Imagine spending a summer evening surrounded by old Austin Allegros, Morris Marinas, Ford Sierras and Vauxhall Cavaliers.
Perhaps somebody’s brought a Talbot Solara.
There’s probably a beige Montego somewhere.
And if you’re particularly fortunate, you might encounter an exceptionally well-preserved Nissan Bluebird.
Now imagine waking up the following morning to find they’re all still there.
Hagerty has announced that its Festival of the Unexceptional will return to Grimsthorpe Castle on Saturday 17 July 2027, and there’s a rather appealing new addition.
For the first time, visitors will be able to camp overnight in the castle grounds.
Which means Britain’s celebration of ordinary motoring has just become a little less ordinary.
If you’ve never encountered the Festival of the Unexceptional, the idea is wonderfully simple.
Instead of celebrating exotic supercars, valuable sports cars and competition machinery, Hagerty puts the spotlight on the everyday vehicles that once filled Britain’s roads.
The family saloons.
The basic hatchbacks.
The cars bought by people who simply wanted something reliable to get them to work and back.
Many of these vehicles received little attention when they were new.
They were used, repaired, traded in and eventually scrapped.
And because nobody thought they were especially interesting, relatively few were deliberately preserved.
That’s what makes the surviving examples so fascinating today.
A beautifully preserved base-model family car can attract more attention at this event than something worth twenty times as much.
Especially when the owner has kept all the original paperwork, dealer stickers, wheel trims and other little details that transport us back to another era.
The big announcement for 2027 is the introduction of overnight camping.
Visitors can arrive at Grimsthorpe Castle from 3pm on Friday 16 July and stay until 7pm on Saturday 17 July.
Camping pitches cost £75 and accommodate up to two adults and two children.
Motorhomes, caravans and tents are all welcome.
Hagerty is also planning an evening of entertainment, with live music, a licensed bar and food outlets.
And campers will have the opportunity to position their vehicles early for the following day’s show.
We can see the appeal.
Turn up on Friday afternoon, get settled, spend the evening chatting to other enthusiasts and wake up ready for a day of wonderfully ordinary motoring.
And imagine the possibilities if you’ve got a period campervan or an old estate car with all the appropriate accessories.
A Bedford CF camper.
A Volkswagen T3.
An old Talbot Express.
Or perhaps a beautifully preserved caravan towed behind something equally unexceptional.
We’re not suggesting everybody needs to arrive in period transport, of course.
But it would certainly add to the atmosphere.
There’s another important change for 2027.
The eligibility period for Hagerty’s famous Concours de l’Ordinaire has been extended to include vehicles registered between 1972 and 2002.
That means cars carrying the newer-style 02 and 52 registration plates are now old enough to qualify.
Which is rather sobering when you think about it.
Cars that many of us still regard as relatively modern are now eligible for an event celebrating motoring nostalgia.
But that’s exactly how motoring history works.
The cars we barely notice today eventually become the interesting survivors of tomorrow.
And some early-2000s models have already become surprisingly uncommon.
The Festival of the Unexceptional has a rather different approach to judging cars.
This isn’t necessarily a competition where the most expensive restoration or most desirable performance model wins.
Hagerty’s judges particularly appreciate ordinary specifications, originality and the stories behind surviving vehicles.
An unmodified base-model car can be more appropriate than a highly prized sporting version.
Think Ford Escort Popular rather than RS Turbo.
A Vauxhall Cavalier L rather than a GSi.
Or perhaps a completely standard Rover 200 with its original cloth seats, steel wheels and factory radio.
The sort of car that would once have been parked outside thousands of British houses without anybody giving it a second glance.
Today, finding one in genuinely original condition can be quite a challenge.
Owners hoping to enter the 2027 Concours de l’Ordinaire need to apply in advance, with Hagerty selecting the vehicles for the competition.
Simply arriving in something wonderfully dull doesn’t guarantee a place in the concours, although the wider event welcomes enthusiasts and their cars.
One of the things we particularly enjoy about events like this is how they change the way people look at motoring history.
It’s easy to understand why somebody would preserve an E-type Jaguar or an Aston Martin.
But what about a 1984 Austin Maestro 1.3 L?
Or a diesel Peugeot 405 estate?
A basic Nissan Sunny?
A Rover 800 that somehow escaped the scrapyard?
These cars were part of everyday British life.
They took families on holiday, carried shopping, commuted through rush-hour traffic and spent years parked outside houses.
They may not have been glamorous, but they were important to the people who owned them.
And many have fascinating histories of their own.
At UK Barn Finds, we’ve always had a particular affection for these overlooked survivors.
Sometimes a long-forgotten family car can be every bit as interesting as a valuable collector’s vehicle.
Especially when it’s been sitting untouched for decades.
The Festival of the Unexceptional takes place at Grimsthorpe Castle in Lincolnshire.
It’s quite a setting for cars that were once considered the height of ordinary.
The castle grounds provide an impressive backdrop for rows of forgotten family favourites, with enthusiasts travelling from across Britain and beyond.
The 2026 event sold out, and Hagerty says early-bird tickets for 2027 have already been snapped up.
Alongside the concours and vehicle displays, visitors can expect entertainment, food, family activities and the usual opportunity to spend hours talking to people about cars that most of the world has forgotten.
And sometimes those conversations are the best part.
An owner might have a remarkable story about how an ordinary-looking car survived.
Perhaps it’s been in the same family since new.
Perhaps it spent thirty years in a garage.
Or maybe somebody rescued it from almost certain destruction simply because they remembered their parents having one.
Those stories are worth preserving.
The 2027 Hagerty Festival of the Unexceptional takes place on Saturday 17 July at Grimsthorpe Castle, Lincolnshire.
General admission tickets are priced at £27 for non-members and £20.25 for Hagerty Drivers Club members.
Children under 15 can attend free of charge.
Friday-night camping costs £75 per pitch, accommodating up to two adults and two children.
The campsite opens at 3pm on Friday 16 July and closes at 7pm on Saturday 17 July.
Hagerty has also announced a dedicated members’ hospitality area, with limited access available to non-members for an additional charge.
Full details, ticket booking and information about entering the Concours de l’Ordinaire can be found on the official Festival of the Unexceptional website.
With the previous event selling out, booking in advance would be sensible.
We think the addition of camping is a great idea.
After all, the Festival of the Unexceptional is as much about the people and memories as it is about the cars.
And spending an evening surrounded by enthusiasts who can get genuinely excited about an original hubcap, a faded dealer sticker or an unopened factory handbook sounds rather enjoyable.
But it does leave us wondering.
If you could take one completely ordinary car from the 1970s, 1980s or 1990s to the Festival of the Unexceptional, what would you choose?
And perhaps more importantly, would you be brave enough to drive it there, camp overnight and drive it home again?
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