UK Tourist & Leisure Attractions - Isle of Wight

The Sunshine Trail here runs along the route of the disused railway from Shanklin to Ventnor; we picked it up just a stone's throw from our holiday cottage in Wroxall near where the old Wroxall station used to be.  Heading south, we soon diverted off onto...

...the Worsley Trail which took us on a bit of a strenuous climb up to the site of Cooks Castle, signified by this plinth.  Here we paused our walk to take on water, have a breather and look back towards Wroxall and the lovely Isle of Wight countryside.

We were sure glad of the shade along this bit of the Worsley Trail; along the way we did some geocaches then after a while the walk levelled out before...

...arriving at the top of Shanklin Down and time to top up with sunscreen - and enjoy the exquisite coastal view towards Shanklin and Sandown beyond.

Phew!  On arrival in Shanklin Mike came out with his usual predictable expression after a hot and sticky walk: 'The first pint won't touch the sides!'  So once in Shanklin Old Village we headed straight to The Crab Inn (seen here on the near left), sat outside and enjoyed a fine lunch washed down with a pint or three - see our pub report on BITE.  Shanklin Old Village has many thatched buildings and comprises tea rooms, cafés and gift shops and is very popular with tourists.  The lane in front of Pencil Cottage (central in this pic) leads to Rylstone Gardens and...

...Shanklin Chine, which was our next visit after exploring the Old Village.  Shanklin Chine is a steep sided woodland gorge and is the Isle of Wight's oldest tourist attraction which...

...we walked down (entrance £3.90) and were enchanted by the huge picturesque waterfalls.

We also saw part of PLUTO (Pipe Line Under The Ocean) used to pipe fuel to Allied troops in France in WWll and visited the Heritage Centre exhibition where we learnt more about PLUTO and the island's aviation history.  Shanklin Chine exited at beach level - and the call of another Isle of Wight pub, Fisherman's Cottage, right on the beach here for a swift half!
See our UK tourist resources for more on the places we visit.

Onwards and upwards (or eastwards in this case) and a short stroll along the attractive Shanklin beach front on the Isle of Wight just in time for...

...a yummy ice cream on the beach before heading up into town to pick up the Sunshine Trail for our 3 mile (and thankfully level) walk back to Wroxall.

Another day and another walk on our Isle of Wight holiday.  Appuldurcombe House was a short stroll from the holiday cottage in Wroxall and is mostly...

...ruins.  Open to the public (cost: £3.75), the mansion has had a rather bumpy history (website on resources page).  It's also reputed to haunted by...

...a thundering carriage, a crying baby and phantom monks.  We headed deep down into the bowels of Appuldurcombe House and went ghost hunting...

...but despite our best efforts the ghosts refused to play.  Appuldurcombe House also has falconry and holiday cottages on the Appuldurcombe estate.

Continuing our walk to Godshill we went through Freemantle gatehouse (seen ahead) seemingly built in the middle of nowhere.  Although sunny now, the day started off very wet, hence the waterproofs.

Godshill is another very popular Isle of Wight tourist village full of quaint chocolate box cottages and tea rooms, one of which can be seen above.  There's also plenty of gift shops, a cider shop, toy museum and...

...the famous 1/10th scale Godshill Model Village which was where we headed following an excellent lunch (and a pretty strong cider!) in The Taverners pub opposite.

Godshill's model village was delightful!  Covering a large area it had really involving models such as music coming from the church and cricket match sounds from the model pitch.

Wonderful!  The Shanklin Chine model.  Apparently models are thatched using authentic material and it was abundantly clear how well maintained it all was.

And here's the model railway at the model village in Godshill, complete with trains chuffing along, whistling and stopping at the stations.  Delightful.

In the foreground is the model village within the model village, and just look how well trimmed all the greenery is.  We've visited several model villages on our travels and this one at Godshill was by far the best, the attention to detail couldn't be faulted.  Adult entrance cost £3.75 and there's a small tea and gift shop.

Safely back in Wroxall we knocked up a tasty Spag Bol in our comfortable Isle of Wight holiday cottage - washed down by some of that scrumptious cider we bought in Godshill.  Now, checkout that view from our dining table window!  Next up: a visit to Amazon World and the Isle of Wight Steam Railway >>>