Beaulieu, Hampshire: Abbey, Palace House, History & Things to Do in the New Forest

Beaulieu lies on the south-eastern edge of the New Forest, at the head of the Beaulieu River, where ponies wander the village street and the old abbey stands across the water. Its name means "beautiful place" in French, and it is pronounced "Bew-lee". In 2020 Condé Nast Traveler named it one of the five most beautiful villages in the UK and Ireland.

Why Beaulieu Is Special

Beaulieu combines a picture-book village with one of the most varied visitor estates in the South: medieval abbey ruins, an ancestral home, the National Motor Museum and the gardens, all in one place.

Around it lies the open heath and ancient woodland of the New Forest National Park, so it is easy to pair history with a walk in some of the finest countryside in Hampshire.

The History of Beaulieu

Beaulieu Abbey was founded in 1203–1204 by King John and, uniquely in Britain, settled by 30 monks sent from the abbey of Cîteaux in France, the mother house of the Cistercian order. The building took more than four decades to complete and was dedicated in 1246 in the presence of Henry III and his queen.

The abbey prospered. Its monks founded four daughter houses, including Netley Abbey in Hampshire and Hailes Abbey in Gloucestershire, and the abbey had the right of sanctuary: Anne Neville, wife of Warwick the Kingmaker, sought refuge here after the Battle of Barnet in 1471. At the Dissolution in 1538 the commissioners found thirty-two sanctuary-men living with their families in the precincts.

When the abbey surrendered in 1538, it was sold to the ancestors of the Montagu family, who have lived at Beaulieu ever since. Their home, Palace House, began in 1204 as the abbey's great gatehouse. It was extended in the 16th century and again in the 19th, and today it is a fine example of a Gothic country house. The monks' refectory survives as the parish church, with an intact reader's pulpit.

In the 20th century Beaulieu became famous for cars. The Montagu Motor Museum opened in 1952 and became the National Motor Museum, a charitable trust, in 1972. Among its treasures are four world land speed record holders, including the 1927 Sunbeam 1000hp, the first car to reach 200 miles per hour.

Beaulieu also played a secret part in the Second World War. Between 1941 and 1945 the estate housed training schools for agents of the Special Operations Executive, who were prepared here before being sent into occupied Europe.

The abbey has its ghost stories, too. The Reverend Robert Powles, vicar of Beaulieu from 1886 to 1939, claimed to know the ghostly monks by name and to celebrate a candlelit midnight mass for them every Christmas Eve.

Things to Do in Beaulieu

A single ticket covers the National Motor Museum, Palace House, the abbey ruins and the gardens (check prices and opening times). Allow most of a day. Walk through the cloister of the abbey, look into the restored domus with its embroidered wall hangings telling the abbey's story, and wander the Victorian kitchen garden and the riverside.

Then explore the village itself, with its tea rooms and shops along the High Street by the mill pond, and walk or drive down the river to Buckler's Hard, the 18th-century shipbuilding village.

Gardens, Countryside & Antiques near Beaulieu

Across the river, Exbury Gardens is world famous for its rhododendrons and azaleas. The whole New Forest National Park is on your doorstep. Beaulieu also hosts a spring fair: see What's On for dates when they are confirmed.

For homeware and gardening on the way home, HomeSense Hedge End and Garsons Titchfield are both within half an hour.

Beaulieu Through the Seasons

Spring is the time for Exbury's rhododendrons and for foals on the heath. Summer brings boating on the river and long days at the museum. In autumn the New Forest woods turn gold and the pigs are let out to eat the acorns (the ancient right of pannage), and winter walks on the open heath are bracing and beautiful.

Getting to Beaulieu

The nearest mainline station is Brockenhurst, about seven miles away, on the line from London Waterloo; from there it is a taxi or a bike ride through the forest.

Beaulieu: Questions & Answers

How do you pronounce Beaulieu?

Beaulieu is pronounced "Bew-lee". The name means "beautiful place" in French.

What is there to do at Beaulieu?

One ticket covers the National Motor Museum, Palace House, the 13th-century abbey and the gardens; nearby are Buckler's Hard, Exbury Gardens and the New Forest.

Our Advice

Our advice: Give the estate a full day, arriving early, and come back another time for Exbury in May. If you have only an hour, walk from the village along the river and look across to Palace House and the abbey.