Staycation Summary

I recommend Staycation! We had a lovely week, and my daughter had great fun planning what we were going to do, telling me off when I interfered and things went wrong, as well as being in charge of the budget.

Buying Freedom tickets for the bus made sure that we went out every day so that we got good value. We went on 22 bus journeys in total so this works out at about 50p a journey. Bargain! Never thought I'd say that about Southern Vectis. A budget of £20 a day was sufficient for two people, considering main meals and bus journeys were generally not included. We came in under budget by about £8, after spending quite a lot getting in to Blackgang Chine, and having a meal at The Bugle. Worth every penny for the latter at least.

 

We both enjoyed the hiking in the countryside; we do quite a lot anyway but the two walks we did really reminded us just how beautiful this Island of ours is. Dimbola Lodge definitely gets the award for best tea and cake on the Island. Absolute value for money, and the cake was scrumptious.

 

Doing a Staycation made us look more closely at the Isle of Wight, and had the benefit of getting us out of the house every day, doing something interesting, and spending time together without the distractions of housework, television and computers. Everyone should do it, and get the kids to plan it!

Staycation Day 5

We had a lazy day today, starting after lunch and doing minimal walking. We caught the bus to Newport then caught another to Freshwater Bay. This was a double decker and gave us views we had never seen before. The first magnificent view was of Carisbrooke Castle as we sped along the middle road; we could see it in all its glory as it stood upon the hill. After this we drove through the countryside, speeding through the villages of Shorwell, Brighstone, Mottistone and Brook and getting to gaze over hedges and see fields, gardens and allotments that you can't see from a car. The bus then turned along the Military Road and headed for Freshwater. There were good views along the coast and over the sea.

 

We hopped off at Freshwater Bay and headed for Dimbola Lodge, home of the Victorian photography pioneer Julia Margaret Cameron. There were several exhibitions on, all of which were interesting. The permanent exhibitions were of Mrs Cameron's life and work, which was quite interesting, and one about the Isle of Wight Festivals. The main visiting exhibition was by TV presenter and naturalist Chris Packham, and was stunning. The pictures of elephants were particularly good, but all were eye-catching. There was also a small exhibition by Chris Jones featuring landscape shots, as well as an exhibition by students from Medina College which was interesting. Afterwards we browsed in the gift shop then went to the tea room. Oh my! I had a pot of tea for one, which yielded three cups of tea before refilling with hot water, and the most enormous slice of delicious homemade chocolate cake. Sod the diet! My daughter had a refined packet of crisps and a coke. No taste!

 

Our next jaunt took us on the Needles Breezer, an open top bus tour, which we joined at Freshwater Bay. The tour took us through Totland then on to the Needles Park at Alum Bay, then up the cliff road to the Needles Batteries and rocket testing site. Sitting at the front of the top deck of a double decker bus, driving along a narrow road on the edge of a cliff is possibly one of the most nerve wracking journeys you can do in the UK. The bus had a commentary which was mostly along the lines of 'Just to your right, behind the hedge where you can't see it, is....' which was amusing, and only ruined when a couple of very loud chaps got on at Colwell and talked over it. They didn't respond to raised eyebrows or 'tuts' unfortunately. We got off at Yarmouth, which was the end of the line.

 

As it was a beautiful evening, and we had a while until the Newport bus arrived, we went for a stroll around the town. Yarmouth is very small but has a variety of shops, delis and pubs and consequently smelled scrumptious. We decided to stay for tea. First though we went for a walk up Yarmouth Pier; this wasn't a very long pier but it was pretty and had lots of people fishing off the end. Every plank on the pier had been sponsored by local people and organisations too. We had tea at The Bugle, in the town square. I had a delicious homemade fish pie, with bread and salad while my daughter had scampi, chips and salad. They were good sized portions and we were absolutely stuffed by the end. Might go there again!

 

We caught the bus back to Newport, via Shalfleet, then another bus back to Cowes and waddled home. A good day out.

 

Buses: 1, 12, Needles Breezer, 7

 

Tea and cake at Dimbola Lodge

Jimi Hendrix statue at Dimbola Lodge 

 

Staycation Day 4

Today we went to Blackgang Chine, on the south coast of the Island. I'd been trying to avoid it, but was given a voucher which let kids in free so I had no excuse. We blew most of the budget just getting me in however. Nearly £20!!! Not sure how they justify that. However...

 

We started off in the new 'Restricted Area 5' which was full of animated dinosaur models which groaned and snarled, and, in the case of the T-rex, roared loudly enough to make the viewing platform vibrate. Clever. I quite enjoyed that. We then pootled round the rest of the site and saw Nursery Land, Fairy Land, Cowboy Land, the Mouth of Hell, the Crooked House, Giant Insects, the Pirate Adventure Playground, Rumpus Mansion, the Triassic Club etc. We had our picnic in Cowboy Land then played on the slides at Snakes and Ladders. That was fun. I still fit on the slides. Just. We then went to the water gardens and the maze. The maze was fun too, and the water gardens were peaceful. They had big carp in the ponds.

 

Next we headed for the rides; we began with the spinning barrels, which my daughter insisted on spinning fast. I wasn't sick! Afterwards we queued briefly for 'The Cliffhanger' rollercoaster; this is a short ride, but you get to do it twice. It is quite exciting enough for me, but probably a little tame if you are used to Alton Towers and the like. My daughter went on a second time while I looked round 'World of Woodcraft', which was a mini-museum detailing how wood was, well, crafted in days of yore. A little more interesting than it sounds. The last ride was a water slide. Long queue, so my daughter went on it while I held our bags. She shrieked with enjoyment, as did everyone else on there. I shrieked with enjoyment last time I visited.

 

Blackgang Chine is a pleasant, if overpriced, day out. Many of the displays look a little worn and in need of some TLC, but nearly all the kids, and most of the parents, were having a great time which is what counts at the end of the day. The majority of the displays haven't changed for decades, but that is nice because you kept hearing parents saying, happily, 'I remember that from when I was a kid!'. The views along the west coast of the Island are magnificent; we could see all the way to Tennyson Down and the Needles today. The park is slowly falling into the sea due to landslip. This was obvious every time you looked at the coast, and by the fenced off area near cliff edges. However, it has been doing that for most of its existence (150 years?) and is gradually being moved further inland. Worth a visit at least once in your lifetime, preferably with smallish children.

 

View to the Needles

Smuggler at the entrance

 

Staycation Day 3

So, today was Staycation Day three, and we decided to do the Rookley ramble suggested by Southern Vectis buses. As ever, we got the number 1 to Newport and then caught the number 3, hopping off at Blackwater Hollow. The directions said to ignore the first footpath and take the second but we missed the signpost as it was hidden beneath some luxurious foliage, and stomped off up the main road. This was rather dangerous as there was no pavement or verge and there was lots of traffic. We turned round fairly quickly and found where we were meant to go.

 

The path went past some houses and paddocks, and then fields before joining up with the Newport - Sandown cycle track (which used to be the railway line I believe). We came to a fork in the road, took the left towards Stenbury House and continued on, managing to miss our next turning. My map reading skills are impressive! The path went past three houses, the last of which had a garden full of carved tree stumps by local craftsman Paul Sivell. When we realised we had gone too far, we turned back and found we had walked past a gateway sale of produce, so I picked up some runner beans and rhubarb for a donation to the local donkey sanctuary.

 

Once we were on the right path, everything became straight forward (I read the map and instructions very carefully) and we had a pleasant walk through arable fields, sheep pasture, and woodland. We picnicked on the side of a harvested potato field and found a beautiful hawk moth caterpillar. Towards the end we detoured, as suggested, to the Chequers Inn and had a cold drink and shared a bowl of chips. Lovely! We then retraced our steps past Rookley Farm, across another field and somebody's garden and into Rookley Village. We only had to wait a few minutes for the bus and then went home, tired and happy.

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_3921360.html
Distance: official 4.81 miles.  Actual 5.96 miles
Footpaths: A36, A37, GL1, GL5, GL5a, GL6,
Buses: 1 & 3
Budget: pub £6.35, roadside produce £3.10 (which I have to pay back into the kitty apparently...)

Hawk moth caterpillar

View towards Blackwater

Hedgerow and farm-gate produce

Staycation Day 2

Day two started reasonably early, with me making the picnic. We then headed into Cowes, pausing for a photo outside Hurst's (we have been challenged to visit every branch on the Island this week!), then caught the number 1 bus to Newport. We hopped off at the bottom of Hunnyhill, dashed down Lugley Street and I posed for a photo outside Hurst's. Off to the bus station next where we caught the number 9 to Ryde. We hopped off in Union Street and, guess what, snapped a photo of Hurst's and also popped in to buy forks for our picnic as I had forgotten to pack any. We strolled down to the bus station, found we still had quite a wait so wandered over to admire the hovercraft that had just come in. Finally we caught the number 8 bus and alighted at the Wishing Well pub in Pondwell.

From here we joined the Barnsley Trail and spent a pleasant couple of hours tramping through fields and along footpaths, picking sloes and blackberries as we went, and having picnic lunch on Seagrove beach. I'd never been to this beach before and found it was lovely. The beach was mostly sandy and sloped shallowly. Perfect for children. We walked through Seaview to rejoin the trail, stopping briefly for a cup of tea and an ice cream. We then realised that we only had about twenty minutes until the bus left (or we'd be stranded for an hour), so we walked uphill at high speed until we got there! We were in time and spent a pleasant few minutes sitting on a rickety bench in the sunshine at the bus stop.

Buses: 1, 9, & 8

Footpaths: R61, R62, R71, R74, R105, R91, R95

Budget: drinks and ice cream £4.30

Staycation Day 1

For the penultimate week of the summer holidays we have decided to be tourists at home. My daughter is organising it. The rules are simple; I shall buy each of us a weekly rover ticket for the local bus and provide picnics, and she will have a budget of £20 per day to pay for entry tickets etc. She has been advised to come in under budget each day! We will explore this beautiful Island of ours with renewed eyes hopefully.

 

Day 1: Cowes

We struggled initially to find anything to do as the local museum was closed and we didn't want to go shopping or spend the day in a pub. However, we found the 'Boat Trail' which took us from the floating bridge and through the town pointing out interesting things along the way. For instance, we started off admiring the Ratsey and Lapthorne building, noted the crane in the old shipyard, found the building where the old headmaster of Rugby school lived, saw an old jewellers, wandered past a pub where smugglers reputedly hung out, pootled past the Royal Yacht Squadron, then up the hill and up Nunnery Steps and into Northwood Park.

 

We stopped in the old putting green and had a picnic. This was pleasant as it wasn't too warm, and we were surrounded by wildflowers. There was lots of insect life too. After lunch we wandered over to St Mary's Church and searched around for a couple of geocache's and completely failed to find them! We had tried this at the floating bridge too (East Cowes side), and failed there also. To be fair we had no idea what to look for or even how to do it really. It was fun trying however.

 

In the park we bumped into some chums so the kids went and climbed trees and shrieked a lot for half an hour, then we finished the boat trail. Last on the list was St Thomas of Canterbury church, one of the earliest Catholic churches to be built after the reformation apparently. We did a little shopping then popped home for a cuppa, walked to the doctor's, then had a quick stroll in Northwood Cemetery. Very pleasant. Back home, a high speed tea then we caught the bus to Newport and watched 'Hercules' at the cinema. The storyline might make Greek mythologists wince, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Lots of action, dry humour and one or two chaps wandering around rippling their muscles!

 

Budget:
Two cinema tickets £12.20
Snacks £5.38
Change £2.42

Bus fare: two half price (I get student discount) 7 day freedom tickets at £12 each.

Cropredy Festival 2014

We're back from our annual jaunt to Fairport's Cropredy Convention in the glorious Oxfordshire countryside. As usual we met up with a crowd of chums from around the country. There were three newbies this year and a couple of absentees, but in all there were nineteen of us.

 

The music was mixed this year, as ever, but some of the headliners didn't really do it for me. The Genesis set went on and on, and Marillion didn't rouse anything in me. Australian Pink Floyd sounded very good and their light show was superb. I enjoyed The Wonderstuff too. The Waterboys did sound amazing, but I'd gone back to my tent so don't know what their set was like to look at. Oh, and Chas and Dave. Hmm. The less well known bands were often very good though. My highlights were Joe Broughton's Conservatoire Folk Ensemble, Capercaillie, The Mischa MacPherson Trio, Deborah Rose, Edwina Hayes, and Blackbeard's Tea Party (awesome!).  I think that I can conclude that I like folk and folk-rock, but am not so keen on prog rock!

 

Richard Digance opened proceedings on the Saturday with a fun set. This year we had 'Strictly Come Cropredy' where he got as much of the crowd as possible to waltz. Hilarious! Of course, he finished with the Morris dance; nearly twenty thousand people spontaneously stood up and waved white hankies in the air for five minutes. He didn't even announce it this year, misplayed a couple of chords and off we went. Fabulous! We were surrounded by confused Cropredy virgins and dished out white tissues accordingly.

 

The food was good as usual. We breakfasted every day at the Church breakfast, having sausage, bacon and egg inna bun, with large mugs of coffee for a very reasonable price. Yum! For lunches and tea I had falafel and salad in pitta (too much salad, not enough falafel, and fell apart, but tasty), organic beef burgers with stilton, salad and onion relish (delicious), Leon's vegetarian curries and rice (has to be done. My favourite curry was nettle and lentil), and slow-roast pulled pork in a wrap. Lots of tea and coffee, not so much booze, lots of freshly cooked doughnuts.

 

The weather was variable, with rain on Friday night and sunny spells most of the rest of the time. On Sunday morning we were lashed with torrential rain as we took down the tents, and had to paddle through the village to get to the bus stop. This was the tail end of hurricane Bertha apparently. We dried out at Banbury train station, listening to a group of lads playing jolly folk music in the cafe. Every large train station should have an ensemble!

Bonchurch

Lovely walk today. It was quite short but made up for it in terrain. We started off following a route by the Ramblers, but as usual went wrong! Anyway, here is our route and I'll put the link to the other below.

 

We parked near Bonchurch pond on St Boniface Road, then headed along the road towards Bonchurch Shute. We turned right and found ourselves outside East Dene, the home of the Victorian poet Algernon Swinburne (never heard of him!). Slightly further down the road was a house where Charles Dickens stayed, as did various other Victorian literati. Continuing down the road we came to the old church, nearly a thousand years old and the second smallest on the Island. We didn't stop, but I've been inside before and it is very tranquil. Worth a visit. Further down the lane was a proper babbling brook with very cold water. The path descended to the beach; we turned left here and walked along the shingle, via nice toilets which are looked after by volunteers, until we found The Boathouse. We turned left up a steep path, followed it up past some cottages and continued on across old landslip and into woods. This is where I took the wrong path. Instead of going up V65c as instructed, we went up V65d. This was signposted. We should have followed the Coastal Path. However, we followed the path up through the woods coming out near the top of Bonchurch Shute.  The kids were grumpy and hot so we followed the road around until we found The Smuggler's Tearoom. Cold drinks and ice creams followed while we admired the view across the channel.

 

We found the top of V65c by the car park so plunged down it, quickly arriving at the top of the Devil's Chimney (or Heaven's Banana as the ten year old renamed it, to make it less scary). This is a narrow path between high rocks, reputedly used by smugglers in the distant past. We emerged into lovely woodland and followed the path onwards, travelling down several flights of wooden steps, some more rickety than others, then along the cliff top until we found the junction with V65d! We carried on past this, back towards the beach, detouring along the coastal path at the bottom of East Dene, then back up past the church and back into the village. We finished by watching the ducks and carp in the village pond for five minutes then went home. Glorious afternoon!

Distance: 2.1miles
Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_3909348.html
Footpaths: V69, V65d, V66, V65c
Ramblers: http://iowramblers.com/page7.htm

Babbling brook

Entrance to Devil's Chimney

Woodland steps