Visiting Beaulieu Palace

The Stately Home on the site was formerly the Great Gatehouse of Beaulieu Abbey, founded in 1204 on land gifted to the Cistercian order by King John. 

The springtime blooms of the rhododendrons and other flowers were spectacular.

Please click on the pictures for full-size versions.

Above, in the Topiary Garden, the Mad Hatter's Tea Party and the Cheshire Cat.
​       ​The Portrait Gallery, below, exhibits portraits of the various dukes and barons whose families owned the estate from the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII in the 16th century. In actuality, the estate has been in the hands of one or another branch of the same family since 1538.

Below, Walter Francis Montagu-Douglas-Scott, 5th Duke of Buccleuch (1806-1884), who presented the Beaulieu estate to his second son, Henry John Douglas-Scott-Montagu, 1st Baron Montagu of Beaulieu (1832-1905), ancestor of the present family in residence.

Below, the Lower Drawing Room, added in the Gothick style  the 19th century, reflecting the monastic origins of the building. 

Below, the Dining Hall, also a Victorian remodeling.

At one end of the Dining Room, the children's table was visited by someone's favorite mount.

Above. views of the Victorian kitchen, where treats for visitors were in the oven.

The Upper Drawing Room carried on the Gothick origins and style. Formerly it was a chapel for visitors to the Abbey. The piano is an English-made Broadwood.

The family Dining Room.

The Family Library aka The Late Lord Montague's sitting room ...comfortable in all respects.

Miniature stage set and enviable shelves of book. Let me at 'em.

The hallways are often the sites of a familiar scene in stately homes -- trophies of past conquests, which often do not appeal to my tastes in sport. Nevertheless, it was a lovely adaptation of an abbey turned family home.