IoW Outing

We always try an do something a bit different for our wedding anniversary. This year we decided to go to the Isle of Wight for the day... it's a few days early, but probably a little less frantic than it might have been at the weekend.

We left early because of the traffic reports of a closed road between home and Chichester but once past the hold up made good time across to Portsmouth. We drove onto the ferry and headed out to sea (well, The Solent). As we left the harbour we got a misty view of the new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth down at the Naval dockyards. It was very impressive and towered over everything else nearby.

The crossing was quick and smooth and we grabbed a coffee and a magazine to pass the time. The magazine was an interesting guide to the IoW, but the coffee was dreadful.

Once docked at Fishbourne, we set the SatNav to Colwell Bay and pottered out into the 1950s. It really does seem to be in a time warp, and you certainly couldn't hurry anywhere. We arrived at Colwell Bay, parked up and headed for The Hut. This is a quirky little restaurant, right on the shore between rows of beach huts. The tables are, effectively, in the open but there is a sliding roof that can be drawn across when necessary. They also provide blankets on every chair, so that you can cover up if the breeze gets chilly. When we first arrived the roof was drawn closed and wind breaks were up at the front, but as the morning cloud lifted and the sun broke through they opened it all up. It really was delightful. We had a sheltered table from which we could watch the goings on in the restaurant and out in the bay. It afforded views right across to Milford and up towards Lymington.

The food was superb. The Gorse Fox started with fish tacos and the Silver Vixen had a beetroot salad with romanesca, grapefruit and toasted almonds. This proved to a fitting start to the meal. We then moved on to the main course. For the Silver Vixen a grilled lobster, for the Gorse Fox a "surf 'n' turf" burger which was the traditional beef patty with bacon and cheese with half a lobster and lobster sauce. Delicious. Well, it is an anniversary celebration - it seemed only right to spoil ourselves.

We decided to have a bit of a tour on our way round to Osborne House (the next item on our agenda). The Gorse Fox head south and took the old military road along the south coast towards Chale and Niton. This afforded the most wonderful views of the coastline and out over the Channel. At Niton we looped north and stuck to roads that would filter up through the Island, but would avoid Newport. The Gorse Fox had already determined the Newport was clearly one huge traffic bottleneck and was worth avoiding.

We pulled in to Osborne House. We weren't quite sure what to expect but were really quite taken with  the whole place. We started by heading for the House itself. There we took the tour which filtered us through the various public rooms on the ground floor, then down to the servants area before taking us back up to the top of the building and the nursery and back to the first floor and Seen Victoria's apartments. Finally, back downstairs, we saw the formal dining room before heading out onto the terrace.

The terrace is beautifully laid out in an Italianate form with fountains and statuary. Perhaps the most striking aspect though was the view down to the beach and across the Solent to Portsmouth. It was getting late so we didn't have time to go down there on this visit, but would certainly do so if we come again.

It was time for a cream tea then another walk. This time we took in the walled garden with its fruit trees and huge specimens of normal garden plants. They must be so sheltered there that they can grow about 50% bigger than they would anywhere else.

Finally it was time to leave. We headed back to the ferry terminal and were lucky enough to be squeezed onto the ferry before the one for which we had booked. It seemed a very quick crossing and once back in Portsmouth, we were home in 30 minutes. A brilliant day.