Ian’s View

The Land Rover Owner show originated back when LRO was a magazine title and was held at the East of England Arena just outside of Peterborough. Fast forward a decade or so and the magazine is no more, and the LRO show is now run by Live Promotions and for the last three years it has been held at Belvoir Castle on the outskirts of Grantham. The LRO show is the largest show in the Land Roverists calendar and attracts visitors from all over Europe. I have been attending the show for around 10 years, both as a camper and on a club stand and it is certainly one of my favourite weekends of the year.

This year was the second year Land Rover Life had a club stand, and this year we had the largest stand we have ever had with 11 vehicles on display. We had a great range of Vehicles showcased this year and in no particular order we had.

• Adam and Chelsea – Range Rover Sport Supercharged – First Edition
• Phil and Sue – Range Rover Classic – Modified
• Dave – Range Rover L405 Autobiography
• Lee – Defender 110 Hard Top
• Chris – Land Rover OneTen Dormobile
• Dan – Series 2a 88” Southern Electricity
• Rich and Ann – Land Rover OneTen Station Wagon
• Emma – Series 3 109” Hardtop Tdi Auto
• Mike – Series 3 109” Station Wagon
• Marianne / Craig & Becky – Defender 110 Double Cab
• Myself – 100” Range Rover / Land Rover Hybrid

Above – Health and Safety were a top priority on our club stand

Having so many vehicles on the stand meant it was a little tight on space and when we arrived the tape measure was out to make sure everything was in the correct place. Our stand this year, was a corner plot which was great as it made it easier to display our vehicles.

The show was the first time I had travelled any distance in my 100” since getting him back on the road, and an occasional bit of death wobble between 55 and 62 mph aside, he behaved very well returning an eye watering 15 mpg! Oh well, you don’t drive a V8 for the economy now do you?

Now the original plan was for myself, Mike and Emma to travel down in convoy however Sharky, Mikes 109” had other ideas. Mike has been rebuilding Sharky for a few years now and come 11pm the night before the show Mike was still busy working on him. So come the morning, work was still needed to get him ready. That really is cutting it fine. Mike and Emma made it in their his and hers 109”’s and a few rattles in 4^th gear aside, Sharky and Mike made it in one piece.

Above – Mikes Sharky was literally being worked on, on the morning of the Show, but made it!

Over the course of the Friday the rest of the group turned up, with Admin Rich and his wife Ann cutting it rather fine, but more on that from Rich himself. The evening was spent chatting and catching up ahead of the main event itself.

The show was as big as it has been for many years, with many clubs on display. For me, the nature of the Land Rover show has changes over the years. Most club stands are generally filled with more modern Land Rovers with Discoveries and Freelanders aplenty. The more traditional Land Rover clubs like the Series 1 club and the Series 2 club both struggled to get vehicles to display these days, but interestingly not the Series I,II,II club which was over subscribed as was the LRLife stand.

Above – JLR were on hand to sell you merchandise from this rather wonderfully set up High Capacity Pick up.

There is plenty to do at the show, as once you have spent an hour or so wondering around the clubs stands there are the many stalls and trade stands to view. Come lunch there are a plethora of food stalls and a couple of bars to keep you hydrated.

Above and below – The Central arena kept the crowds entertained through out the weekend with off road demonstrations.

In the central arena, there is always something going on. As previous years, there is an off-road course set up where the trailers and Ultra 4 challenge trucks can put on a show trying to tackle seemingly impossible climbs. Come the evening we were treated to the Camel Trophy and G4 clubs lighting up the show ground with their spotlights as the drove around the arena. Whilst the new site is a nice venue, it does lack the raised seating of the old arena at Peterborough, meaning that unless you get a position near the barriers, it is quite difficult to see everything that is going on.

Come the Saturday evening, we held a communal BBQ with several members of the Land Rover Life community who couldn’t get on the stand joining us which was most pleasant indeed.

On the Sunday I visited the Classic Land Rover magazine stand, which had a huge array of vehicles on display including several Pink Panthers and WMIK’s. They also had a few of their project vehicles on display too, with various guest speakers doing talks throughout the weekend. Interestingly our Land Rover Life stand had to ex-Classic Land Rover magazine project vehicles too in the shape of the 88” and 100”.

A slight downpour on the Sunday aside, it was a great weekend. But it is also one that makes me a little sad. It is usually the last camping weekend of the year, and as I packed up my camping gear, I knew I would probably not be camping again until May 2026.

Below – Mike and Sharky did make it home. Just not together nor on the same day.

Rich’s View

I had been to the LRO show when it was at Peterborough a number of times and enjoyed it, it was a good mix of shiny new bits and auto-jumble where you might find that part or a bargain. Over the years though the show had got smaller, no dodgems to ride and stalls seemed to be thinning out. This year would mark the first year I was going to the show at its new home at Belvoir Castle near Grantham, so I was keen to see the changes. 

The location is slightly better for us coming from Leeds, it being closer than Peterborough – even so we just missed the cut off for getting the vehicle into the show (8:00pm) on the Friday night. We had to carry the tent, sleeping bags and beer!! to the LR Life stand so we could pitch and start catching up with friends.

Saturday dawned bright and clear, and we were keen to get our 110 and finish setting up the stand then explore the show. We knew some friends were on other club stands or were there as companies selling optional bits or even crucial components! 

Below – Rich’s One Ten “Bob” on the club stand

This is not the huge show it was at Peterborough, the atmosphere is more relaxed and more like the local shows in the past. People seemed to have more time to chat. There was a good mix of stands selling new stuff from interesting overland equipment to replacement chassis to a good long auto-jumble ‘street’. We bought things from both areas and were pleased at the range on offer and prices. There were some good club stands with a wide variety of vehicles from early series to the most modern of Defenders and Range Rovers. I had to laugh though; someone had placed the Manchester Club between two clubs from Liverpool – all were friendly and welcoming.

We had no noise issues where we were, although I did hear of some issues in general camping. Security was quick to get involved and resolve in short order. There are a couple of things I would change if I could. It was hard to see activities in the ring as, unlike Peterborough, there is no raised seating or stands. Also, there were no standpipes, that we found, close to where we were meaning we had to traipse over to the entrance for water where there were a limited number of showers. The portable toilets were regularly cleaned which was appreciated! Leaving was slow, with only one route in/out queues had formed and we spent a long time getting out to the road and away.

Would we go again? Yes – it seems to be a well-managed show with a good range of stalls that has something for, very nearly, everyone.