18-07-2025
Inside the historic English manor house with unique new car museum and wooden kids' playground
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NOTHING is guaranteed to make you feel ancient more than seeing the car you learned to drive in displayed as a museum piece.
But that was the sobering reality that confronted me when I took my children to check out the new We Had One Of Those exhibition at Beaulieu's National Motor Museum in Hampshire.
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Motor down to the new We Had One Of Those exhibition at Beaulieu's National Motor Museum
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Visitors can climb inside and even lift the bonnets of these nostalgic vehicles
This new permanent display, housed in a purpose-built garage, aims to take visitors on a trip down memory lane of the cars that commonly filled Britain's roads from the Sixties to the Noughties.
It is packed with many memorable favourites.
From much-loved Morris Minors to pop culture icons like VW Beetles and Capris right through to reliable family runarounds like Ford Mondeos and Vauxhall Cavaliers, there is bound to be at least one car that sparks a memory.
For me it was the 1990s Nissan Micra which took me right back to white-knuckle driving lesson days.
As you move through the various eras there are also fun displays of home decor trends and cult objects from the decades.
Home to Lord and Lady Montagu, new rooms have opened to the public which at one time were part of their private apartment.
Caroline Iggulden
From Seventies lava lamps to video cassettes and Walkmans in the 1980s and Tamagotchis in the Nineties, there is bound to be something that has you pointing and shouting: 'We had one of those!'
While the exhibit is a lot of nostalgic fun for the grown-ups, my kids, aged four, seven and 11, loved it too.
Unlike the rare and valuable classic cars in the main National Motor Museum, visitors can climb inside and even lift the bonnets of these nostalgic vehicles.
One volunteer told me: 'When we opened the exhibition we expected it to be a hit with old guys like me remembering the cars they owned throughout the years. But it has been just as much of a hit with children and it is a joy to watch them exploring the cars.'
It took me ages to tear mine away but when I did we headed to Palace House, the historic home on the Beaulieu Estate – entry to which is included in the entry price.
I'm a mum and here's '10/10' free day out near Glasgow I swear by for summer hols
Home to Lord and Lady Montagu, new rooms have opened to the public which at one time were part of their private apartment.
They have been lovingly restored in tribute to his late father – who famously established the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu in 1952.
The Motor Room, for instance, is a bedroom which celebrates his father's passion for motoring with special wallpaper striped with vintage tyre patterns and lots of motoring art.
I have to confess my favourite though was the The Throne Room . . . or loo.
So much to see
Its 'thrones' lavatory was made by antique restorer Alex Webster from TV's The Woodland Workshop which was filmed on the Beaulieu Estate.
Aside from the newly opened attractions, there is always so much to see and do at Beaulieu and not just in the museum itself.
My three always insist on a ride on the monorail and this time we also checked out the fascinating Secret Army Exhibition which tells the story of the spies who were trained at the estate when it was requisitioned in World War Two.
Motor down there for the day without delay!
For tickets and details see or call 01590 612 345.
