When West Coast Shipping met Neil Jaffe, President of Chequered Flag International

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Posted by Dmitriy Shibarshin, Marketing Director of West Coast Shipping.

An interview with Neil Jaffe, President of Chequered Flag International

There’s no better way to get an inside look at the classic car market than speaking with the people who have been involved for decades. In our new interview series, we travel the country speaking with people in the classic car industry and sharing their stories.

For our first story, we travel to sunny Los Angeles to speak with Neil Jaffe, the President of Chequered Flag International. Neil runs one of the best known classic car dealerships in California. He specializes in air-cooled Porsches. His dealership in California not only attracts nationwide buyers, but clientele from all parts of the world.

Below is a lightly edited transcript of our conversation.

Dmitriy Shibarshin: How did you get started in the classic car business?

Neil Jaffe: It started with my dad. He was a university lecturer in England with 6 kids. It was a good job, but not a well paying job. He supplemented his income by going to the auctions, buying cars and selling them from his house. From an early age I went with him and picked up cars. I got the bug by the time I was about 10 or 11. And that was it, I was ruined for a decent life.

Then there was a guy who called himself America’s car man in England. His name was John Lewis and he sold 280SE convertibles in London. We used to make the trip from Bristol to London, and drive back in something different. He always used to say, “My dream is to be in Venice or Malibu with a cordless phone selling cars.” I thought thats a pretty good dream. I never consciously thought about it until I was sitting on the beach in Venice with a cordless phone selling cars. And I went hang on a minute, this is somebody else’s dream I was living.

DS: What brought you over to the US?

NJ: When I was a kid, 7 or 8, we came to Ohio because my dad got a professorship. We stayed for a year. Then it sort of happened, I came here permanently in 1981.

DS: And when did you open the dealership?

NJ: I opened the dealership in 1985. And almost 15,000 cars later, we’re still here.

DS: Did Chequered Flag begin as a classic car dealership?

NJ: What happened is I had some Dutch guys come in to the dealership around 1986 to look at an MGA. They came in and said we will buy the MGA, and we will do you a favor. There’s a move coming to America, it’s going to be a classic car boom like you won’t believe. Next time when we’re back here in about 6 months, your showroom will be filled with classic cars. And I said sure, have a nice day. They came back in 6 months, I didn’t have a modern car in the place.

Young guys would come from overseas with $200,000 in their pocket, buy what they could and go home. They would ship the cars, come back 6 months later and do it all over again. And those Dutch guys that came in were great! They would buy cars for $200 and they would buy cars for $1 million. They were good cars guys, they knew everything. Over the years, they bought hundreds of cars from us. I have done consistently more business with the Dutch than anyone else in the last 30 odd years.

DS: Are you a classic car guy yourself?

NJ: Yea! I think you got to have a passion for the cars or you’re kind of doomed. If you do it by the numbers you are going to have two problems. I don’t think you’ll ever feel fulfilled, and you will have some unhappy customers. When buying a car, people look at a picture and they fill in the blanks themselves, and its generally to the plus side of the condition of the car itself. They are going on an old memory. Its a bit of a dream, it comes with a lot of optimism. What I found very early on is if someone is not coming to see the car, I better describe all the issues early on, because the same guy can buy the same car and pay the same price and either hate it or like it depending on what his expectations were. If you lied to him or haven’t told him about something, the first bad thing he finds will make him very unhappy with the car and you. I try to be honest and not give a big flowery description, I just give an honest description. They will either buy it or not, if they don’t want it someone else will. I try to be price correct, and I move enough cars to know the market.

DS: What draws you to classic cars?

NJ: I like the classic car people. They are a bit like dog owners, softer around the edges than regular people. A guy that buys a new Ferrari or Lamborghini you don’t want for a friend. As one of my partners always says, that says a lot about a person, and all if it bad. I like classic car people, and I also like to think of myself as an advocate for men’s rights. Its the middle age guy that’s really taking a beating from everyone. If you could afford a classic car, and you like one, you should be able to buy it without feeling bad. It’s not a big indulgence and you could argue its an intelligent choice, at least they have the potential to appreciate in value. I will never tell anyone to buy a car because it will be worth 300% more in 5 years. Nobody knows for sure, nobody knows what the world is going to look like in 5 years.

The downside is it is a harmless thing to do and its a really great thing to do. Its not as selfish as buying a new car or an expensive watch, or anything else that sends out the wrong signals. That’s filling an inside hole with outside stuff, it never really works. I think the people that buy classic cars are not buying it to scratch an itch they have, its to further enrich an already pretty good life. Its a quality purchase, its an unnecessary purchase maybe but its not a cry for help.

I really think its a good thing to do. You go to a dealer auction and its a cut throat business. Everything is about the last $200 or $300. These guys know everything about any slight misrepresentation where they can get an extra dollar. I would rather give value and explain that it has original paint with original miles. You can try and buy something with 3 times the miles and make it this good, but it will still have 3 times the miles.

But I also do see that if you’re an entry level buyer and you want to buy something good you can get away with a high mileage car like this Porsche we have here. A couple brought it brand new and now it has 172,000 miles. It has never been hit, and has never been abused. Its a great car for an entry level guy to buy. Sure it has the high mileage and the value ceiling will always be less than the other cars, but the cost of entry is plausible for a younger enthusiast. I like to have a range, you can’t just stick yourself on the ceiling and say if you can’t afford my cars then bad luck. Its good to have range.

DS: That’s very true. We also ship million dollar cars and hundred dollar cars. Its good to be flexible. If you want to be successful you have to deal with everyone.

NJ: The bottom line really is when you get a bit older a lot of the BS drops off and you try to enjoy your life. You gotta have fun. So why be a stuffed shirt, and be hung up on how the world sees you. Its almost an irrelevance.
DS: Totally agree. If you like something, do it. Sooner or later you will be successful.

NJ: I get up at 4, and I’m here by 5:30. I’m always around, I’m always available. I would never say I work hard, I would say I have the easiest job in the world. Someone else might say I work really hard. I think that if you’re obsessed with something, that’s not work. I don’t want to call it a passion because that’s such an overused word. But yea, it absolutely is.

DS: How do you think the classic car market changed since you started?

NJ: The one thing that is constant is change. Theres always this flux, but it isn’t as if all classic cars did this. When I started a 1948/49 Town and Country was the holy grail, it was about $100k. Today you will struggle to get $65k for it. Where as a $130k Ferrari 30 years ago is worth $1 to $3 million now. The rising tide did raise all boats to some extent. But the market is squirrely. My partner bought a Jaguar D-Type in 1989 for a little over a million dollars. By 1991 they couldn’t get $300k for the car. Now its a $5-$6 million car.

There was also a big drop that I watched after the Enzo Ferrari run-up in anticipation of his death. We had these anniversary Countachs we bought in 1989. They were $220k sticker price, and we were getting $400,000 for them. Then it went to nothing. I survived that, and a lot of others didn’t. Then around 2008 it got a little sticky again. When I sold a Ferrari 330GTC in 2008, I was happy to get $180k-$190k for it. They then went up to around $850k, and then back down to $500k to $60k or so. Its not a straight trajectory, its not a slam dunk.

My favorite thing to buy when I came here were Aston Martin DB5s. There were loads of right hand drive ones stuck up people’s driveways that weren’t running. They had bought them in England when the American money was really strong in the 1970s. Then they just got bored with them. I was buying them for $30,000 to $40,000. I sold them all to a guy in England. I didn’t know the value disparity. At one point, they shot up to a $1 million for a RHD, and close to a $1.5 million for a LHD. I didn’t buy any to keep for myself!

DS: Are there any cars you see appreciating quickly in the near-future?

NJ: The smart guys made a killing with the Aston-Martins, and with cars such as the rare Porsche 993 GT2s that were built for collections. They were never cheap, but they bought the cars that became 20 times what they paid for. There’s been a steady appreciation a lot like real estate. It looks like its going up overall but it actually is up and down. There’s a lot of cars I wouldn’t want to buy right now. I just sold a Ferrari 599 Aperta for $1.3 million. I don’t think I want to buy that car because if the car market takes a dump that could be a $700,000 car. I don’t believe in LaFerraris being worth $4 million either.

I think you buy what you love and buy what makes you happy. If you buy thinking it will go up maybe you have a 50/50 chance. I now think the cars have had their run and their values are fairly established now. They are going to move based on how the economy does.

But some of the really special models from Ferrari and Jaguar, stuff that you could see in a museum, are only going to get stronger.

DS: Are you seeing the younger generation express more interest in classic cars?

NJ: Yes, and its weird seeing the people born in the 1980s with money wanting to buy a late-model classic. I had a 2004 NSX with 4k miles that I sold to a friend of mine for $104k. He took it to an auction and got $140k for it. The buyers knew the car well, and they wanted it because they were born in the 1980s. To me its a great car, but its not $140k car. No one will ever put miles on that car, Its like the low mile Porsche 928 we have here, it will be in a collection forever.

I always saw myself as catering to the driver collector, the guy who just loves his car.

DS: Are there any cars you wish you would have kept?

NJ: The Aston-Martin DB5, I have loved them from when I was a kid. Its what you saw pre-puberty that imprinted itself on you. And for me it was the E-Types, DB5s, those kind of cars. I never really had a passion for American cars. And the appreciation for Ferrari came to me a bit late because I never saw many as a kid. I think the DB5 is the one car I would have to myself, that’s out of my league financially. Although the convertibles are a lot more valuable, I think the coupe is the one to have. Plus I can fit in them, I cannot really fit in an E-Type anymore.

DS: Which classic cars would you recommend to a first time buyer willing to dip his feet in this hobby?

NJ: The more you know about cars, the narrower the selection is because you base it on more things than on initial visual impression. You want it to keep up with the other cars on the road. You want parts availability. You don’t want to look like you’re trying too hard. You want it to be a classic looking car which inspires the right kind of appreciation. Its no accident that 75% of the cars in my inventory are Porsches, they do everything you need. They’re drivers, and a tall guy can fit in them. They’re comfortable, they’ve got functional air and windows. To me a Porsche is the consummate affordable collectible.
You can buy a Porsche for $30k that you can feel special in and you can enjoy and work on. You can also buy a Porsche for $3 million, and everything in between. And thats what gives people the Porsche bug. You buy a 924, and then you want a 944, then a 968, then a 911. It never ends. Its why people have a hundred cars in a Porsche collection and they are still going. Porsches are truly in a class of their own. A Ferrari collector will say that a Porsche is just an every man’s collector car, and not a serious collector car. Ferrari’s are silly. They are too delicate, they’re too expensive. They’re like the Italian temperament, they are unpredictable. And Porsche are like the German temperament, they are very predictable.

DS: And Porsches are a driver’s car that are meant to be driven.

NJ: Yea, and you can drive them hard. Its a shame that it sometimes becomes about the low mileage examples that are only meant for the Concours field. I have never been a really big fan of that level of car collecting.

DS: Are there any classic cars you believe are overlooked?

NJ: The English cars, even the Healey nobody really cares about. I’ve got a steel bumper, steel dash, MGB over here. Its the 1967 model, the last great year. I can’t get over $20k for it. And to me if you could only afford one classic car, that would be a great car to buy. You don’t want a bad one. With a lot of these the problem is the lowest common denominator of them gives them their relative worthlessness. They are either so cheap that they belong to people who can’t afford to maintain them, or there is no point in maintaining them to a high level because the value isn’t there. So they sort of fall bellow the maintenance level required to own a nice classic. But if they were worth 5 times as much they would not be a problem car because they would have the money spent on them. I think they are a little overlooked.

Also the Japanese cars like the Datsun 240z, 260z, and the 280z. They may not be as overlooked as before, but they are still relatively affordable. Then of course there is the early M3, M5, and MGs. All of these are coming up, everyone is getting hip to them.

For the longest time Porsches weren’t valuable, nobody wanted the 964. Now the switch has flipped, the 964 is now even stronger than the Carreras and the 993s because they are so rare. Because they were a shitty car nobody bought them, and they had low production numbers. What made them shitty is only a simple issue where the engine leaks oil through the through bolts in the crankcase. Its only a $5k fix, and most have been fixed by now anyway. They are a brilliant car, and people are really starting to love them.

DS: Do you think any modern cars will become classics in the future?

NJ: I think there’s too much ubiquitousness. And there’s too much technology. And with that technology, an implied disposability. Because the new plug and play is going to be very different 3 years from now. There’s not going to be any value to the old one. Its like an old nav screen. Theres a real attraction to analogue, its a demarcation zone. And you can get a one sided or the other, but thats really the big difference that made these cars so collectible is their basicness. And that I think is especially what the Germans, the Porsches, its the end of the form follows function era. The end of the evolution of the species era. Its a demarcation. I think now we are just into depreciating assets with modern stuff. I mean yes the Porsche does bring out these special cars like the 911R. All of a sudden it is $300k over MSRP. Thats a flash in the pan thing. They die out quickly. Its just “the I have to have the latest and greatest thing” and I have enough money so I can pay for it.

If you are in the market for a classic car from the US, we highly recommend checking out Chequered Flag.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_text_separator title=”West Coast Shipping – Reliable Shipping Worldwide”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]West Coast Shipping are a family owned international car shipping company based in California and New Jersey providing international car shipping services from the United States to any overseas destination.

They specialise in collecting, loading and shipping classic and exotic cars to Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, Norway, Sweden, Australia and New Zealand. They ship cars in containers to over 100 destinations overseas. They also ship cars via air freight to any international airport around the world.

Get an instant quote today with their instant international shipping calculator.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

A nice visit from NTG

We had a nice lovely, unexpected visit today from Mike at NTG Motor Services, one of the UK’s leading MG parts suppliers. He brought with him his lovely 1975 MG BGT V8 for us to see…number plate’s not bad either!!

The Kings Lynn and District Motor Club

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Images supplied to us from Tony of Wyatt Polishing, Thetford.

Here’s Tony and the Rover enjoying another nice day out with The Kings Lynn & District Motor Club.

“Well that was a grand day out, thanks to the guys from The Kings Lynn & District Motor Club for doing a fantastic job. As always with the English weather it only started raining as we got ready for our picnic, strangely only stopping as we finish eating.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”13999,14000,14001,14002,14003,14004,14005,14006,14007,14008,14009,14010,14011,14012,14013,14014,14015,14016,14017,14018,14019,14020″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

WIN 4 tickets to the new Empire Cinema, Buttermarket, Ipswich

WIN this August with

The summer holidays are here!

To celebrate the recent opening of the brand new Empire Cinema, in the Buttermarket, Ipswich, Bridge MOT are giving you the chance to win 4 tickets for you and your friends to see a film of your choice.

Simply book an MOT in for August at Bridge MOT to enter our free prize draw.

To book your August MOT call Peter or Andy on 01473 743033, email info@bridgemot.co.uk or book online and you could be enjoying a film night with the family on us.

Terms and Conditions Apply

• ‘Standard’ 2D Admission Tickets redeemable at Empire Cinemas Ipswich.
• Not valid for ‘Empire Extra (Alternative Content) presentations.
• Vouchers cannot be used to book online nor entitle the bearer priority over other guests.
• The voucher(s) must be surrender at the time of exchanging for tickets.
• No alternative available. No Cash value.
• Admission is subject to seat availability & normal BBFC rules apply. ID may be requested.
• Additional charges apply (payable in cinema at time of exchange) for 3D, IMPACT, D-Box  & Premium Seating (Sofas & Recliners).

Sterling Days – Classic Car Hire

Gordon can’t resist a chat when he sees a classic. Returning to his ‘other’ home, the Mansion House Hotel in Elgin Morayshire he saw this lovely ‘S’ Type.

JP and Nicki were enjoying a quiet read by the river when he hunted them down.

Driven all the way from Les Ormes in France to visit their daughter in Lossiemouth this lovely Jaguar never missed a beat whilst it returned 20 to the gallon.

Have a good holiday JP and Nicki and have a safe trip back to your classic car hire company with the rest of the stable of superb classics that can be seen on www.sterlingdays.co.uk.

Running issues on our 1977 MGBGT

We last saw our 1977 MGBGT a little over a year ago and since leaving our workshops she’s unfortunately not had a lot of use.

With the latest MOT now due, a couple of small issues needed to be addressed. She wasn’t running quite right so after fitting a brand new battery, spark plugs and servicing the carburettors, the timing was checked and the car was ready to go.

Heveningham Hall Aviation and Motorsport Concours d’Elegance

The Heveningham Hall Concours d’Elegance, inaugurated in 2016 as a motorsport event, brings together some 50 of the world’s finest motor cars which are displayed amid the backdrop of Grade I listed Georgian mansion Heveningham Hall on dramatic grass terraces designed by renowned landscape architect Kim Wilkie.

Now in its second year, the Concours d’Elegance has evolved to include some of the world’s finest propeller airplanes which will also be on display during the event in July, which sees all proceeds raised going to charity.

The Concours d’Elegance takes place at the same time as the annual Country Fair which itself attracts over 20,000 visitors who enjoy everything from aerobatic displays to powerboat racing, bungee jumps to stunt horses in the 5,000 acre Capability Brown landscape.

As part of celebrations, to mark the 20th anniversary of its hugely popular Country Fair and the tercentenary of the birth of Capability Brown who designed the 5,000 acre estate’s parkland, Heveningham Hall, Suffolk hosted Concours d’Elegance featuring around 50 spectacular cars this weekend.

Appearing on the day were:

1904 Wolseley 1500 Tourer
1925 Vauxhall 30-98 Velox
1927 Bentley 4.5L Tourer
1928 Frazer Nash Owlet
1931 Talbot 105 Tourer
1932 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Supercharged 5th Series Grand Sport
1933 Rolls Royce Phantom II Drophead Coupe
1935 Lagonda M45 Saloon (pictured)
1935 Bentley 3.5 Derby Drophead
1936 Maserati 6CM
1936 Aston Martin Sports Tourer ‘Red Dragon’
1937 Bentley Peterson 4.5L Blower Le Mans Replica
1951 Jaguar MKV Drophead Coupe
1953 Jaguar C-Type
1953 Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica
1955 Jaguar D-Type
1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Aluminium Gullwing
1956 Bentley S1 Continental Park Ward
1957 Jaguar XKSS
1958 Mercedes-Benz 190 SL Roadster
1959 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud
1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder
1962 Ferrari 250 GTO
1962 Ferrari 250 SWB
1963 Shelby Cobra AC 260
1963 Ferrari 250 Lusso
1964 Porsche 904 GTS
1964 Ferrari 275 GTS
1965 Aston Martin DB5
1965 Ferrari 275 GTB
1971 Aston Martin DBSV8 Grand Tourer
1972 Ferrari Daytona Spyder
1973 Porsche 911 2.8 RSR
1984 Lamborghini Countach 5000 S
1985 Ferrari 288 GTO
1987 Ferrari F40 GT
1988 Ferrari 288 GTO Evoluzione
1990 Ferrari F40 Le Mans
1991 Ferrari F40
1994 Bugatti EB110 SS
1995 McLaren F1 GTR
1999 Ferrari F50
2003 Ferrari Enzo
2013 Bugatti Veyron Grand Vitesse Sports Tourer
2014 Ferrari La Ferrari

Photos supplied to us from Jackie (and Harry) from Rural Recruitment East Anglia, enjoying the sunshine and a glass of Champagne on the terrace.

There was even a very special visit on the day from world renowned super car dealer Tom Hartley Jnr and his family.

Suffolk Churches – a series of journeys in a Mk 1 Cortina by Bernard Butler – Chapter 13

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]During our recent post on our visit to Morston Hall we mentioned meeting Bernard and his wife who had, at home, a Mk1 Ford Cortina.

Bernard told me as a part of his retirement that he travels around Suffolk and visits our churches and photographs his car with the church and writes about the experience.

We are very pleased to be able to share with you their fascinating story. All of the experiences you read of below are from Bernard Butler. Bridge Classic Cars do not claim ownership in any way.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_text_separator title=”Suffolk Churches – a series of journeys in a Mk 1 Cortina – by Bernard Butler”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]It wasn’t until much later in the year that the next journey took place.

Having passed its M.O.T. after a scare with a “lazy” windscreen washer pump, the Cortina did not get another outing until the summer was apparently gone.

On October 8^th, 2008, a second consecutive lovely autumn day of clear sunshine was forecast, and so the opportunity was taken to travel far to the west region of Suffolk on a journey which turned out to be rather disappointing.

Not that the weather did not live up to the forecast – it did, but in this part of Suffolk it seems that they lock their churches more than elsewhere, (see comment in Chapter 12), and out of seven buildings visited, only two were open. Sometimes access to a key was advertised, but I do not take up these invitations of finding “Rose Cottage” on the flimsiest of directions, as I simply do not have the time. I have seen directions for the key that say something like “just past Fred’s cottage up the lane”!

However, the journey itself was interesting, with the west of Suffolk just as attractive as other parts, and there were some magnificent buildings to see – if only from the outside!

I decided to make my way to the far extremity of this journey by the fast roads (mainly because I had to go into Diss to fill up with petrol on the way out), and then ramble my way back via the by-ways. Thus we travelled along the A1066 as far as Gasthorpe before turning south.

There were two nearby churches listed on the map, both in old English script. This should have alerted me to the fact that neither was a church any more. I had only intended to visit the one with a tower, but it had been converted into a residence.

On studying Munro Cautley I discovered that it was derelict by 1933, and you might wonder why I don’t read up before setting out! However, I prefer to come upon the churches as “surprises”, and only start to read the entry when I am walking up to the south porch. This is mainly because he often says a Church has nothing of interest, and this would put me off discovering it.

Moving on, I came into the village of Barningham.

This looked interesting and had a very good write-up in Cautley, but alas it was locked. A board outside informed me that it is now shared with the Methodists. A key-holder was named, but I decided to press on as I had seven churches on my list this morning.

A short drive took me to Market Weston church – way out on its own in lovely fields.

Sadly, locked again!

I was beginning to despair of ever seeing the inside of a church this morning, but was rewarded at last at my next stop – Hopton.

I managed to stop on the corner long enough to take the picture but not long enough for any traffic to come along to find me obstructing the junction!

The picture shows the upper clerestory rather well, and I looked forward to an interesting visit. The clerestory is Tudor in origin and made of brick rather than stone.

The roof viewed from inside is not to be missed – it is very beautiful.

Encouraged by this success, I travelled on to Thelnetham and initially could not find the church. I found a building with what looked like a standard east end in flint and stonework, but the abundance of chimneys dotted around the roof made me realise that if it had once been a church it wasn’t any more!

I still do not know what it was, as the real church is but a short distance away and of a greater age, so perhaps it was a glorified rectory?

Have a look on the next page and see what you think!

Realising my error, I studied the Ordnance Survey map more closely, and quickly found the track leading to the real church – again rather away from the houses, except for a few grand ones.  This looked very attractive from the outside, and I parked up full of expectation. HOWEVER – locked again!

This was a shame because it looked interesting, but some of the south windows were of clear glass and I was able to look through to the nave, at least.

As I retreated down the drive, the impossible happened – I met a car coming the other way! I had to reverse all the way back to the car parking area, and if I had had sufficient presence of mind I would have asked the lady driver if she had a key. However, on reflection she might only have been visiting a grave. Anyway, I did not  bother her – a mistake probably.

Five down with two to go, and it was getting quite warm – about 66 degrees!

As I climbed away from Thelnetham there was a fine view of the church back over the fields.

I continued south through the hamlet of Thorpe Street towards my next stop – Hinderclay.

Here I was spotted arriving, and a lady came over to admire the car. She was about to remove her flowers from the church after Harvest Festival, and we chatted about cars and the lack of unlocked churches in the area. This one was open, but the visit was spoiled somewhat by the loud and continuous noise of an agricultural grain-drying machine in the property next to the church, which she claimed goes on all day and all night in the season!

I could get no closer than the small parking area, and the trees hid much of the view of the church, but you can just make out a small part of the building in the picture on the next page.

Munro Cautley found an artefact in this church that he liked so much he included a picture of it in his book. However, the Bell ringers beer pitcher, dated 1724, is no longer here – it has been moved to the Moyes museum in Bury St. Edmunds, so I may see it on a community bus run one day.

The modern art stained glass windows were a nice feature – obviously not there when Cautley visited, so in a way that was tit for that!

Finally I set out to find the church at Redgrave. From the map I could see that the settlement of Redgrave was now some distance from the church in glorious isolation, and so it was.

The lady at Hinderclay had warned me that it would be shut, and it turned out to be one of the churches now maintained by the Heritage Trust. This meant that it was used as a church on only a handful of occasions in the year. This is a great shame as it is a magnificent building, but once again, being so far from any population, it has lost its congregation.

Here are to be found the monuments to John Holt 1642, the Bacons 1616, and Anne Butts 1609, so I was disappointed not to gain access.

With the weather still glorious, I slipped south-east towards the A143 at Wortham, and home. Altogether nearly four hours had passed.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]North-west through Eye to Diss, and then west on the A1066 to beyond Garboldisham, turning south towards Gasthorpe and hence over the border from Norfolk back into Suffolk towards Knettishall.

Continue south to Barningham, and then north-east on the B1111, diverting off to visit Market Weston, and then back on the B1111 again to Hopton.

A country road leads eastward to Thelnetham, and a right-turn after the church leads to Hinderclay.

More country roads working north-east via Crackthorn Corner come onto the B113, where a right turn brings us to Redgrave. Bear left in the village going due east to find the disused church.

Finally continue past the church and take the first right – a lovely journey that eventually comes out onto the A143, Diss, and home.

66 Suffolk churches now visited.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

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