Motors, Monorails and Mushy Peas

Day Eleven – Southampton
Everyone had a better night's sleep last night thankfully. Even so it was a reasonably late turn out for breakfast, although in the end that was a good thing as it meant we arrived at Beaulieu exactly at 10:00am when it opened.

Beaulieu is a country manor house which also houses the National Motor Museum and a host of other exhibits. I went there as a kid so this was a somewhat nostalgic visit for me.

Our first stop on arrival was the motor museum itself. The museum is fabulous and houses a massive collection of rare and interesting vehicles, ranging in age from the very first automobiles right through to the near present day. It would be near impossible for me to list all the special vehicles they have but amongst my favourites were a supercharged 1930's Bentley 4.5 litre, a 1922 French fire engine, a 1981 DeLorean (done up like the one in Back to the Future) and a number of past world land speed record holders including Sunbeam, Golden Arrow and Bluebird.

Exiting the motore museum we went for a ride on the monorail which goes right round Beaulieu, including through the motor museum itself. We rode right the way round and got off back where we started. The kids and Jenni then went on an F1 simulator while I waited for the Top Gear exhibit to open. The Top Gear exhibit contains a lot of vehicles that have been in the show over the years, many of them from the various "challenges".

After a quick stop for lunch we walked down to the Abbey and had a look into the chappel. On the way we passed through a number of ornamental flower and vegetable gardens. The ruins of the Abbey are quite substantial and you get a feel for just how big it must have been before Henry VIII had it closed and largely destroyed during his Dissolution of the Monasteries.

Moving on we visited the SOE (Special Operations Executive) exhibit which details how the house was used as a training facility during WWII for operatives who conducted covert activities in Europe, typically in German-occupied areas. Last up was a visit to the Palace itself and a wander through the various public galleries all of which is very well maintained and obviously quite valuable.

In the afternoon we took a drive down to Lymington on the Solent and walked down to the keyside. From there we drove further on to the coast to New Haven and walked along the sea wall to have a look at the (very distant) Hurst Castle. Back in the car we drove back to Milford on Sea where we had proper fish and chips with mushy peas for dinner – another item checked off my "to do" list. All this driving from village to village was quite circuitous but good fun. At the end Jenni and I accidentally found a Norman church near the village green where we had dinner. There is so much packed into England it is hard to stop at times.

This evening we've been organising a few things and preparing to leave Southampton tomorrow morning. We're heading to Bath for the night via Stonehenge and possibly a White Horse as well if I get my way...

Cheers,
Millsy