Minstead Manor Farm, Emery Down, New Forest, Hampshire

     

Our departure from Chertsey was fairly straight forward except for the fact that the hay fever I had been suffering for more than a week, in tune with the high pollen levels being reported alongside the weather reports, had me less than my cheerful self. Still, we had a schedule to keep and so headed off out into the Sunday traffic, north a little way on the M25 then south west on the M3, a road we had not travelled before. There is nothing special about the road, because like all motorways, the plantings hide any views one might have had in years gone by, however we were surprised how undulating the route proved to be.

We lunched at Rownhams Service Centre, near Southhampton, then pressed on to our next camp soon after 1 pm. The directions were flawless as were the facilities we discovered after setting up, however setting up did prove to be problematic. A sign near the gate advised the site we were to set ourselves up on, one of many quite unlevel spots. In fact the only way we were able to level the van was to dig a hole in the neatly grassed area, with a kitchen knife and spoon in the absence of a spade and lower the jockey wheel down below the ground level. Immediately adjacent to our site was evidence of several mole holes, so I am hoping that when we break camp at the end of the week, we will be able to camouflage our destruction by making it look like yet another mole hole.

That night was passed most uncomfortably, nothing to do with the residual unevenness of the caravan, but all to do with an awful case of hay fever. After another night of suffocation-like symptoms, and dreams when caught, all about being trapped in mazes, we woke this morning well before 5 am. We hung about until nearly nine then headed into Lyndhurst and bought another remedy to add to the mountain of pills I am already ingesting.

From there we headed to Beaulieu (pronounced “Bewly”) , the famous Motor Museum and Palace and all the other wonderful attractions on offer within the walls of the estate. I had managed to secure tickets on line at a very good price, but later found that we would have been better to have bought them at the door and taken advantage of the Treasure Houses discount of 50%. Sometimes the lure of online shopping is not all it’s cracked up to be.

The National Motor Museum is what draws the crowds and makes this one of the most popular tourist destinations outside the main cities, but there is so much more to be seen here.

Palace House has been home to the Montagu family, under various aliases, since 1538. Edward, 3^rd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu, father of the current owner of the estate, inherited the title at the age of two and a half, but did not take over management of the property until he turned twenty five, his mother filling that role in the interim. He proved to be a devoted custodian of the family’s 7,000 acre estate, but even more, a champion of the historic vehicle movement. He also played a major role in the preservation of England’s historic houses and in the development of the British tourism industry.

Soon after, in 1952, he opened the family home, Palace House, to visitors, making it one of the first stately homes to be opened to the public. In 1956 he added a motor museum in the grounds as a memorial to his father, a leading pioneer motorist. In 1972, this became the National Motor Museum.

The land that now forms the Beaulieu Estate was originally owned by the Crown, part of the Royal Hunting Park from the time of  William the Conqueror, but in 1204 King John, he of Robin Hood legends, gave it to a group  of Cistercian monks from Citeaux, France for the founding of an abbey to ease his way to heaven. It was an isolated spot far from large centres of population and consisted of approximately 10,000 acres of boggy, uncultivated land bisected by a river. In addition to building the abbey, the monks brought the land into cultivation, built barns and other utility buildings, and reclaimed land from the sea. Today the Parish of Beaulieu covers much the same area, of which about 70% is in the ownership of Lord Montegu.

When the Abbey was completed in 1246, it was the largest Cistercian monastery in England and a thriving community for nearly three hundred years, until the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII. The property was bought by Henry’s courier and servant, Sir Thomas Wriothesley, and passed down through the ages. Over the years the Abbey Church and other buildings have been cannibalized for other projects. All that remains of the Abbey are the buildings where the monks and lay brothers lived.

The Palace as it is presented to the public today is a combination of 14^th century Gothic dating from when this was the Great Gatehouse of the Beaulieu Abbey, and “Scots Baronial” from the current Baron’s great grandfather’s conversion of the house in the late 1860s.

Located in one of the gatehouse  buildings is an excellent exhibition celebrating the role that Beaulieu played in the Second World War; it was here that agents were trained as part of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), which was established to provide agents, arms and assistance to European Resistance groups who were fighting against Nazi Germany’s forces. Prospective agents were drawn from both military and civilian backgrounds and were expected to be fluent in the language of the occupied country in which they were to operate.

Beaulieu was selected as a training ground for SOE because Brigadier Gerald Buckland, who worked as an administrative officer for the organisation, lived on the Beaulieu Estate and knew there were several empty houses on the estate and suggested they might be suitable for training.

I was interested to read about Violette Szabo, whom I had read about as a teenager and Nancy Wake, the Australian who only recently has been recognised for her efforts.

Another amazing feature within the property is a monorail passing right through the National Motor Museum, reminding me of the DTR rail system that passed through glass clad skyscrapers of Canary Wharf. The monorail system here in the New Forest opened in 1974 with a circuit between a station near the Museum and a station in the gardens of Palace House, close to the Abbey.

The trains run on 100 volts DC, are capable of a top speed of 12 mph. and while there are two trains running in the summer silly season, there was only one today, which Chris and I took the opportunity to ride.

Of course for Chris the Motor Museum was what he had come for, and yet we had been kept busy for most of the day with the rest of the attractions. Mid-afternoon we ventured into the great building that houses over 285 vehicles, the effort of exploration far beyond a couple of hour’s wandering about.

I left Chris to make a start, found the Information Desk where I was able to secure a return ticket valid for the next six days, then set off about the estate on the Mill Pond Walk, a charming trail through mature trees alongside the ponded River Beaulieu, enjoying the views across the water to the grand houses of Beaulieu Village.

Back at the Museum I hunted down Chris, waylaid by several interesting exhibits, one of these a caravan made out of Lego, 3.6 metres long and 2.2 metres tall, containing 215,158 standard Lego bricks. It was apparently made for the 2015 Motorhome and Caravan Show at the National Exhibition Centre.

I could see that I too might find much of interest, so with that plan, we headed home across the New Forest, passing wild horses and donkeys grazing on the roadside. The weather had remained hot and sunny and I do think there is some improvement in my hay fever; maybe I will sleep well tonight?