Toby, Halbe, your point definitely taken, and deserves a considered answer!
Picking dates and places for rallies is always a minefield. The vintage calendar is (happily) so full these days, that clashes cannot be avoided. And then, Summer Rallies need to be held - in the summer! Wiping out weeks (or months?!) of school holidays would put a serious dent in the vintage car calendar. As for the location, having held ten rallies in various parts of the country now, it would appear that the Gloucestershirte/Wiltshire area (Prescott/Bath) draws the best entries. The Leicestershire and East Anglia rallies drew thin entries. Dorset wasn't bad, but was a bit of a one-off and wouldn't normally draw many Minors, I don't think. Having said that, trailers can be a good solution, and not, in my view, to be shunned, as they are in some hard core quarters of the VSCC - particularly for light cars that are not so long-legged as perhaps a 12/50 or 30/98 (or an Aston?!). And fitting two people, luggage, tools, spares and the dog into a 2-seat Minor might have prompted an engaging promotional article by Mileator for the Morris Owner magazine back in the thirties, but isn't exactly comfortable or practical for everyone.
Yes, there are definite downsides to having a regular meet in the same place, but in this case, I am convinced that the plusses outweigh the minuses. Perhaps if we get to the point where we can actually assemble more than a handful of Minors in one place at one time, then we could reconsider, as it might then justify the huge planning, MSA red tape and marshaling effort (the reason why the nav rally was cancelled this year - only 6 entries received by the closing date). The biggest upside of having a regular venue on a regular date is that everyone will know when and where it is, regardless of whether they have seen the publicity or not. Everyone knows that VSCC Prescott is the first weekend in August - at Prescott! Also, regularity allows you to build and develop the event as it becomes known as a regular calendar event. Not holding an untimed day at Prescott since 2005 certainly hurt the entry this time. Plenty of people have told me that they can't wait for next year - but would be disappointed, and probably forget the event entirely if they has to wait until 2015 for the next one!
The good thing about Prescott is that it is within striking distance of great swathes of wonderful countryside - with the prospect of the nav rally/tour swinging south deep into Wiltshire (Cirencester, Malmsbury and on down the Fosse Way), west into the Vale of Evesham, north to Bredon Hill and into Worcestershire, or east into the Cotswold highlands, so there should be plenty of scope to steer the event towards other catchment areas. It always amazes me that the Light Car Welsh is always based at Llandrindod Wells in mid Wales. Take a look at the OS map for the area - there are about three roads on it! How on earth do they manage to vary the route?
Having said all that, I traveled just short of 15,000 miles over the Summer Rally weekend - albeit in slightly faster transport than a Minor!