A few days on the Isle of Wight

The view from our hotel. Freshwater Bay

 The Isle of Wight is where we went as a family every year for years when I was a child. I must admit I wasn't keen to go back as an adult at first. But I did return, once with my brother and then with my own children when they were small. This was my second visit with different friends, both times staying in Freshwater Bay. The view from the hotel is one of my favourites. This side of the island is the quietest and uncommercialised, which I love. It is so peaceful.

We arrived to blue skies on Tuesday and were soon outside wandering down to the bay and up on to the coastal path, but only so far. These days, much of the costal path is wearing away and there are diversions.

A very sad monument on the coastal path at Freshwater Bay

The hotel had three parties of people, a walking and sightseeing group, rambles with a sketchbook and self-guided. We were the latter, doing our own thing.

There was rain forecast for Tuesday night and I was woken at around 3am to the sound of wind howling around the building and rain on the window. Then suddenly it just stopped. Wednesday began cloudy, but we had our plans. We borrowed the walking map from Freshwater Bay to Yarmouth. The hotel has a discovery point room where you can borrow maps to suit your walking ability - three levels. Ours was an easy walk. There is also tons of information on hand from leaflets about places to visit, to bus timetables.

Their maps are easy to follow with step by step instructions and photos. Even for a bad map reader like me, I've never got lost with one of HF Holidays' maps.

The walk was lovely as we followed the route across a field and eventually joined the River Yar all the way into Yarmouth. The track we used was once a railway line which went from Newport to Freshwater, but was closed in the 1950's as it was barely making a profit. We found the old Yarmouth station. This has now been turned into a lovely restaurant and cafe. We stopped here for hot chocolate before walking into Yarmouth.

Wednesday morning  and a different mood

Across the fields. Yarmouth in the distance.

What a sweetie!

River Yar

Where the railway track used to be

Old Yarmouth station

Yarmouth is a small town, yet it has a castle, built under instruction from King Henry VIII. This is where we stopped to eat our packed lunch. There is also St James Church, which is so with a visit. We found a lovely tea room where we stopped for a pot of tea and sat in the conservatory. The sun had appeared, a combination of clouds and sun and a little windy.

Yarmouth Castle

The kitchen - every one needs a canon in their kitcehn!

The old entrance

The top of the castle where we ate our lunch

Ferry leaving Yarmouth for Lymington

Yamouth

St James Church

Tea rooms

We came back on the Island Breezer bus, an open topper. We were the only ones on it! And yes, we did sit on the top deck. Great fun.

The next day we also took the Island Breezer to The Needles (Old Battery). The seats were wet, so we had to wipe them, but we were determined to enjoy ourselves, though we did don woolly hats this time! We had a lovely view over Alum Bay, and then once off the bus we wandered around the fort. This is run by National Trust. Although I'd been here before, I'd not had time to see everything, certainly not the corridor underground which leads to the old searchlight. You get some stunning views of The Needles from here.

The Old Battery, The Needles

Everyone had to change their clothes because even a piece of grit could spark an explosion

 in the gunpowder room

Weighing the gunpowder

The Needles

Lighthouse

Leading to the searchlight

The searchlight - sorry this one is slightly out of focus

Alum Bay

We stopped at the cafe for a drink and then made our way to the New Battery, but the signposting wasn't great and I think we missed most of it. There was supposed to be a rocket testing site, which we didn't find it. We had our lunch and then set off walking back to Freshwater Bay via the costal path. We came down near Farringford House, the home of Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Although the house wasn't open, the gardens were. They are beautiful. We saw the house from the outside and I'm keen to go back another time and see inside. The house re-opens later this week, but you have to book tickets online.

The coastal path

Farringford Gardens

Farringford House

Tennyson Bridge. He had this built to keep his house private.

Finally, on the walk back we stopped at St Agnes Church. A church with a thatched roof. It's a lovely place.

Our final day, we decided to visit Sandown. I wanted to paddle, and Sandown has a sandy beach. Getting there was a bit tricky. We took one bus to Newport, the island's capital (very busy), and changed to another bus. The buses aren't very frequent. This one is an hourly bus, but does have gaps of two hours during the day, so we had to time things well.

In Sandown we went on the pier, which is really only amusement. We had a game of crazy golf, which was great fun and then walked along the seafront and ate our lunch. Then it was time for that all important paddle. We sat on the sand. My friend had backed out, but I'd already made up my mind to paddle whatever the weather. It was 12c, we had our coats on, but the sand was really warm. I sped off down to the sea, and it was refreshing and not as cold as I thought it would be. My friend gave in and came down the next time.

Crazy golf!

Sandown

Looking toward Culver Cliffs

Our bus was late, which meant we missed our connection and had to catch the other bus which only goes to Freshwater, just over a mile from the seafront. We used the HF map to guide us through Freshwater Way, a signposted footpath. This took us through some gardens and country, missing the town. The footpath ended near our hotel.

Oh, he/she is so cute

Our time was over all too soon. In the evenings we played Ludo, Scrabble and Isle of Wight Monopoly. I didn't take part in the quiz night for the first time since going on these holiday, but we did take part in the Freshwater Bay Fayre in the ballroom on the last  night. Tables were set up with games like guess the number of sweets in the jar, guess the weight of the rucksack, how many pegs can you take off the line and hold in one hand without dropping them (I managed 10, the winner held 12). It was all good fun. The people were lovely, and the sketchers put their drawings/paintings on display so we could see what they had been doing all week.

The hotel organised taxis for those who needed them for their ferry from Yarmouth back to Lymington on Saturday morning. They always try to get people to share to reduce costs. HF are such a great holiday company. I've have used them loads of times and always recommend them. I know I shall be back again one day. I took so many photos, I really had to think about which ones to post here!

Goodbye Yarmouth, see you again soon

Lymington