“went to lymington. went in posh place for dinner and had ½ a chicken. then went to beaulieu”
Q: If half a chicken was considered “posh” in 1972 how do we now rate a family bucket of KFC?
Lymington is a vibrant Georgian town located on the edge of the famous New Forest, down on the South Coast of England. It’s always been a been a big sailing venue. Lots of cobbled streets with lots of quirky stores. (In the late 80’s and 90’s it had a great record shop, the Disc & Tape Centre, owned by my great mate, Paul) In 1972 it evidently had somewhere ‘posh’ where I scarfed down half a chicken.
Beaulieu is home to Beaulieu Abbey, Beaulieu House (home of Lord Montague) and the National Motor Museum.
I don’t know if I first saw it on this trip or a previous one, but I can remember being impressed seeing Donald Campbell’s famous “Bluebird” car, the machine in which he broke the (then) land speed record in 1964. It seemed MUCH larger and longer than I imagined it to be having watched the record attempt on TV when I was just 6 years old.
However, by far my most favourite attraction at Beaulieu (how DIFFICULT is it to keep spelling/typing that bloody word?!) was the model train set that was set up in one of the outbuildings. The 1000+ square foot display was originally built for the 1964 World Fair in New York. Lord Montague had it shipped across the Atlantic the year after. I could’ve literally spent hours just watching the trains go round and round the buildings and mock ‘mountains’.
I am somewhat saddened by the knowledge that the train set was moved to Ireland in the mid-90’s, and the fact that this was the only photo I could find of it online….
It does kind of worry me that, had rock’n'roll not taken over my life I feel I could so very EASILY have become a speccy trainspotter!
1 Comment
07-26-08 at 12:33 pm
I still live in Lymington. I remember the disc and tape centre too, I bought a few albums there.
I loved that model train layout at Beaulieu. I was sad to see it gone.