Postcard from the Isle of Wight

This drizzly day in Worthing seems an apt time to post a few pictures from the Isle of Wight. We traveled to the largest island of England two weeks ago (though it already seems much longer) by train and ferry. 
 

The journey took two and a half hours in total and couldn't have been smoother. There's a direct train from Worthing to Portsmouth where the ferry terminal is reached by walking down a ramp inside the train station. The ferry ride was an all too brief 20 minutes and an absolute joy on a bright sunny day – we felt like we were going abroad! From Ryde Pier Head we hopped onto the Island Line railway (comprising old stock London Underground trains) for a scenic route down the eastern side of the island to the Victorian seaside resort of Shanklin - our destination. 

A few days on the island transported us back to a 1970s vision of England. We walked along the under cliff from Shanklin to Sandown – a sleepy resort in April – had an excellent cup of tea at Harrigan's seafront café and gift shop where my daughter was dazzled by the plethora of figurines and trinkets on sale (and I succumbed to a souvenir tea towel) then trekked on past boarded up buildings and neglected playgrounds to Dinosaur Isle. 

A trip into Ryde showed us glimpses of previous Victorian splendour in a town mostly in decline, a complete contrast to lovely Ventnor with its dozens of restaurants and cafés, wealth of excellent second hand clothing and book shops and the wonderful Rainbows fabric and craft shop – haberdashery heaven.

  
At Ventnor Haven we took a stunning coastal tour with Lucy and Sean Strevens of Cheetah Marine in a boat they'd impressively designed and built themselves. They kindly let my 9 year old drive the boat back at high speed – thrilling experience of a lifetime for her and a terrifying but amazing one for me! My favourite adventure of the holiday was a ramble up and around Shanklin Chine, resplendent with fabulous flora and waterfalls. We must return soon.

Postcard from the Isle of Purbeck

The Isle of Purbeck is a peninsula (not an island) and lies on the southern tip of Dorset. We headed by train and taxi to Swanage, destination the lovely family-friendly campsite at Kirkwood Park. Swanage town - just a 10 minute walk from the campsite - is full of old-fashioned British seaside charm. It has a small sandy beach with fine views across the bay, great fish and chip shops, a choice of amusement arcades and a magnificent working steam railway. 

Daytimes we rode the chuffing, puffing steam train through an Enid Blyton landscape, climbed up to Corfe Castle and took coastal walks along Studland Bay, marvelling at the glory of Old Harry Rocks. By night we wandered through town following the sound of ringing church bells and sat around a campfire toasting marshmallows under star-filled skies.

 

We Picked-Our-Own at Roundstone Farm

The start of September marks our annual trip to Roundstone Farm. This year my lovely friend Mock Duck and her charming family joined us on our rural adventure.
   England's early summer floods and continuing rain have meant that the only successful fruit/vegetable crop in my garden has been my daughter's tomatoes - grown from seeds found in her box of Innocent smoothies - so it was a real delight to see the abundant harvest at Roundstone. It's an ideal place to visit with children, but you don't have to be 7 years old to get a kick out of riding to the top of the farm in the tractor's passenger trailer, or from digging and pulling carrots out of the ground. The biggest cheer from me came when we found the orchard of Victoria plums - hundreds of trees heavy with large red, gold and dusty pink egg-shaped fruit. I picked as many as I could carry.

     We returned home with long stems of rhubarb, punnets full of berries, huge beetroot, bags of onions, fat ears of sweetcorn, carrots, cauliflower, red cabbage and beans, and our lungs full of sweet country air.
    We travelled there by train - the nearest station being Goring-by-sea, then it's a 20 minute walk (alas along a busy main road) towards the farm. Leaving Roundstone with a heavy load of delicious produce we caught the (expensive) 700 bus from just outside the farm back to Goring-by-sea station.

The Pull of the Bluebell Line

On the first day of the Easter holidays we took a ride on a vintage steam train along the Bluebell Railway. Our chuffing, puffing train travelled through Sussex countryside while we enjoyed the budding sights of spring. We stopped to marvel at the impressive shiny splendour of Horsted Keynes station and if we'd been wearing petticoats I'm sure we would have waved them in the air at this point. Reaching the end of the line at Kingscote we embarked on a ramble through Minepit Wood and found a peaceful spot for a picnic in a grassy clearing at the top of a hill. With great views of fields and surrounding woods the only sounds came from chirping birds and the distant whistle of the train as it slowly chugged away through the Sussex Weald.
   Our visit to the railway was too early in the season for us to see this year's bluebells so we plan to return in May.

Ducks and trains in Arundel

The best thing about Arundel is the Wetland Centre. A beautiful and life-affirming sanctuary for wildfowl. The best thing about Ford is The Engine Shed – the UK’s biggest laser cut model railway shop. You don’t have to be a nerd to enjoy this kind of experience, but it helps. If only the real railway system was as well designed and efficient as Karl Gebele’s worlds within worlds miniature reconstructions – but then if it was we wouldn’t have stumbled upon the shop. We left smiling and clutching our Noch catalogues.