My first visit to Brands was in 1970, for British GP practice ( Emerson’s F1 debut et al ).
We had a rare family outing - a weekend in London to visit a few sights - overnighting in some some typically grimy B&B off Praed Street (which was probably still quite expensive in my parents’ terms). Dad and I caught a Green Line coach from Marble Arch, armed with one of our occasional copies of Autosport which contained not only the fairly extensive preview of the GP, but a report from a circuit I’d not previously heard of: Croft. (A report of the Interseries meeting featuring Kelleners’ March which appeared to be wider than the track, and what sounded like the most exciting machine ever - the Ecurie Evergreen McLaren - a CanAm car with a DFV! But I digress…)
Like John (above) I was more used to the open spaces of Silverstone, and to our local track Mallory Park - similarly open for the most part, but more informal, certainly more friendly, and blessed of a modicum of ‘elevation’.
So, what struck me most about Brands on that first visit was the rural landscape, the slightly shambolic nature and miscellany of the amenities and (perhaps mostly) the glorious 3-dimensional nature of the circuit.
I continued to be fixated with Silverstone for a time though: it was far more accessible to us (then living in the Midlands), had been the venue of my first GP meeting in 1969, had some fabulous grids for its clubbies, and it had the majesty of the old Woodcote laid out in all its glory below the grandstands. (One previous Christmas I’d had a Corgi Toys ‘Gift Set’ which had a selection of racing cars and buildings - Airfix-style construction kits, I think? - to lay out a recreation of Woodcote on a printed plastic sheet.)
But now, the Silverstone Classic aside, Brands seems much the more appealing of the two.