Bucks and Herts Region - The JEC South Midlands Festival, Fathers' Day 2026
For more information or to obtain the booking URL, please email (supplying your JEC Membership #)
Event Overview
With many Members sad at the necessary demise of the JEC Annual (National) Festivals such as Blenheim Palace in 2019, and many areas of the country doing their own, there was a feeling that we should do one too !
‘South Midlands’ may be an odd name to some, but it was felt that anything else, e.g. ‘Chilterns’, might be viewed as excluding people. The ‘Core Team’ of organising Regions (Warwickshire Coventry & Hinckley, Oxfordshire, Bucks & Herts, Bedfordshire, London NW & W, Berks & Thames Valley and Surrey) hope attendees will come from far and wide.
We know of planned attendances also coming from Wiltshire, Swindon, Portsmouth, 3 Counties, Bath & Bristol and Essex Thameside.
It will certainly be more than ‘Jaguars in a field’ with Region areas, Model anniversary displays (XKs, XJ40s, X-Types), support from the JDHT, exhibitors, catering and all of the Museum to explore. The field we will be using (Skipping’s Field) is central to the Museum (see map later on).
There may be the opportunity for passenger rides (for a donation to JDHT) and possibly a ‘most loved Jaguar {or Daimler}’ competition.
And all at an absolute bargain of a ticket price (see later).
The Chiltern Open Air Museum (Click here to go to museum website)
Newland Park Drive, Gorelands Lane, Chalfont St Peter, Chalfont Saint Giles HP8 4AB
Some of our Regions have visited this museum before, as have some Members with their families. All praise it as a venue and they’ve certainly been very keen to have us and most accomodating of our needs.
The Museum is celebrating too, being 50 years old this year, having been founded by volunteers from the Chiltern Society in 1976. The Museum is a charity that rescues threatened historic buildings that would otherwise be demolished, rebuilding and preserving them within a traditional Chilterns landscape.
Presently there are some 40 buildings & many more in storage awaiting their chance to shine. With buildings from Harpenden Well Head & Leagrave Cottages from the North, Didcot Cart Shed & Thame Vicarage Room from the West, Finsbury Park Bandstand & Hammersmith Blythe Road Pavilion from the East and Henley Garage & Arborfield Barn from the South, there’s going to be a building there from near you !
The buildings on site range all the way from the Iron Age Roundhouse, through the Tudor, Georgian and Victorian eras to the 1960s Prefab that all too many of us can well remember. It’s also been a familiar film location, starring in Horrible Histories, Grantchester, Call the Midwife, Midsomer Murders, My Lady Jane, Downton Abbey, Taskmaster, and Mary Queen of Scots, to name just a few.
Exhibitors & Displays
We’ve already mentioned the Region displays, the XJ40, XK and X-Type gatherings and the significant contributions of the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust. Naturally, we hope Members’ own vehicles will include many rare and special examples of Jaguars and Daimlers.
Inevitably, with 4 months still to go, we are busy getting confirmations from other exhibitors. We are keeping our fingers crossed for displays by StarterMotor, U17 Car Club, JLR ASrmed Forces Network, Mission Motorsport, Electrogenic, Pendine Cars, Mission Motorsport, A private individual's Austin Swallow, Chiltern Jaguar of Stokenchurch, Moss Jaguar, Callum for a CX-75, E&E Services, Tom Lenthall and more !
He’s neither an Exhibit or an Exhibitor of course, but we are grateful too that our Club Chairman, Peter Leake, will also be joining us.
It’s Fathers’ Day Indeed, But What About the Family ??
We fully appreciate that not all of your entourages are going to be obsessives or petrol-heads. So what is there for them ?
Over and above the food & drink, the museum buildings and the music, the answer is lots ! If those ideas come off, there will be the passenger rides & choosing that ‘most loved’ Jaguar. But then there’s an Adventure playground, Dressing up kits in many of the buildings, Kids’ Brass Rubbing Trail, Sculpture Trail, Woodland Walk, Orienteering Course, Gardens & Orchards, Play with historic toys, Victorian School House experience. Family room with colouring, Baby changing & breast feeding facilities, Farm animals & wildlife. Also, dogs on short leads are welcome but not in the houses please.
Sure, Sounds Great, But How Much For All That ??
Here we have even better news ! Negotiations with the Museum have resulted in a price per person of just £7 ! This per person fee is less than half the Adult Member of the public price so is understandably restricted to JEC Members, their family and others that may make up their party.
There’s not many places that you get a family of 4 into for less than £30 …. Also, £1 of each entrance fee will be going to the JDHT as thanks from us for their support of this event and of the JEC in general.
Booking is undertaken on a Museum website where you will need to provide a Region name or state that you are not presently aligned to any Region. In the latter case, all joining instructions will come from Steve Daniels. Pre-booking is STRONGLY preferred, although the on-the-day payments on arrival online or in cash will be handled.
Please contact your local Region for the URL with which to book or, for more information please email (supplying your JEC Membership #)
