Buckler's Hard is a show village, built in the 18th century, on the Beaulieu river with a pub, hotel and museum. There is also a riverside walk to Beaulieu village. Buckler's Hard was at one time a busy port and shipbuilding community, where many of the Royal Navy's ships began life. It also had a role in the preparations for D-Day during the Second World War.  Buckler's Hard is part of the Beaulieu Estate.

The Mary Rose was a Tudor warship. She sank, inexplicably, under the very eyes of King Henry VIII as he watched a battle unfold between the English and French navies just outside Portsmouth Harbour on 19 July 1545. Only 35 out of the 500 people on board survived. For years, Mary Rose lay on her side, the exposed portion rotting away. In 1982, her remains were raised from the seabed - an astonishing achievement. The wreck was also like a Tudor time capsule, providing an insight into so many aspects of life 5 centuries ago. £39 million has been spent conserving and presenting Mary Rose and she is now stunningly displayed in a purpose-built exhibition building alongside the artefacts, and some of the human remains, found with her.

The illustration is from 'The Embarkation of Henry VIII at Dover' and shows vessels similar to the Mary Rose.

The National Maritime Museum is allegedly the world’s largest maritime museum with a collection that includes artwork, maps and charts, models, memorabilia and thousands of other objects - such as an impressive number of figureheads and items relating to Horatio Nelson and Captain Cook. The museum opened in 1937 and is part of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site.

Portsmouth was for generations the most heavily defended town in England. The city, unsurprisingly, developed round its port and naval facilities. Whilst the original harbour and military base was located around Portchester, where the Romans built a fort, by the medieval period the major settlement was at the harbour mouth, the area now known as ‘old Portsmouth’. Here, and at various points eastward along the seafront, are the scattered remains of fortifications, some of which were in use from the 14th century as defence against French attacks, right through the Tudor period, when Henry VIII built Southsea Castle, to the Second World War. Also along the sea front are many memorials that give hints of Portsmouth’s maritime heritage. There is free access to many of these fortifications, possibly best starting off near Portsmouth’s Broad Street, where the 15th century Round and Square Towers are situated. Under parts of the walls, where ammunition was once stored, are cafes and pop-up galleries. There are fine views of the harbour and sea traffic from the walls here - and the Round Tower is the place for front-row views of major ships entering or leaving port.

On the seafront and overlooking Southsea common, Portsmouth Naval Memorial commemorates nearly 10,000 British and Commonwealth sailors of the First World War and almost 15,000 of the Second World War, whose only grave is the sea. After WW1, the Admiralty recommended that the three great Royal Navy ports of Chatham, Plymouth and Portsmouth should each have an identical memorial of unmistakable naval form, an obelisk, which would serve as a leading mark for shipping. Portsmouth's memorial was unveiled by the Duke of York, later King George VI, on 15 October 1924. The Second World War extension was unveiled by his widow, the Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, on 29 April 1953.