12 July 2010 Lyndhurst the New Forest

James Bond's Aston Martin DB5 use in the 1987 Bond film "The Living Daylights"


Top Gear Cool board


Mr Bean's Mini

Sir Donald Campbells Bluebird


Delorean from Back to the Future movies


Chitty Chitty Bang Bang


Binelli 750cc 6 cylinder motor bike


New Forest and Horses


New Forest and Horses


New Forest Horse and Foal


We left our pleasant little house in Aldwick near Bogner Regis and drove West past Portsmouth and Southampton to Lyndhurst, Hampshire which is in the New Forest.

When we turned into the New Forest area we drove over a cattle grid and we were surprised to see horses wandering all over the roads with cars having to drive slowly to avoid them. Many of them had foals which were very cute. They appeared to be quite tame although running wild. We are not sure if anyone owns them although they all looked in good health with shiney coats.

We had particularly come down here to go to the National Motor Museum but as it turned out, the Beaulieu Estate in which the Motor Museum is located is 7000 sq acres in size, and was much more than that. As well as a large motor museum containing dozens of very special cars, was the James Bond Exhibition, a monorail to take you around the property, a stately home called Palace House, the home of Lord Montague, an Abbey (mostly a ruin), a go kart track. a huge lake and acres of beautifully manicured grounds, a restaurant, the Stig Driving Challenge and a children's play ground area, plus plenty of lovely walks to go on around the estate.

We spent all day there and still didn't see it all.

Top Gear (the TV program,) had it's own pavilion called 'The World of Top Gear' and inside it was set up just like the Top Gear studio on the TV program. They showed a video on a couple of big screens of how the show is made and excerpts from many of the special moments in many of the shows. It was excellent.

We did a guided tour of the house and as the boss, Lord Montague was out, we were shown around all of it, including the part that he lives in. Lyn was rather surprised that he appeared to live quite normally with leather lounges, plasma TV and coffee table with magazines like any house you might visit in Australia. We actually sat in Lord Montague's library and sitting room. Oh how the other half live.

Since Lord Montague is car mad the gift shop was full of car stuff and Lyn made a few purchases.

We took a quick trip into the village of Beaulieu, which is a quaint little village owned mostly by the Montague family. If you see a red door on any of the buildings you know the Montague family own it or some family members live there.

After a great day it was off to our B&B which turned out to be a nice place with large room, ensuite and a queen size bed.

After a nice meal (and Lyn tried a Pimms)50 yards down the road at The Crown Stirrup (the local pub), we settled in to watch a 1 hour show on the Goodwood festival of Speed followed by a show about the life (and death) of the Concorde.