After a trip in the week to Bucklers Hard I was a little worried that king of the estate, Beaulieu might also be an example of a missed opportunity; but I was wrong. It was just right.

Entry prices are not cheap at £17 each, but once inside your ticket price covered pretty much everything including the James Bond exhibition, the Palace, Abbey and (my favourite) the Top Gear scrapyard.

They have managed to assemble a wide range of the Top Gear graveyard of cars - including the very recently shown ‘mobile homes’ episode. Richard Hammond’s land rover and Clarkson’s three storey minimalistic ‘home’ (pictured) were both on show. There was even a 15 minute mini TV show inside a tent showing highlights from the show. Brilliant – even if Jezza said on the film he couldn’t be bothered to turn up.

The National Motor Museum is excellent with some amazing exhibits – including one of the Trotter Trading Reliants, a replica of the Delorean car from ‘Back to the Future’, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and most impressive of all the Bluebird Donal Campbell set the world speed record in, back in 1964! Not at all pretty but at 403mph, quite quick!

The family house of the Montagu family was well done with characters in costume and is immaculately maintained. The original 12th Century Abbey was interesting too – with a display of Falconry in the Cloisters.

Food and drink were reasonably priced – as was a scream around the go-kart track. In true Top Gear style I got told off for ramming a small child who inexplicably had decided to stop in the middle of the track. Hardly my fault?

We spent four hours there and the real test would I go back – simple – yes.