A range of beautiful Aston Martins, more than two hundred miles of fabulous roads, and some of England’s most breath-taking scenery: the key elements of our customer drive event from the new, supercars and coffee-themed Podium Place in Newbury to the stunning Elizabethan Pig-At Combe hotel near the East Devon coast.
Podium Place was the perfect venue to start. Opened in 2020, this exclusive showroom offers a selection of high-performance vehicles together with artisan, single-estate coffee from Miami-based Per’La – Podium Place earned the distinction of being the first establishment outside the U.S. to offer these award-winning beans.
Suitably refreshed, our guests set of in a range of Aston Martin models, including the DBX SUV, Vantage sports car, DB11 Volante open-top grand tourer – all powered by the superb four-litre twin-turbo V8 – and the DBS Volante super sports car with the incomparable 5.2-litre twin-turbo V12.
The drive down the iconic A303 included a pit-stop at the famous Haynes Museum in Sparkford, before continuing through the Blackdown Hills Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty. On arrival guests pulled up outside the sweeping entrance to The Pig at Combe hotel, to be their home for the night, this majestic, honey-coloured Elizabethan building is hidden away inside 3,500 acres of lush Devonshire countryside and is just eight miles from the coast.
The Pig boasts three walled kitchen gardens, each providing fresh produce to the kitchens, complementing the locally-caught fish and locally-reared meats: from the lunch menu, which changes daily, guests could enjoy Saddleback beer ham, seared cuttlefish and garden greens.
A surprise and delight for one guest at the end of dinner in the Georgian Kitchen – the building’s original kitchen, complete with floor-to-ceiling dresser, and now used for private dining – was a birthday cake made in the form of her husband’s DB11 Volante, exquisitely-detailed right down to the iconic Aston Martin winged logo on the bonnet.
After breakfast the next morning, guests could once again enjoy the peerless agility, performance and visceral soundtrack of an Aston Martin for the journey home.
