Isle of Wight - where to stay, what to see, things to do

[Sweet FA]

I am sure there are things you can do in Southampton.

There really aren't you know.

 

[Callie]

Buy golliwogs and cream teas.

What *is* the obsession with golliwogs there? Its weird.

 

[Paul Russell]

I was going to say brading wax works museum....then googled it and am bereft that it closed in 2009. It was small, freaky and a kid's delight. I remember the winged cats and stuffed animals and a woman in a coffin as the last exhibit....she moved as you went past and as an eleven year old she made my day.

I was sad to see that this has closed. I remember (about 30 years ago) going a couple of times and really liking it. The ghost playing Bach's Toccata and Fugue on an organ. A man, erm, cycling.

I found out it had closed when there was mention in my local paper of an unusual auction room sale, and it was stuff from Brading.

Edit: blimey, I didn't imagine the bloke cycling. It was George Bernard Shaw.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/marthasadie/sets/72157615330406487/

 

[Hocus Eye.]

Thinking about the Isle of Wight, surely there has to be some sort of gallery or other appreciation of Julia Margaret Cameron who lived there and took those famous soft-focus photographs of Darwin and Tennyson and other famous Victorian poets who visited the IOW.

 

[Paul Russell]

Thinking about the Isle of Wight, surely there has to be some sort of gallery or other appreciation of Julia Margaret Cameron

Yes, Dimbola Lodge

 

[boohoo]

I LOVE the Isle of Wight and it's ramsahackle, pretty dated and wierd ways. It's my happy place. FACT

My top tips are: play as much crazy golf as possible. Particularly good civic courses in Sandown and Shanklin. The one on Sandown Pier is pretty good too.

!

you have to go to Browns in Sandown for the best mini golf.

You can go fossil hunting Dinosaur hunts

Go down the devils chimney.Or down Shanklin chine at night - very pretty.

or you could visit my gran.

 

[mauvais]

Discover electricity, invent writing, etc.

 

[sheothebudworths]

Well I got my confirmation of our yha booking yesterday, a month after booking. I was almost hoping it wouldn't show after this thread.

Tbf, I can recall hearing an interview on the radio with an IOW band (The Bees, maybe) about a (then...) recent IOW newspaper headline 'IOW GETS FIRST ESCALATOR!!'

 

[mauvais]

 

[sheothebudworths]

Tell a lie - it was Turin Breaks and the Isle of Man....same same but different </Londoner>

Phew, then, ffs. Lack of escalators = SHIT HOLIDAY.


DRAW ME A FUCKING PICTURE<-- MAUVAIS!

 

[sheothebudworths]

IOW v IOM....escalator wars....

 

[mauvais]

I can't. I'm stuck on the Isle of Wight and noone's come up with drawing yet.

 

[fen_boy]

Yes, Dimbola Lodge

Yes, I enjoyed dimbola more than anything else on the island.

 

[sheothebudworths]

I can't. I'm stuck on the Isle of Wight and noone's come up with drawing yet.

Jesus Christ GET OFF THE INTERNET, you FREAK!

 

[mauvais]

Get off the what now?

 

[sheothebudworths]

Yes, THAT! OR YOU WILL SURELY DIE!

 

[pootle]

you have to go to Browns in Sandown for the best mini golf.

Go down the devils chimney.Or down Shanklin chine at night - very pretty.

Mini golf is not crazy golf. It's dull as. They used to do a brilliant cream doughnut in Brown's cafe though.

Shanklin Chine at dusk is also v lovely. I'm still as yet undecided if the 2cb I did there was a good idea or not. Was quite convinced I'd walked into the Slaughtered Lamb in the pub at the top of the Chine rather than the Village Inn

 

[Paul Russell]

If you're really lucky you might see the Isle of Wight's most famous resident - bass supremo Mark King out of Level 42.

 

[boohoo]

Mini golf is not crazy golf. It's dull as. They used to do a brilliant cream doughnut in Brown's cafe though.

Shanklin Chine at dusk is also v lovely. I'm still as yet undecided if the 2cb I did there was a good idea or not. Was quite convinced I'd walked into the Slaughtered Lamb in the pub at the top of the Chine rather than the Village Inn

That mini golf's good at Browns cos you get one of those swingy clubs and a putter. Also there is a mini golf just past Ventnor which is on a slope and makes for an interesting game - you have to curve the ball up the hill. Crazy golf is good when it's a bit challenging.

oh just remembered - there is a lovely walk from Shanklin to Wroxall along the old railway line. It went past the back of the house my mum grew up in.

 

[Maggot]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

We didn't have any internet there, and I hadn't printed this thread out so I couldn't remember what the suggestions were (apart from the garlic farm).

Don't ever go there unless you have little kids and a half term to fill, or guaranteed snatch action lined up.

HTH!!1!

Funnily enough, it was half term, and the people I went with have little kids.

I suspect most of the suggestions would have been closed anyway, as most things were. We had a good time nonetheless. We went to the garlic farm, found dinosaur poo and nearly got washed away at the Needles (or the Noodles as my friends daughter called it).

 

[editor]

Here's some photos from my recent trip to the IoW where we played a show i the lovely Quay Arts centre at Newport.

This is a GREAT pub!

A trip to Newport, Isle of Wight in photos: ferry, architecture, Quay Arts, The Crispin and street scenes