Landrover Experience
DEBI’s 2009 season of industry visits kicked off with an action packed and very entertaining visit to East Devon and the Land Rover Experience at Awliscombe near Hointon.
Many of you may be thinking how can a vehicle-related business boast about having a green footprint? But this organisation has for a number of years been very keen on environmental issues ensuring its operations have a minimum impact.
The site is at Wessington Farm and is an excellent example of Farm Diversification with the offices having been converted from existing farm buildings using reclaimed materials where possible.
DEBI,s corporate supporters and members were driven around the off-road course by a team of very professional drivers and given an interesting and at times hair-raising insight in to the correct driving techniques for different road conditions and terrains. The importance of knowing how to drive a large off-road vehicles economically is also taught to new owners and businesses that use such vehicles.
The sympathetically designed off-road track is hidden in thick woodland. The routes used by the vehicles are varied with a number of the tracks left fallow and rested for a season. These tracks are quickly ‘reclaimed’ by the woodland which is really pleasing.
The evening was rounded off with an excellent discussion lead by the Landrover Experience manger Nick Egg-Manning, a long term supporter of DEBI on how the company has developed over the years with the environment in mind and what it has learnt from entering the DEBI awards and by taking on board the varied comments made by the DEBI award judges during the award short-listing process.
