HE was the highly-respected Hampshire peer who saved his ancestral home by turning it into one of the country’s best-known tourist attractions.

Tributes have been paid to Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, who died aged 88 in the early hours of yesterday after a short illness.

Lord Montagu became the dedicated custodian of his family’s 7,000-acre estate, opening historic Palace House to the public and establishing the UK’s first motor museum in the grounds.

Each year about 340,000 visitors pour through the gates to admire the world’s greatest collection of classic cars.

Record-breaking vehicles driven by speed king by Sir Malcolm Campbell and his son Donald are among the exhibits that have helped make the museum a shrine to the internal combustion engine.

But the award-winning attraction was born of necessity.

Lord Montagu, whose father John had died in 1929, took over the running of the Beaulieu Estate on his 25th birthday in 1951.

He was faced with huge running costs but refused to sell the estate and vowed instead to find a way of saving it.

The following year he became one of the first peers in the UK to open his home to the public.

Writing in his autobiography, Wheels Within Wheels, he said: “To have relinquished Palace House would have been seen not only as a loss but also as a slap in the face to my mother and the trustees.

“I was determined that I would pass my inheritance on to my heirs, just as my ancestors and my father had passed it on to me.

“Whereas most people possess their belongings I, paradoxically, belonged to my possessions. I was determined to make a last-ditch stand.”

The young peer chose to follow the example of Lord Bath of Longleat and open his home to paying visitors.

But Palace House lacked the grandeur of other stately homes and needed an extra ingredient to attract the crowds on which its future depended.

Lord Montagu decided to display a handful of veteran cars in the front hall of Palace House as a tribute to his motoring pioneer father.

Opening the building to the public on April 6 1952 he declared: “I would rather keep my home and surrender my privacy than have things the other way round.”

The peer promised himself a champagne supper if 100 visitors trooped through the house by 6pm – and achieved his target just 90 minutes after the doors opened.

Recalling the event many years later he said: “Looking back, the whole procedure was charmingly amateurish.”

However, Beaulieu welcomed 70,000 visitors in its first year and was already on its way to becoming a major tourist attraction.

The first motor museum building was opened in 1956, enabling Lord Montagu to move his collection of cars and motorcycles out of Palace House, which stank of oil. A larger complex was opened in April 1959, just six days before he got married for the first time.

Another of Lord Montagu’s passions was jazz and in 1956 he held the first of six festivals on the lawns of Palace House. They attracted a host of household names, including Cleo Laine, Humphrey Lyttleton and George Melly.

But 1960 saw what became known as the Battle of Beaulieu, a bottle-throwing riot involving rival gangs of modern and traditional jazz fans.

Describing the event 40 years later Lord Montagu said: “Humphrey Lyttelton’s trumpet was found abandoned in the car park and clothing attributed to George Melly halfway up a tree. It could have been a lot worse.”

But the 1961 event was worse, forcing Lord Montagu to scrap the annual event.

Two years later he created a second visitor attraction on the estate by building a maritime museum at Buckler’s Hard. Opened by the then Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Mountbatten, it tells the story of 18th century ship building on the Beaulieu River.

By the mid-1960s the motor museum was attracting 500,000 visitors a year, making it necessary to create a larger, purpose-built complex.

In 1972 the Montagu Motor Museum became the National Motor Museum when the Duke of Kent opened the new display area.

The museum’s popularity continued to grow, with visitors including some of the best-known names in the music and entertainment industries.

Films shot on the estate include the 1966 classic A Man for All Seasons, starring Robert Shaw, Orson Welles and Leo McKern. The Beaulieu River was chosen because it was the only one in the country that could pass for the 16th century Thames.

TV programmes made at Beaulieu included episodes of The Avengers, Treasure Hunt and The Two Ronnies.

Terry Wogan broadcast his morning radio show from the museum just days after Lord Montagu was injured in a head-on crash in which the other driver died.

Other VIP visitors included Liberace and Michael Jackson, who were driven round the grounds in an open top Rolls Royce Silver Ghost in 1981.

Lord Montagu's funeral will be held on the estate on a date to be announced. It will be followed by a memorial service at St Margaret's Church, Westminister.