Rosemary

Despite the early forecasts predicting bad weather all week, today promised to be another good day in the south, and another day to chase autumn colours.

Exbury Gardens, on the edge of the New Forest in Hampshire, has been on the "to visit" list for years, but I never quite made it. The blurb promised those autumn colours, so off I headed. Autumn is still a bit slow to arrive here, though I found some fungi which I'd never seen before and some of the acers were spectacular - but the highlight of the day for me was the little steam railway.

My late father was a model engineer and made steam engines - which we still have, sadly not in steam now - and a holiday was not complete without at least one visit to a heritage line and a trip on a train in steam: the smell of the smoke and chug of the engine bought all the happy memories flooding back.

After a trip on the train round the gardens, I visited the exhibition and was surprised to find that this line and its rolling stock was only built in 2000-01 to satisfy a childhood wish by Leopold de Rothschild. In keeping with the status of his illustrious family, the line has enjoyed visits by the Queen, who appeared to thoroughly enjoy her footplate ride in 2008, and The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall who helped celebrate its 10th Aniversary in 2011.

The engines are all named after members of Mr Leo's family - Rosemary was the first engine built for the line and named for his sister.