Beaulieu’s season of Simply rallies ended last weekend, with the successful Simply Smart Rally. The number of visitors attending Simply rallies has risen by more than a third, from 7,500 in 2015 to 10,700 this year.

Admission to Simply events includes entrance to the whole of the Beaulieu attraction including the National Motor Museum, the World of Top Gear, On Screen Cars, Palace House and the 13th Century Beaulieu Abbey and grounds.

Beaulieu Events Manager Judith Maddox said: “Loyal Smart car owners travelled to the event from as far away as South Wales and we were pleased to also welcome some new enthusiasts.

“It was a fitting end to a tremendously successful season for Simply rallies at Beaulieu. We are already looking forward to an exciting new season in 2017 and have just announced our Simply events dates, from April to November, for visitors to plan ahead.”

Visitors to the annual cleebration viewed a calvacade of the compact city car from the original Smart ForTwo to the family-friendly ForFour and highly prized Roadster. Simply Smart is traditionally held on Remembrance Sunday and the date for next year’s event has already been set for November 12th.

In fact, Beaulieu has announced full events line-up for 2017 with key dates for the motoring calendar and spectacular family entertainment. Judith Maddox said: “Following the success of last year’s Beaulieu Supercar Weekend, we are delighted to make it a two-day event again in 2017. At Spring Autojumble, we will be pleased to welcome back the Morris Minor club with a special display. Vintage Village will be back at the Hot Rod & Custom Drive-In Day and Simply VW will become part of that celebratory weekend. The icing on the cake will be our International Autojumble, which is always our biggest event of the season.

A full calendar of the 2017 Beaulieu events is on their website - www.beaulieu.co.uk/events or call 01590 612888 for more details.