I went on Saturday. The Watertower join worked well for us and the two other aircraft we were following. The two plonkers who decided to make a straight-in approach and whom we met as they approached directly overhead Kemble village clearly found it not to their taste
Not sure how in Saturday's viz, you can determine that the published approach is not busy since nobody was transmitting until on final, as per instructions. Oh well!
On the ground, things were very much as expected, except perhaps that there were rather fewer stalls overall then in some previous years, and certainly rather fewer tat stalls. Good to see that incluced in those that did make it was the one that looks like a down-market version of Millets, busy flogging rusty cracked cylinders and WW2 German helmets. Just the thing for your Piper Arrow
Popped over to AV8 for lunch squeezing a table away from the spotters who were busy making a cup of coffee last as long as possible whilst their notepads rustled in the slightly damp breeze.
Popped back over to look at the stands. Liked the Fieseler Storch lookalike a lot, liked a few of the sleek Lancair-type machines on the visitors' area, admired the wingless JetA1 Vari-Eze.
45 minutes later, and unpersuaded to part with any money, I got the departure brief and joined the queue to leave. Total time on the ground 3:20 of which man-sized portions were spent in Av8 eating, and in the queue waiting to leave.
It was not an unpleasant outing, but I wouldn't have killed to go on it. I think the format is now seriously tired and needs the kind of rethink that events like Aerofair would also benefit from.
2D