For the love of the open road
In addition to the famed National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, worthy of a well-spent day, there are literally dozens of transport museums and collections on display throughout the country. Many British marques—Jaguar, Morris, Morgan and Humber among them—have dedicated museums. As you motor around the country, do stop in and visit this slice of very British life. Here is an assorted selection of notable and popular motor museum visits to keep in mind. Find information on these and many other transport museums at britishmotormuseums.com.
London Transport Museum Covent Garden
COURTESY COVENTRY TRANSPORT MUSEUM
Right on the Covent Garden piazza, the superb Transport Museum chronicles 200 years of public transportation in London with taxis, trams, buses, locomotives and Tube trains of every era, as well as maps, posters, engineering and signal works and sundry ephemera—and it doesn’t even require public transportation from central London. ltmuseum.co.uk
Coventry Transport Museum, Coventry
COURTESY COVENTRY TRANSPORT MUSEUM
Britain’s “Motor City,” Coventry’s own transport museum recently enjoyed a 10 million GBP face-lift and occupies stunning new galleries in the city center fitting for its world-class collection of 250 cars, plus hundreds of motorcycles, bicycles and commercial vehicles. transport-museum.com
Streetlife Museum Hull
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If you happen to be in Hull as it celebrates being the City of Culture, don’t miss the Streetlife Museum on the Old Town High Street. Street scenes covering 200 years of Hull’s history nicely showcase all manner of transport, public and private.hullcc.gov.uk
National Motorcycle Museum Bickenhill, Solihull
COURTESY NATIONAL MOTORCYCLE MUSEUM
Cotswold Motoring Museum, Bourtonon-the-Water
COURTESY COTSWOLD MOTORING MUSEUM
Vintage antique and classic cars, caravans, showcases of memorabilia, “motoring curiosities” and even a complete early 20th-century village garage. This charming, eclectic museum is housed in listed mill buildings in a pretty Cotswold village on the River Windrush. cotswoldmotoringmuseum.co.uk
Haynes International Motor Museum Sparkford, Somerset
COURTESY NATIONAL MOTORCYCLE MUSEUM
Brooklands Museum Weybridge, Surrey
The world’s first purpose-built motor racing circuit was built here in 1907, which is presently being restored for racing. In addition to collections of motorcycles and vintage aircraft, the dozens of cars on display in three large galleries include MGs, three-wheel Morgans, McLaren Show cars and a 1935 Morris eight-seater. brooklandsmuseum.com
British Motor Museum Gaydon, Warwickshire
The museum and collections of the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust contain more than a million objects and 300 cars telling the history of British motoring. It’s the largest gathering of historic British marquee cars in the world. They make a family-friendly visit, with lots of interactive exhibits and displays. britishmotormuseum.co.uk
Lakeland Motor Museum, Ulverston, Cumbria
On the A590 at the southern tip of Lake Windermere, the museum contains some 30,000 exhibits, including 140 classic cars and motorbikes. Many are displayed in realistic scenes as they would have appeared in their day, such as Early Motoring in the Lake District. There are period shops, a 1920s garage and a 1950s café to explore as well. lakelandmotormuseum.co.uk
London Motor Museum, Hayes
A 20-minute train ride from London Paddington, the capital’s motor museum was founded in 2001 with seven cars. Now it displays 200 custom American and European privately owned cars from the 1930s to the present: movie cars, muscle cars, supercars and two Batmobiles. londonmotormuseum.co.uk
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