimentary tickets for this event and funds for refreshments in exchange for an honest review.  We’d have gone to this event anyway, it’s a firm family favourite.

 

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