Palace House at Beaulieu is the home of Lord Montagu and is described as being one of Britain's Treasure Houses. It really is a beautiful building and the interior is quite magnificent with vaulted ceilings and stained glass.
I was really drawn to the sculpture of the cheetah, i like the lines and the colours and the way it captures the light from the window.
I suppose the title of today's blog is slightly misleading because the pictures are not of engines or of complete cars but they are close ups of antique cars at the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu . When I visited the museum with my son I enjoyed looking at the cars on display but what struck me about some of the vehicles was the attention to detail and the little touches that you would never see on any of the mass produced cars today. For example how many cars have you seen with wicker umbrella holders?
The bespoke gearing, wheels and suspension was a joy to see. The styling of some of the bodywork was also a work of art and you could see how the design was really pushing the boundaries.
I have picked a couple of pictures of bonnet ornaments, everyone would be familiar with the Angel and the RR from a Roll Royce or the Bugatti symbol but what about the Swallow... (I can't remember what the other one is so if anyone can help me out I'd be very grateful)
I have also chosen a couple of wheels which might seem an odd choice but again the quality and attention to detail really impress.
If you have seen previous posts you will know that I like birds of prey and today I decided to share a couple of pictures that I took this summer while on holiday with my youngest son down in the New Forest. For most of the time we were cycling or walking but one day we decided to go to the motor museum at Beaulieu. Within the grounds of Beaulieu abbey there was a falconer with a variety of birds on display.
I particularly liked the two falcons a Peregrine Falcon and a Gyr Falcon and I have chosen one picture of each of them for today's blog. The Peregrine is sat in a position called "mantling" and held the pose long enough to get a couple of good shots. The Gyr also held a similar pose but I have chosen more of a close up shot.
These are really splendid birds, when Falconry was at the height of its popularity these birds cost the equivalent of £250,000 which is quite staggering.
