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

Brighstone

Well, we have had weeks of unending sunshine so today my friend and I decided to go for a walk. It thundered and rained. Of course. However, the thunder was exciting and the rain refreshing so all was good. 

We started off in Lynch Lane and headed for the footpath to Moortown (I think that's right; on the right as you head downhill past Coombe Lane), and followed it towards and round Gaggerhill Farm, where we observed some noisy dogs and beautiful horses. The rain started just as we turned into the lane next to the house and we dodged right to a footpath that took us uphill under the trees towards Grammar's Common. This turned out to be a private ("This is not common land") woodland and red squirrel sanctuary, but the footpath went through and we enjoyed the peace and stillness within. At one point we heard a woodpecker and managed to track the noise to three possible trees but could not see the bird itself. Fun looking for it though!

The path led on, out of the woods and down to Strawberry Lane. Here we turned right and picked up a footpath that led to the Long Stone, alongside Castle Hill. We paused in the rain to admire the Long Stone, then detoured to the left and up to the top of Castle Hill to admire the view. One of my favourites, showing the coast from Blackgang Chine to Tennyson Down, even on a cloudy, hazy day like today. We then doubled back and followed the path down through the woods to come out by Mottistone Manor. The manor was not open to the public today, so we crossed the road and prowled around the churchyard, which is a thriving haven for wildlife, and had a look inside the church itself. This is a rather lovely example of a small, country church, and had an interesting display about 'Warrior', the horse that inspired the novel "Warhorse", as he belonged to local landowners. 

We had run out of footpath so we followed the road back to Brighstone in search of a cup of tea, only to find that the once famous cream tea shops had disappeared, so we had a cuppa in the Three Bishops pub instead, and bought an ice cream from the village shop. And a Belgian bun. Oops. We did have a slight detour on the way, having seen a signpost that said village centre half a mile; we followed it over a stream (played Pooh sticks on the bridge), and came out on a housing estate with no indication of where to go, so we retraced our footsteps to the main road. After tea, we decided to head back to Lynch Lane, and found another footpath that led over the downs and through a sheep field to Coombe Lane, which we followed passing several stone cottages until we were back in Lynch Lane. Lovely walk!

Route: https://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_4782839.html 

Distance: 6 miles

Pot Bellied Pig

Unusual clouds before thunder storm

Long Stone

Ordnance Survey Bench Mark on Mottistone Church wall

Brighstone stream

Mottistone to the Sea

I dragged the teenager into daylight and headed for the West Wight today. We parked at the National Trust car park at Mottistone Manor, then followed their suggested route towards the coast. This led through the churchyard down a short lane, over a stile and onto a footpath. This was slightly squishy in places, but had a stream to the right, and plenty of herbage; the nettles were growing, and cow parsley was coming into bud, and all the hedgerow plants were greening up. We followed a pair of mallards to a wild meadow, where they took to a small pond, and we continued onwards.

The path turned right at a junction, bordered by a laid hedge to the left, and we headed onwards to walk along the edge of another stream and a small woodland. This latter was very pretty in the dappled sunlight, with the deciduous trees putting out leaves, and masses of cow parsley on the path. We could hear the songbirds warbling in the trees and hedgerows and noticed a few bees and bumblebees buzzing among the early wildflowers. The path crossed a small bridge and another stile into a rather soggy meadow, coming out after a little while onto the military road.

We turned right, passed two cottages, then crossed over the road to follow a permissive path through fields to the cliff edge at Sudmoor Point, and picking up the coastal path. There was a glorious view here all along the coast from Blackgang to Tennyson Down, and looking down over the landslip we could see that the tide was far out and that the rocky reef was exposed. Unfortunately there was no access to the beach as far as I could see, so we didn't get closer. The teenager was tired so that was probably a good thing! We followed the coastal path for a while until we met a footpath going inland, and followed this back to the military road, and then crossed over and picked up the final path back to Mottistone. This was a lovely farm track between high hedges, secluded from the breeze and warm in the spring sunshine, and led us back to the church and then the car park.

As the teenager had made it all the way round, I rewarded her (and me, obviously) with an ice cream from the van at Compton Bay before driving home along lots of country lanes, avoiding many suicidal pigeons and a pheasant.

Route: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/mottistone-estate/trails/a-mottistone-meander-south-to-the-sea-walk-2

Distance: 2.8 miles

Footpaths: BS74, Coastal Path, BS75, BS100

Mottistone Church

Woodland Stream

View from the coastal path towards Freshwater

Mottistone

I had a day out with my Mum today, and we drove to Mottistone hoping to visit the gardens at Mottistone Manor. They were closed, sadly, but we did peep over the wall and what we could see looked lovely.  Instead we went for a walk; we crossed the road and visited the Church, which was apparently having a flower festival but the arrangements inside looked rather faded and droopy.  The church itself was lovely, with mediaeval features, a Jacobean pulpit and altar chairs and lovely Victorian tiles in the chancel.  Outside, the churchyard was a feast for the eyes, with masses of wildflowers amid the long grass and ancient gravestones and flowering lilac trees.

We crossed the village green and made our way down a lane, vaguely thinking that the garden of a friend of a long-dead relative was down there; sadly not, but the lane itself was bordered each side with masses of cow parsley, buttercups, scarlet pimpernel, ragged robin and numerous other wildflowers.

We made our way back to the village then followed a footpath through the woods (MASSES of bluebells!) and up to the Longstone; this is actually two prehistoric longstones thought to have made the entrance to a barrow. We stopped and admired the view across the heath to the downs, had a picnic, bumped into a couple of chums, then headed round the corner and up the hill to the top of Castle Hill, an ancient earthwork, and were suitably stunned by the magnificent view along the coast from Tennyson Down in the north to Blackgang Chine in the south. One of the best views on the Island I think.

The Longstone, Mottistone

Next we headed back the way we had come, with a slight detour in the woods via some magnificent flowering gorse bushes, wandered through the National Trust car park and over the road to Mottistone Manor Farm Shop.  We were the only customers, and bought some fresh eggs, local asparagus, and 'Oil of Wight' rapeseed oil. Classy name!  We headed home via Chessell Pottery where we stopped for a magnificent cream tea.

http://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_3206548.html