John Bull

The obvious place is the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, just into the New Forest and 30 minutes from Southampton. Many many dioramas and vehicles, from famous land speed record cars to mundane working-men's cars. Plus Top Gear Challenge cars and cars from film & TV. Lord Montagu was a pioneer motorist, he introduced King Edward V11 to motor cars and the Rolls-Royce "Spirit of Ecstacy" (the flying lady mascot) is based on his secretary, Eleanor Thornton. To give you some interest too, the complex also includes the Bishop's Palace House and just the shell of the abbey, which was sacked by Henry V111 during the dissolution of the monasteries. Plus the little "Secret Army" exhibition - special forces dropped into France to link with the French Resistance were trained here. https://www.beaulieu.co.uk/attractions But you won't have time for both Beaulieu and Highclere Castle. So if you're keen to visit Highclere, feel free to delete this post - I won't tell 😉 There's also Brooklands Museum, at Britain's first motor race-track with an awesome banked corner. It's not far off-route on the outskirts of London https://www.brooklandsmuseum.com/ JB 🙂