It's not often you stay at an hotel and learn about classic cars, a famous homosexual scandal and why the Royal Family could be a bunch of impostors. But you can at the Montagu Arms, in the tiny village of Beaulieu (pronounced “bew-lee”) in the deepest, darkest depths of the New Forest.

This small hotel is right next door to the extraordinary Palace House of Edward John Barrington Douglas-Scott-Montagu, the 3rd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu - officially known as Lord Montagu. Within the grounds of the house is the National Motor Museum, full of lovely shiny old motors including Rolls-Royce Silver Ghosts and an 1899 Daimler that was “the first car driven into the House of Commons yard”.

I was learning about cars. And I was also discovering, from a talkative local at the museum, about Lord Montagu's imprisonment in 1954 for “consensual homosexual offences”, which led to the setting up of the Wolfenden Committee and the eventual decriminalisation of homosexuality.

That the Royal Family could be impostors came from reading an information panel in the Palace House (open to the public), which says that a “family tradition” suggests that Charles II secretly married his mistress Lucy Walker. Because the Montagus descend from this union, might Lord Montagu have a claim to the throne? Perhaps not.

Tylney Hall, Hook, Hampshire

Ginny McGrath finds a grand hotel offering the perfect English country weekend away

BACKGROUND

• Keppel’s Head Hotel, Portsmouth, Hampshire

• The Montagu Arms, Beaulieu, New Forest

• Anchor Inn at Lower Froyle, Hampshire

• Aviator, Farnborough, Hampshire

• TerraVina, Southampton

BACKGROUND

• Four Seasons, Hook, Hampshire

• Botley Park Hotel & Country Club, Hampshire

• Chewton Glen, New Forest, Hampshire

• Master Builder's House, New Forest, Hampshire

BACKGROUND

• Rhinefield House, Brockenhurst, Hampshire

• The Wykeham Arms, Winchester

• Lainston House Hotel, Winchester

But the Montagu Arms, whose restaurant has been recently awarded a Michelin star, makes an interesting and relaxing place to stay. There is nothing trendy about the hotel. The lounges are a bit chintzy, with comfortable sofas and armchairs next to open wood fires. Waiters wearing black ties politely ask if you would like a drink, and do things such as tidying up the newspapers so that they are folded just right.

My room overlooked a neat garden with several levels, flagstone paths and orderly rows of box hedges. Doves fluttered at a feeder near the old stables. An employee in black swept a wooden deck.

The bedroom furnishings were traditional. A tea-set sat on top of an antique chest of drawers. Next to the tea-set was a row of old books with titles such as The Cruel Sea and The Sojourner. The bed had a cranberry- coloured cover. My main complaint was that it was a little cold. Dinner, however, was superb.

I ate oxtail, spinach and horseradish lasagne as a starter; the flavours worked perfectly. New Forest partridge with cabbage and Dauphinoise potatoes was next; all well cooked. Lemon tart and blackcurrant sorbet followed; sharp and tasty.

Afterwards I drank red wine at Monty's Bar (Lord Montagu does not own the hotel or bar), by a wood fire, listening to an impromptu and wonderfully peaceful Irish folk guitar session.

Need to know

The Montagu Arms (01590 612324, www.montaguarmshotel.co.uk), Beaulieu, New Forest, Hampshire SO42 7ZL. Mystery Guest paid £119 for a B&B double. A three-course meal with wine was £52.

Room 6.5 out of 10 (cold)

Food 9 out of 10

Service 7 out of 10

Value 6 out of 10

Score 7.13

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