Page 13 - Dec 2022

The next day we visited Beaulieu Manor house
(circa 1204) the grounds of which host the famous
Beaulieu Autojumble (aka swap meet in the US).
Their catchphrase is "if you can't find it at Beaulieu
it doesn't exist". The number and variety of
vendors is mind numbing.

The palace and the Manor Gardens are open for
touring and hosted by people in period costume.
The gardens are very nice and there is a neat
monorail that takes you over them. Also on site is
the National Motor Museum (where you'll see The
Whisperer, a pre- Spirit of Ecstasy bonnet topper
on the family's Silver Shadow Rolls-Royce) , The
Secret Army Exhibition, and a Cars of Top Gear
Above: Beaulieu Manor, iStock image by Tom Meaker display.

The next day we toured the New Forest area, a
large pasture and forest (in which Beaulieu lies),
stopping in the villages of Lyndhurst and Burley
before heading back to Winchester for the night.
Monday took us to the Kennet Horse Boat
company in Kennet on Avon.
Narrow Boat s on t he Canals and More

Before the invention of the internal combustion
engine, narrow canal boats loaded with
merchandise or passengers would be pulled down
the river via ropes by horses walking on the banks.
These horses would pull boats carrying up to 30
tons of cargo. By comparison a horse drawn cart
on land could carry about 3 tons. Another
interesting thing to see was the manual operation
of the river locks, all done with hand cranks.
Above: If you look very closely, over on the left,
you can see on the bank a man driving a horse to Our leisurely two hour journey included a box
pull a canal boat just the way it used to be done lunch and was very relaxing. Tuesday took us to
before the internal combustion engine arrived. the town of Averby, which includes the largest
stone circle in Britain. Obviously not as well known
as that other one, Stonehenge, this stone circle is
much less commercialized (as in not at all) and
more interesting in our opinion. You can walk up
to and touch the stones here.
Left : Standing under the
We also toured Averby Manor, a lovely Tudor style
umbrella at the Averby
house nestled in a large garden, then had a great
Stones, on the single day
lunch at the Red Lion Pub. Of the 16 days we were
of rain we had during our
there this is the only day it rained! Continued on page
16 day trip.
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