BRILLIANT sunshine resulted in a bumper bank holiday for tourist attractions across the south.

The torrential rain that lashed Hampshire on Saturday and Sunday gave way to hot sunshine yesterday and resulted in huge attendance figures.

Paultons Park, near Romsey, reported its best Whit Monday for five years.

Managing director Richard Mancey said: "It's not normally one of the busier bank holidays, but a lot of people decided to have a day out when they saw the weather."

Staff at the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu, had a busy bank holiday welcoming thousands of visitors.

A museum spokesman said: "A huge queue of people poured through the entrance yesterday and I'm sure the weather played a part. The day had a really good bank holiday feel to it."

A three-day art and craft exhibition helped swell the crowd figures at Exbury Gardens, Exbury and campsites in the New Forest were also busy. There were also plenty of fetes across south Hampshire.

Tony Barnfield of New Forest Tourism Association said: "The weather wasn't boiling hot, so people didn't automatically go to the beach and opted instead to visit inland attractions such as Paultons Park."

Many of those who decided to give Paultons a miss headed for Lyndhurst and Burley.

A police spokesman said long traffic jams built up on the A337 as cars came off the M27 motorway at Junction 1 and headed down the A337 to Lyndhurst.

Hundreds of boat owners spent the bank holiday at sea, but coastguards said yesterday was largely trouble-free.

A spokesman said: "There were a lot of craft on the water, but apart from a few boats breaking down or running ground it was pretty routine."