Blog Archives

Virtual Isle of Wight tours to fill five minutes

30/4/2020

I wasn't completely convinced that virtual tours were the answer to keep us all sane during these unprecedented/difficult/worrying times (delete according to mood).

I thought it might be like putting up pictures of an ex-girlfriend all around the house straight after being dumped. You'd be much better to put on an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, make a ham and cheese toastie and begin listing reasons why you're better off without her (Ed: think you might be oversharing).

But after taking a look at a few of them, I felt they were worth a share. If you really get into it, try setting up a desk fan next to the screen to offer a cool breeze. Pour some concrete into a C-shape in your garden and decorate it with dinosaurs for the Isle of Wight minigolf experience. Or for the authentic seaside day out ask a neighbour to charge you £7 to park on their drive for the day, from a safe distance of course.

1. The Isle of Wight Guru Car Park Viewpoint tour

We normally recommend our Car Park Viewpoint Tour for cold or rainy days where you want to see some of the Isle of Wight without getting off your bottom.

However, it's also useful during a global pandemic when you would like to see the glorious views from the top of Brading Down, Gurnard seafront or Freshwater Bay.

We've embedded a couple of our favourites here, but the whole selection can be found here.

You can click on each one and turn around.

2. Seven seconds at Compton BAy

I assume this 360 view of Compton Bay from Wightlink had to be limited to seven seconds because the camera is set up on the cliff edge which tends to collapse regularly (remember when the car park was twice as big?).

Still, it's good fun being able to turn around briefly, particularly as it includes real life moving people.

Get yourself an ice cream out the freezer and a coffee in a polystyrene cup and you'll feel like you're there.

3. Amazon World

Here's a slightly longer 360 degree video, featuring a selection of human and animal species.

4. Ventnor Botanic Garden

Next up it's everyone's favourite microclimate - Ventnor Botanic Gardens. I wouldn't quite say you could persuade yourself that you're there, but it's a good effort nonetheless.

5. Newport Roman Villa

Finally, a trip inside Newport Roman Villa. As I've mentioned before, my only memory from visiting here was on a school trip when us nine year olds were overwhelmed with giggles when we saw the scantily clad statues.

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Time-wasting Isle of Wight craft ideas. Number 94 - Hama Beads

10/4/2020

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I'm not an especially crafty sew and sew but I can recommend Hama beads as a way of filling an hour during a global pandemic.

Whilst child one started rummaging around for brown beads for her poo emoji shape, I set to a more wholesome project of an Isle of Wight Hama bead shape.

If you're attempting this for yourself, I recommend sticking a map underneath the board (I used this one) and taping the whole thing down. My first attempt was abandoned after a half finished project was bumped by a small child. You may have heard me crying in anguish if you had the windows open at the time.

To add a certain amount of nerdiness I decided to highlight some themed Isle of Wight landmarks in white, grey, orange and yellow. Hopefully you figured out that the blue bits are rivers.

I'll leave you to work out what the different colours represent.

Stick your outline down to avoid catastrophe

Taking shape

The completed outline pre-ironing

Ta da! The Isle of Wight after ironing

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The Sun setting at Brighstone Bay

6/4/2020

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I'll be honest, writing a blog about days out on the Isle of Wight is a bit of a struggle during a national lockdown.

Perhaps I'll cook up some Isle of Wight doughnuts or feature some Isle of Wight craft activities as an alternative to outdoor activities. (Don't) Visit Isle of Wight has come up with a number of Isle of Wight themed lockdown suggestions to work your way through.

For the time being I'll have to stick to photos from people who are lucky enough to live within walking distance of the beach.

So here we go.

Thanks to Dan, who used his government-approved-exercise time to walk to the beach near Brighstone in the West Wight and captured the sun going down. Rest assured, he maintained a distance of two miles from anyone else.

Don't worry guys, the sunsets will still be there once the lockdown is over. Stay safe!