Travel: Isle of Wight

The sun shone for us on our week away in the Isle of Wight in early July. We took the short ferry crossing from Lymington (involving a stunning drive through the New Forest) to Yarmouth. I know that we are very lucky but I actually felt quite emotional and thankful on the ferry over that we actually managed to get away on a holiday.

Gatehouse at Appludurcombe

Our accommodation was in the gatehouse of Appuldurcombe House (free to visit), which is an English Heritage property. The house itself was small and basic, but perfect for the two of us and we were allowed to freely roam the estate after hours. It became an evening ritual to wander the grounds searching for red squirrels (which we saw most evenings). 

Appuldurcombe House

Saturday

Unfortunately, our first full day began with a spot of rain. However, we made a good choice in visiting Ventnor Botanic Gardens as much of that was sheltered from the rain by the trees. What a stunning garden, and it is free to return again within a week (which we did do as there was so much to see). It has it's own microclimate as it is situated on the cliff and is frequently much warmer than the rest of the Isle of Wight.

The restaurant, Edulis within the gardens is also well worth a visit. Although we only had a baguette lunch there (beautifully succulent gammon), it was delicious and I'm sure a good taste of the excellent food that they serve in the evening.

When the rain cleared up in the afternoon, we did a circular walk from our holiday cottage taking in the Donkey Sanctuary (free to visit, but donation expected) on the way. Although it isn't as impressive as our local one at Sidmouth, it was a nice diversion on our walk.

Sunday

We had Sunday lunch booked at the Garlic Farm Restaurant (free), but en route stopped at Arreton Barns which was a collection of local shops selling anything from made on the premises leather belts, to glass items and included a great farm shop called Farmer Jack's which was a brilliant place to pick up some food items as we were self-catering.

There are farm walks (and a tractor ride if you want to pay for it) at the Garlic Farm, and they had this stunning meadow area. The food at the restaurant was good, and we came away with armfuls of garlic related goodies from the shop (I paid more for the salad dressing than I would for a bottle of wine)!!

In the afternoon, we went to Carisbrooke Castle (another English Heritage property) and what a fantastic castle it was too. There were some great walks around what would have been the moat as well as at the top of the castle walls and on to the keep. This would be a great destination with children.

Monday

As the weather hadn't really improved, we decided to go to the north of the island to Cowes. After a bit of a wander around the new town and a spot of retail therapy, we headed over to the old town and walked along the coast for a mile or two. It was actually a really pleasant walk and we had a lot of fun window shopping for a luxury apartment as we walked!

Lunch was at Cowes harbour overlooking the yachts, and despite the impending rain clouds, we stayed dry. It was a great place to watch the world go by. 

There is an interesting floating bridge between East and West Cowes on which cars can travel, and this is the route we opted for to take us to our next destination of Quarr Abbey (free to enter). Quarr Abbey is actually a working monastery with some woodland and farm walks, and you can purchase products grown and made in the abbey too.

Tuesday

From our cottage, we walked to Godshill to visit the Model Village for opening time. Godshill is a real honey pot destination with chocolate box cottages and does get overrun with tourists. The model village was very sweet with a little trail of items for children to find, but I found the figures a little macabre.

For many years my husband was an Archaeology teacher, so we couldn't bypass an opportunity to visit Brading Roman Villa. The mosaic was really interesting especially as it had been heavily damaged by polluted water in a flood in the 1990s, as well as the outside space.

We were really packing a lot of activities into our days because we continued the day with a visit to Bembridge Windmill (National Trust) followed by a circular walk around Bembridge itself, which is a very attractive little place.

Wednesday

Shanklin Chine (not to be confused with Blackgang Chine which is some kind of adventure park) was an absolutely godsend on a searing hot day. The cooling effect of the chine and the foliage was the best. There is a charge to go to Shanklin Chine, but you can also return free within 7 days, and they are illuminated at night.

This photo below is the same area as the one I have shown at the model village above!

If I see crazy golf whilst I am holiday, I am right there. I don't know what it is (the inner kid) but even at 48 I still love it. There are two fantastic crazy golf courses right on the promenade at Shanklin.

We took advantage of the free return to revisit Ventnor Botanic Gardens in the late afternoon. As the sun was out, we actually saw quite a few lizards this time around. We ate dinner out at the Smoking Lobster, Ventnor (booking recommended - we booked several weeks in advance and the tables on offer were low). Wow, the food was amazing and was a fish with an asian twist - so tasty.

Thursday

We had pre-booked (recommended) lunch at Castlehaven Cafe to which we planned to walk to, which ironically was a similar fish/asian theme as the Smoking Lobster, but again was really tasty (I had a monk dog (a monkfish hot dog)! We parked at the top of the cliff and walked down past St Catherine's lighthouse to Niton Undercliff which is where the cafe is situated. You really don't want to drive down.

The only problem with having wine at lunchtime at this place was having to walk back up a cliff in the heat! As we were on the south coast anyway, we drove over to Mottistone gardens (National Trust) for a little look - very pretty it was too.

Friday

Our holiday ended but we hadn't seen the Needles! So we took a small detour on the way back to Yarmouth. It was beautiful to look at, but you couldn't ignore the horrible theme park right behind you - and you have to pay £6 to park in the car park!

I really loved visiting the Isle of Wight and would definitely return, however, I feel that I might give it 3 or 4 years because we did pack quite a lot into our week there. Of course there is always the coast path to do! 

Love Mrs Jones x