Sunscreen and parasols were at the ready for Richard Hinton’s annual Lotus Picnic. This year was its third running, and there was no messing with the successful formula: a lakeside field filled with Lotus models of all ages for a laid back afternoon of chatting and picnicking. 

The gate opens at 11.30am, and we arrived relatively promptly to find a good thirty or more cars had already been guided into place by the Historic Lotus Register’s Chairman, Nigel Halliday. Most volunteers were, like Richard Hinton himself, from the HLR which meant there was a good spread of very early models on show.

No fewer than three Seven S1s gathered, one of which looked very fresh with what appeared to be new aluminium bodywork. But there was no shortage of later cars. A line of Lotus Sevens was back to back with their Caterham ancestors, while Elans, Esprits and Elises were numerous too. No electric cars this time (last year there was a sole Eletre) but there were a couple of Emiras representing the latest Lotus offerings.

Despite a weather forecast that verged on predicting sunshine that was too hot, some cloud cover and a decent breeze meant the open field wasn’t too uncomfortable for the afternoon. Below are our pictorial highlights from the 2025 Historic Lotus Register Lotus Picnic.

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