VINTAGE car owners from all over the UK used a National Trust house near Pershore as a backdrop to launch their vintage car rally.

A procession of vehicles from The Humber Register, wound their way along Croome’s historic carriageway this week, which was originally used by horse and carriages during the 18th century.

Andrew Tarring, the rally organiser, said: “We always like to start our annual rally at an interesting location and Croome was the perfect place.

"To top it all off we were invited to drive our cars through the grand London Arch and pass by the house and out along the original drive which was a wonderful experience for all of the drivers.”

The Humber Register is a club for cars made before 1932, with their oldest car dating back to 1906. This year they held their annual rally in the Vale with 34 cars coming from as far afield as Scotland, Kent, Norfolk and Yorkshire.

Visitors enjoyed admiring the cars while the drivers took the opportunity to explore the restored gardens and the mansion house.

Car enthusiast Peter Wilcox said he was delighted to lead the procession through the London Arch and down the drive.

“My passengers remarked on the timeless nature of the scene," he said. "We could have been back in Edwardian times when the car was new.”

The oldest car on the rally was a Humber 10-12 h.p. model, built in Coventry in1906 and exported to New Zealand, from where it was repatriated in 2002 as several boxes of rusted and damaged parts.