Brighstone 2019

Well, we were invited back to Brighstone to house - dog - and - cat sit and leapt at the chance. The weather started off cool and damp but we had some nice walks with the dog. Our first was from the National Trust car park at the top of Lynch Lane, up the downs as far as we could until the path started dipping back down towards Brooke. We turned back then as I had a nettle sting under the strap of my sandal. And there was a big hill to walk back up. During the afternoon we had to go to Newport, so we took the dog, let her scare off all the cats in my garden, then went to Carisbrooke Castle and walked twice around the moat, watching teenagers struggling to jump off walls. We didn't laugh, honest. In the evening we strolled  along Coombe Lane, up the green footpath and then back along another which was somewhat overgrown and nettley, and back to the cottage.

On Monday we drove to Chilton Chine and had a lovely walk along the beach throwing the ball for Rosie, as far as Grange Chine, and then strolled back in the driving drizzle picking up litter on the way. We got a reasonable amount. After lunch we left the dog at the cottage and went to Mottistone Manor gardens; I had never been before as I always got the day it opened wrong. The gardens were much larger than they appeared from the road, and had many well planted herbaceous borders and mature trees, with a particularly spectacular Mulberry tree. I hadn't seen one before, and it was covered in fruit. There was also a lovely specimen of a weeping lime tree, absolutely humming with bees in its canopy. We finished with a look at the plant stall (I bought one, oops), a cup of tea and a cake in the tea garden, and a look around the 'shack'; this was a wooden building raised on staddle stones and laid out rather like a boat cabin, with high level bunks, two large desks, a kitchen area and bathroom. It was used as an architects office by the owner in the 1930s. I want one! In the evening we went for another walk with the dog along Coombe Lane, up to the top of the down, across a sheep field and down a gully into a sunken lane and back into Moortown Lane in Brighstone, and then home. Lovely, except for the biting flies.

Tuesday was hot. After breakfast we took Rosie for a walk in the shade of Brighstone Forest, which was lovely and cool and had lots of interesting smells. We came to a crossroads and started walking on, but Rosie picked her ball up, turned around and trotted off in the direction we had come from so we gave up and followed her back to the car! One determined pooch!

The rest of the week followed a similar theme with walks on the downs and the beach. I did a lot of paddling. We had lunch one day at the Piano cafe in Freshwater (lovely open steak sandwich), and also went and explored Ventnor on the opening day of Ventnor Fringe festival. We had lunch at a little Italian restaurant on the seafront, then mooched around the town, ending with delicious ice creams from Crave, a visit to the book bus and a look at The Shed, which had an exhibition about Greenham Common, and sold handmade pottery.

We had a lovely week exploring the countryside and chilling out. We saw lots of fauna, including woodpeckers, coal tits, red squirrels, lots of butterflies, dragonflies, newts, toads, pigeons, herring gulls, buzzards, kestrels, and water boatmen to name a few. This truly is a magical Island.

Sundown at Chilton Chine