National Motor Museum, Beaulieu — Attraction in New Forest

A truly exceptional, out of this world and first class museum, which gives provides an absolute masterclass and masterpiece on the subjects of cars/automobiles delivering it in a timeless, wonderful and truly memorable fashion. It is definitely the best Motor Museum in the UK without a doubt and it is like stepping into a library of motors from the start of motoring right up to the present day it is that good. The building the motor cars are housed was opened by Lord Montagu in 1972 housing a variety of motor cars. The motors on display is such a vast array you lose count but some of the motors on display include Ford Model T, Ford Sierra Cosworth, Jaguar E Type, Lotus Esprit, Audi Quattro A2 1983, Rolls Royce Phantom 40/50 II 1933 and The Mini to but a few. There are some motorbikes and scooters on show and these include Ducati, Suzuki and Honda amongst others. All of the motors are displayed in such stunning fashion and are in outstanding condition showing the great work the museum does in looking after them. The museum details the story of how cars and other automobiles came about at the end of the 19th Century and beginning of the 20th Century and charters the story up to the modern day in an informative and interesting fashion amd includes some of the motors that raised the bar for manufacturing on a large scale and broke the speed record and these include Ford Model T and Jaguar E Type to name but a few. In the motorcycle section it covers their history and how they came into being and the records and achievements that have been broken along the way. You can wander into an old garage which is called John Tucker's Garage used at the start of the 20th Century and get an idea of what was like and there is an interesting section about Shell and their history with providing fuel for the cars. The great thing is you can get a great glimpse of the cars right up and close so you can get to really admire their beauty and build quality and their status as a car. In addition to all the other motors on shows there is an F1 car exhibition showcasing some of the more memorable F1 cars over the years so you can take in their excellence and how they were functioned and engineering to perform their necessary duties. There is an exhibition about the luxury of motoring and also an exhibition called On Screen Cars where you some of the famous cars from TV & Film and the highlights include Trotters 3 wheeled van from Only Fools and Horses, The Green Jaguar from the Bond Film Die Another Day and the Ford Anglia user in the Harry Potter film Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets. There is also a small tent you can wander in and see more cars from yesteryear and have sit inside them and these include a Vauxhall Cavalier, Ford Mondeo, Volkswagen Beetle, Renault Avantime and Ford Fiesta and these is very interactive and fun allowing people to have fond memories of these vehicles when they were active on the road. There is bus rides to enjoy on the resident Beaulieu bus which is amazing and these rides just take you around the site seeing the Palace House and Abbey. There is the Brabazon Restaurant selling a variety of food and drink at very reasonable prices and there is a gift shop selling a wonderful range at very reasonable prices. Overall this is an absolute first class and out of this world place to visit and also truly special place to visit and making for a thoroughly enjoyable and wonderfully memorable day out. Definitely well worth a visit whilst in the New...

Great day out. Pre booked tickets, entrance fee also gets you into the rest of the site which includes a sculpture trail throughout the gardens, as well as access to the abbey, gallery and other exhibitions on site. The day we visited, there was lots of events on, all included in the price. There is a monorail on site which is included in the ticket price, so once you have paid your fee, you can choose much more or little you choose to do. Kids play area on site as well as restaurants and picnic area, so you can choose to buy lunch out or take your own. Ice cream stands and toilets dotted throughout the site as well. Caters for dietary requirements, gluten free and vegan. Currently has an exhibition showing cars from TV and film, it's not massive but has family favourites for you to see, at no extra charge. There is also a gift shop on site and free parking. We spent the whole day there from the time it opened to the time it shut. Thought the tickets were great value for money at £27 per adult, considering how much we got to do throughout the day and how long we spent there. The car museum has a good mix of cars, currently showing formula 1 cars as well as many other cars from 1800s to modern day. The monorail going through the middle of the exhibit let's you see them from a different vantage point as well as the rest of the site, so worth a trip on. The car museum also had a couple of exhibitions on the land speed record car and LGBTQ+ in Motorsport which I found interesting. There are also vintage bus rides on site and the day we went, there was a civil war reenactment day going on as well as falconry talk and flights. you could pay extra to be driven in chitty chitty bang bang. So much to see and do, for all the family. The icing on the cake is that once you buy your ticket, it is valid for a year (check before you travel as you might have to pay extra for event days) so you can go back again. Well...

We visited the national motor museum by complete accident as we had actually booked tickets for the Haynes motor museum. Upon entering we were told we were in the wrong place and having a look at Google maps we'd actually traveled an hour in the opposite direction so to go to the Haynes museum would have taken us two hours. I've got to say that the staff here are absolutely amazing! They helped us contact Haynes motor museum and request a refund on our tickets which they wouldn't do and would lose us £70!

The staff took pity on us and did their absolute best to accommodate us with a family ticket to reduce the price and I can say hand on heart we were not disappointed!

The car museum is great with cars from the very beginning of motoring right up to modern cars of today along with motorbikes of all eras.

On top of that we discovered much more than just a car museum! Set on the beautiful grounds of beaulieu abbey the current owner has opened up her childhood home and the remains of the abbey for anyone looking for a history lesson and it was very interesting and informative. Also on the grounds is a mini world war 2 museum that houses the story and history of the army's secret division of ww2 that were trained on the same grounds.

Also as part of the motoring museum there is a part devoted to the old top gear cars and the series itself! They've actually purchased some of the cars built on the show including the Toyota Hilux! 😂

There's also a big adventure playground for the kids as well as a car show where they bring out a selection of cars with drivers dressed for the era that you can talk to about the cars.

Although the restaurant is expensive the food is really good and has free water dispensers.

Cars, history and beauty we'd definitely recommend this as a day out for families. Can't recommend this...