During our first visit to Exbury Gardens, we happened to have chosen a day that coincided with a gathering of steam powered vehicles. While we didn’t change our plans for walking around the grounds to see them, we did encounter a load of them in the grounds. There was a steam powered car that a chap was driving around but the majority of them were miniature versions of the old-fashioned traction engines.

There wasn’t a chance that they were going to sneak up on you. Steam engines do tend to signal their approach even if the operator isn’t blowing the whistle. A blast from that will definitely get your attention. They were all planning to gather up at the house around 2pm and we didn’t go to see how many there were. However, while we might have been a fair distance away in the grounds, we could definitely hear them all when they were whistling together!