isle of wight activities

madlyn

the other half and i are off too the IOW in a couple of weeks, staying in shaklin at the lower hyde holiday park.
it's the first time either of us have ever been, and decided to go after many recommendations.
we both like the outdoors and fairly active so possible pony treking (which i would love to do) nice gardens or country houses to visit. arts and crafts too.
and somewhere that does nice fish and chips!!
any advice on any of the above and more would be great.

Alikay

English Heritage membership is worthwhile for an Isle of Wight holiday: There's Osborne House, Carisbrooke Castle, Appledurcombe House plus loads of others. You'll save more than the cost of a year's membership during the holiday alone.

mintymoneysaver

Best walk you can do on the island. Park at Freshwater Bay ( not in the car park, just go down the road at the side of it and you can park for free) Walk past the bay up to Dimbola Lodge and then follow the footpath up Tennyson Down. ( You can't miss it, it's the one with the big monument at the top!) Most fantastic views you will ever see! When you reach the top keep walking until you see a little gateway marked Warren Farm. Go in here for the best cream tea, home made cakes on the island. Then you can carry on walking to the battery at Alum Bay if you want, or if that's done you then walk back again!

If you're looking for somewhere to have your tea the Spyglass on the front at Ventnor can't be beaten, and there's a lovely little pub called the Fishermans rest right on the beach at the far end of Shanklin near the Chine.

There is pony trecking, but can't recommend anywhere in particular. If you're the types that enjoy walking then you can quite easily find a new walk each day. Nine weeks till I'm back there for my annual holiday and I can't wait!

hamsterfan1

Osborn house is brilliant - there are statues of naked men everywhere but all the wone are covered up - you can tell who wore the trousers in that realtionship.

If the weather is nice take an open topped bus ride around the island - there are several routes & it's a lovely way to see the island as you can see over hedges whch you wouldn't in a car .

Jem8472

When we visited IOW we went to a butterfly house which was really good. But annoyingly I cant remember where it was...... Dont even have a link saved in my favourites. Google found it!

http://www.butterfly-world-iow.co.uk/


I found Osborn house to be ok. I personally would have skipped the house if I knew how long it was going to be. There is only so many rooms full of nice stuff you can look at without getting bored. Made worse that you are not allowed to take photos.

The grounds were very impressive and we did not get to see all of it due to the long time it took to get round the house, but I would go back again to see the rest of the grounds.

There are plenty of walks and plenty of maps and tourist information for things to do once you get to the island. Our B&B we stayed in have lots of leaflets on things to do.

Here is a good review website for places to eat on the IOW.

http://mattandcat.co.uk/reviews/index.php

Also on the rocks in Yarmouth is a great place to eat. You cook your own steak on a very hot volcanic rock but its great. Food was lovely and massive portions.

System

we have just returned from the IOW yesterday and although we enjoyed it when we went in 2007 we hated it this time and will never go back. i found everything seriously over priced and fort victoria over hyped !

AbsCaveDave

I love taking the train from Ryde to Shanklyn - Its a nice journey for a mooch

mintymoneysaver

CHRISSYG wrote: »

we have just returned from the IOW yesterday and although we enjoyed it when we went in 2007 we hated it this time and will never go back. i found everything seriously over priced and fort victoria over hyped !

What a shame. We go over every year, and to be honest we very rarely go anywhere that costs any money. Walking, the beach and spending time with friends are what we go for. I have visited many places in the past, but once you've been there once you don't really need to go again. Having said that, i've never been to Fort Victoria!

mintymoneysaver

madlyn wrote: »

arts and crafts too.
any advice on any of the above and more would be great.

Just noticed this comment too. Chessell pottery is good for a rainy day. You can decorate your own pottery, but you need to wait a couple of days to pick it up so go earlier on in the week. They have a great cafe too!

susancs

We had a great time when we went to the IOW a couple of years ago. We visited the model village at Godshill, plus a small toy museum there and there were lots of really nice tea shops. We went to a lovely one in a thatched cottage. Also we liked the Needles which had a chairlift down to the coloured sands. We saw glassmaking demonstrations and sweet making demonstrations. The drive down to the Needles was lovely too. Blackgang Chine was really good fun as an old fashioned type of amusement park and the history part showing the errosion was very interesting. We stayed in Shanklin and the Shanklin Chine is lovely. We also visited a Donkey Santuary. There was also a nice thatched church we visited.

miss_scrooge

The chips in Brading are nice don't know about the fish.Osbourne house is nice from what I remember went in the 90s and was a kid.Went in a horse and carriage don't know if they still have that they have another house at the end of a long path a small house.I used to go to the isle of wight quite a few times every year for six years stopped going two years ago everytime it was shanklin. Whatever you do don't get the chips on the corner nr arcades in shanklin nr the beach the ones with plastic seats outside horrible.Chips in newport are nice the chip shop nr shops and near a church.Also theres a fishmonger in shanklin in a really small shop he was selling oysters for 60p the only thing is he won't open it for you the oysters I mean.