I‘ve already mentioned that Beaulieu is small and relatively quiet but there’s a surprising amount to see and do.

Boating up river

The water does get shallow quickly but if you have a tender with outboard, kayak or even a stand up paddle board then you can pootle up river all the way to Beaulieu village at the top of the tide.  There is a public mooring available on the right hand riverbank (as you look at it) at Beaulieu village.  From here the small village boasts a number of cafes, shops and restaurants or if you’d prefer then picnic by the river bank.

We have a new outboard engine for our tender so we took it on engine trials taking the last of the flood tide in early evening to survey the northern stretches of the water. We were struck by the fabulous houses with gardens falling into the river on the Eastern side of the river.  Lucky them.  Once we arrived at Beaulieu we drifted back on the start of the ebb arriving at Trouper just as it was getting dark.

Beaulieu River by Kathryn Lewis

Walking

There are plenty of walks in the local area.  There’s one that is signposted from the edge of the boatyard and if you follow it four miles you’ll end up in Beaulieu village.  On our third visit to Beaulieu this year we did this walk.  It follows the riverbank for about half the distance before cutting across the fields to take the more direct route to Beaulieu.  Once we arrived in Beaulieu we stopped for tea (how English is that) before turning around and walking back again.

Downriver

There’s a river cruise that operates from a pier at Buckler’s Hard.  This guided tour takes about 2 hours.  On our second trip to Beaulieu with Trouper we decided not to do this but to take our friends on a similar tour using Trouper.  We gave them a taste of seafaring life teaching them knots and how to tie on fenders in between pointing out which houses we’d be prepared to live in should we win the lottery any time soon.

Secret

It’s not much of a secret any more but the Beaulieu estate was used to train British Spies during the second world war.  The estate and surrounding area was, apparently, good for covert training.  Houses within the estate were then used to support simulations to help the spies develop their skills. There’s a very interesting exhibition at the Beaulieu National Motor Museum on this work.

Other things to see and do

Beaulieu National Motor Museum & Beaulieu Abbey – well worth the trip but there is an entrance charge, once inside there’s a variety of exhibits from cars to the Abbey and House and Garden and an exhibit on training English spies.

Buckler’s Hard – this is adjacent to the marina and is a single street, preserved to show what a ship building town might have looked like if Nelson came to visit.

Exbury Gardens & Exbury Steam Railway – I’ve never been to these but I’ve heard the steam engine from our mooring.  Now I know what this is I’ll aim to visit.