Niton and St Lawrence

Today's adventure was around the south of the Island. We parked at the top end of St Catherine's Road then walked down and joined Castle Haven Lane. We followed this past some lovely gardens and a great view of St Catherine's Lighthouse, down to the beach, where we found several lobster pots, a cafe and some huts. The tide was very high so after walking along the rock sea defences we turned back and walked up to Undercliff Drive.

Undercliff Drive has been closed to through traffic for several years due to a large landslip. We ambled along it for some time, passing woodland, interesting houses, snails, crossing a bridge and a strange stone inscribed with initials and a date and surrounded by a cage. No idea what it was for! We also found the remains of a stone cottage in a small nature reserve which had a small cloud of bumblebees buzzing round it. There were also enormous fungi!

We followed Undercliff Drive to Ventnor Botanic Gardens and had a very pleasant lunch in the cafe there. Afterwards we had a mooch around the gardens (Gardeners World 2 for 1 card came in handy here!) admiring all the interesting plants and then joined the coastal path and started our way back.

The coastal path led past Orchard Bay. We could see a rock at the far end with three cormorants on it, so we went down the steps and crossed the beach to have a closer look. This was a new beach to me and I really liked it! The beach was covered in fine shingle (not ideal when wearing sandals) but had big rocks at the bottom and sides which were great for scrambling on. We got quite close to the cormorants and then had an explore of the rocks and rock pools; there were lots of clusters of winkles (I think. Sea snails anyway.) in depressions in the rocks, and a lot of limpets. As we made our way back over the rocks near the steps we saw a lizard - really exciting! Neither of us had seen one before. We then saw a wren, which was nice but not as exciting.

Back up the steps then to follow the coastal path to St Lawrence and up a side path leading to St Lawrence Old Church. This was delightful. The church is small, seating perhaps 60 people, and dates from the twelfth century. The first rector was called Roger! There is a beautiful pre-raphaelite stained glass window there too.

We walked back into the village and rejoined Undercliff Drive and made our way back to the car. A really lovely, interesting walk.

Distance, including the botanic gardens, approx. 16km.

Route: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/843531?units=km

Ventnor Botanic Garden

Nearly the end of half term so teenager and I decided to have an expedition which included lunch. We headed south to Ventnor Botanic Garden, via Rookley and Whitwell (nice bendy country roads), paid the entrance fee and headed for 'Edulis', the restaurant in the gardens. Unfortunately their menu is not overly friendly for a picky teenager but she eventually decided on a ham sandwich, crisps and millionaire's shortbread, all of which met with satisfaction. I took a while to choose my meal as they all sounded yummy to me, and I eventually settled on the seafood linguine. Oh my goodness, this was yummy! Freshly caught local crab, mussels and king prawns in a nice sauce. Delish!

Once lunch was over we ambled around the gardens for an hour or so, having a good old natter and admiring the plants. The garden is on the site of a Victorian Tuberculosis hospital, and in a little valley which has a lovely, warm microclimate. Being close to the coast and the Gulf Stream helps too. Due to this, a wide variety of plants that would be too tender in many parts of the country can be grown here. Today the Echiums were at their peak, towering into the sky, ablaze with blue flowers and buzzing with bees. One of my favourite plants. Many other flowers were in bloom such as Sisyrinchium, Abutilon, Osteospermum, Allium, Syringa, Arum, and Rosa. I was particularly taken with the variety of bark textures on the many trees, and particularly liked a variety of Myrtus.

Once we had finished in the garden I perused the seed shop and bought several packets of wildflowers for my garden project. The botanic garden sells seed collected from it's own plants, as well as plants grown from cuttings from the garden, so you can get varieties of plants you wouldn't ordinarily find in a garden centre. Their gift shop is also very tempting, but today I mostly resisted the urge to buy lovely things!

Once we left we headed back towards Godshill and popped into Brownrigg Farm Shop to stock up on local produce - "Oil of Wight" anyone? - and then toddled off to Ryde for other supplies; I didn't drive my usual route and went via Ashey Road, and at one point came round a corner and down a hill to see a magnificent view before us which caused me to shriek "OH MY GOODNESS! We're so lucky to live here!".  Beautiful, beautiful Isle of Wight!

Echium flowers

Acer

Myrtus bark

Pelargonium

Allium (Chives)