I am always delighted when something opens on the Isle of Wight - whether it's a new restaurant, a new attraction or an envelope.

Tapnell Farm has been opening new things pretty regularly for a few years now, including the Farm Park, Football Golf, Axe Throwing and now the Maze Maize.

It's open throughout the school summer holidays and costs £5. There's also a cow-finding game as you go round and you can pick sunflowers at the end. 

Here's my guide to some cheap and free places to park on the Isle of Wight including free parking in Ryde, Newport, Sandown, The Needles, Ventnor and Shanklin. It is ideal for anyone - like my mother - who is willing to walk some distance to avoid paying to park. I really don't like paying to park, but I usually cough up now that we have children and 14 bags on every beach outing.

It is also worth trying Your Parking Space and Just Park for events such as Cowes Week or for parking near a ferry port. You can rent out someone's driveway for a few hours or days via the website.

Quite a lot of Isle of Wight seafront parking is free in the depths of winter but I won't bother listing all of those, as most people visit the Island in spring, summer and autumn. I've focused on the places where you might have a day out.

There's also the controversial topic of whether it's acceptable to park in a permit-free residential area as long as you aren't blocking someone's drive. Personally, I have no problem with this (and don't mind people parking near my house) but I do whoosh off pretty quickly when I return to the car in case an angry resident has been waiting for me with a rolling pin... 

This guide will probably go out of date before I hit publish, so please comment at the bottom if a) somewhere is no longer free or b) you've found somewhere else free or cheap to park on the Isle of Wight. Also, please check signs for yourself when you park somewhere as I may have got things wrong. And for any grandmas reading, the best way to suck an egg is at the pointy end.

Let's start with one of the trickiest places to visit without paying for parking.

The road which leads to Alum Bay and The Needles has double yellow lines which seem to go on for miles. Last time we visited, the only car park was £6. That's not exorbitant for all day parking but it's a bit pricey if you only stay for 10 minutes before one of the children has a meltdown.

• Islanders may be aware that if you pay to park at The Needles once then you can use the car park again for free for the rest of the year. You need to show proof of address.
• Some people park in the layby on a right turn as you approach The Needles. It's then about five minutes' walk to the foot of the steps near to Alum Bay. I am not 100% sure that this is a) still an option and b) a legitimate place to park. Please leave a comment below if you try this option or give us a call from the police station if it doesn't work out. 
• Alternatively, you could combine a trip to The Needles with one of the best walks on the Isle of Wight. There's a free National Trust car park near to the Tennyson Monument. Climb up to the monument and then walk for about 1.5 miles along the footpaths to the Needles. It's a great walk, but it would be a hard sell to my children even with the promise of the Hook a Duck at the Needles.

Cowes gets pretty ruthless when it comes to summertime parking, particularly in Cowes Week.​

• You can park for a couple of hours for free on Park Road, alongside the big pay and display car park for Northwood House. Nearby, Ward Avenue has some free on-street parking but I've never had much luck finding a space in summer.
• There is also free parking on the esplanade at the Gurnard end, at the time of typing. You may end up walking for a mile, but it's a beautiful walk so stop complaining. There has been talk of this free parking ending, so don't take my word for it! Head for the Woodvale Pub and start driving towards Cowes and there might be an on-street space.

There are some residential roads on the edges of the town centre which are free, but a lot are now resident permit areas.

• The lower car park at Cineworld cinema offered three hours free parking last time I visited (PO30 2TA)
• Morrisons supermarket in Newport gives two hours free parking
• Asda supermarket on the outskirts of Newport gives four hours free parking
• The Royal Exchange car park on the edge of Pan Estate is free. It's not huge but it's only 8 minutes walk to Newport's Guildhall and it's also close to County Hall.
• There's a free car park opposite Carisbrooke Priory on Whitcombe Road. It's a good place to park if you want to walk round the outside of Carisbrooke Castle without using the English Heritage pay and display car park.

Parking on Shanklin Seafront is a competitive and expensive experience. We once stayed in a flat on the seafront which didn't have parking and I spent the whole week moving the car or driving round looking for a space whilst crying (and I spent £50 on parking). Some options:

• There are some spaces on the clifftop above the seafront esplanade which are free for a couple of hours. Aim for somewhere around Osborne Road and then walk down the path. It's a good workout on the way back up the hill.
• Shanklin Railway Station is only £2 for all day parking, at the time of writing. It's a 12 minute walk to the seafront or a similar distance to the old village.

There are a couple of good options for those who don't want to pay for seafront parking at Totland Bay. It was free a few years ago, which makes paying for it all the more painful.

• Cliff Road has free on-street parking. Take the steps down which lead to The Waterfront. 
• Alternatively, park on Granville Road and take the footpath which comes out by Totland Pier.

If you're looking for free or cheap parking in Southampton, Portsmouth, Lymington or Southsea for a trip to the Isle of Wight then that is covered in our ferries guide. (Spoiler alert: there isn't much).

If you're hoping to find somewhere free or cheap to park near to the ferries from Fishbourne, Cowes, East Cowes, Yarmouth or Ryde then you face a bit of a challenge. Some suggestions:

• Your Parking Space and Just Park sometimes undercut official car parks by some margin. You park on someone's drive and pay in advance via the website.
• Cowes - there's a park and ride from Somerton which connects with the Southern Vectis Number 1 bus.
• Ryde - as mentioned, there's not much that I know of near to Ryde Pier. There are some free spaces around Puckpool and Springvale (see above) but the free parking within Ryde town centre is on a time limit. I have managed to park on a residential road fairly near to the Pier before but a) I can't remember the name of it and b) I'm not sure if it's still free and c) I don't want angry emails from residents.
• Fishbourne - there are a handful of on street spaces by Fishbourne Beach if you drive past the entrance to the Wightlink terminal and past the Fishbourne pub. However, I'm not sure what the restrictions are on these.
• Yarmouth - this is a tricky one. As mentioned above, there's the Bouldner Car Park which is about a mile from the ferry. However, it's got a five hour limit. There's also the Fort Victoria Car Park, but I'd say that's too far to walk. Any ideas? Please comment below.
• East Cowes - the esplanade near the playground has some free parking. It's about 12 minutes walk from the ferry. The Isle of Wight Council website says there is a 24 hour limit on these spaces.

This is just a short update to highlight some good deals we've spotted at Parkdean Resorts holiday parks on the Isle of Wight.

Generally, I'm not a big fan of 'last minute deals' at holiday parks. I find that you usually get the best deals by booking very early rather than very late.

The reason is that a holiday park has several grades of accommodation which differ hugely in price. The early bird gets the pick of the grades whilst the last minute deals are for whatever accommodation is best. You may well end up paying for upgrades you don't really need - such as an extra bedroom.

Anyway, the last minute deals page on Parkdean Resorts is currently showing these deals on seven night breaks:

That compares very favourably to the price for a three night break around the same dates. Nodes Point is £599 for a weekend or £619 for a whole week - only £20 difference! 

At Lower Hyde Holiday Park you can have a whole week for £319 or £289 at Thorness Bay - that's almost half the price of the three nights at Nodes Point. Lower Hyde gets slightly better reviews than Thorness Bay, but the latter is closer to a beach.

At Lower Hyde, there are several types of caravan at that price. I would go for the ones with the green square saying 'New On Park' as that means they are less than three years old.

If you just want a weekend, then I would look at Lower Hyde or Thorness Bay which are £199 and £189 for July 15th (i.e. tomorrow).

There are also some good deals for glamping. You can either have three nights for about £300 during school holidays or seven nights for £300 outside of school holidays. 

​Here are the term time prices:

For more information on the four different Parkdean Resorts on the Isle of Wight, check out this comparison guide.

A couple of months ago, I bought myself a drone. I managed to persuade Mrs Guru that it would be a valuable tool in 'generating content' for this website and she signed it off. I find that using phrases like 'generating content' are more convincing than 'larking around'. 

It's a wonderfully clever thing which seems like it should cost more than a new car considering the way it can hover with precision and whoosh around the sky.

For anyone interested in the technical stuff, I bought a DJI Mini SE Fly More Combo for about £350. It seemed to be the cheapest drone by the market leaders and came with three batteries, each of which last for about 20-30 minutes. It's exceedingly light so there's very little chance of it injuring someone. I had to spend £10 on registering it with the Civil Aviation Authority, took a theory test and bought insurance which was about £30 for a year.

The theory test taught me that I shouldn't fly it whilst drunk as a skunk and shouldn't fly it towards an Air Ambulance. 

And so, I set out on a series of early morning walks around the West Wight. I found that 6am was an excellent time to fly the drone since there was no-one around and I could sneak out whilst the children were asleep. 

In a splurge of new-toy excitement I did some filming at Freshwater Bay, Compton Bay, Shepherd's Chine (near Brighstone), Brook Chine, Tennyson Down, Colwell, Totland and Yarmouth. 

So far, I've had three small disasters including:

1. crash landing the drone on my mother's neighbour's roof. She allowed us to retrieve it by climbing through the window of her en-suite. Mrs Guru was mortified. The children thought it was great fun and followed me onto the roof via her vanity unit.
2. flying it into a tree because I pressed the wrong button on the controls. Some fancier drones have collision avoidance. Luckily it just cut a few leaves and wasn't damaged.
3. losing signal whilst hanging over a particularly high cliff at Tennyson Down. The signal loss was only a few seconds but it was what Sir Alex Ferguson would call 'squeaky bum time'.

After collecting hours of footage, I then had to chop it up as no-one wants to see all my outtakes. 

I settled on Adobe Premiere Elements which is an el-cheapo version of Adobe Premiere Pro. It cost about £50 as a one off, whereas the pro version is a monthly subscription. It suits my needs for now, although I've not compared the two side by side.

My first finished video was Compton Bay, which I jazzed up by making it more of a music video. I spent much time ensuring that every single edit was in time with the music and agonised over the best order in which to present my masterpiece.

"How long would it take to go viral?" I wondered to myself. 

And yet, after a month or so it has had a grand total of 36 views. I would guess that half of those are people with the same surname as me.

This was a little disheartening when videos of people opening Kinder Surprise eggs get around 90 million views. Still, my mother liked it.

My second effort was something more topical. I hacked together my footage of Totland Pier being rebuilt, chose the least annoying piece of free music on the editing software and presented it to the world.

On this occasion, I had much more success, mostly thanks to it featuring in articles by On The Wight, the Isle of Wight County Press and Isle of Wight Radio. 

1000 views is not quite 'viral', but it's better than 36.

After the success of focusing on something specific rather than general nice shots, I went for the landslide in Totland. The music was gradually getting worse, but I hoped no-one would notice.

How's it going? Well, after two days it's had a whopping 13 views, which means that it will equal the 90 million achieved by the Kinder Egg video in around 38,000 years.

​As I write this, the Isle of Wight is at the start of a 10 day heatwave. Such occurrences and sparkling seas look glorious in photos but do somewhat get in the way of doing anything too energetic - particularly if you have young children.

Here are my five suggestions of days out in hot weather on the Isle of Wight which won't have you wilting.

​It's tempting to rush straight to the beach on a hot day. From a distance, everyone seems to be having a great time and the water feels genuinely refreshing rather than bracing.

However, most Isle of Wight beaches are completely lacking in shade. You can bring along your own parasol which you've borrowed from your patio dining table but it will probably fall over or take off and fly into the sea.

The best Isle of Wight beach we've found for a very hot day is Appley in Ryde. It's not usually in my Top 5 Isle of Wight beaches as it's a bit busy and developed rather than rustic and natural (my preference). 

However, there are great big trees which provide very welcome shade. The car park is only a few metres from the beach and there are shops selling ice creams. Last time I went there was even a public water fountain for refilling bottles. I'd not seen one of those since primary school.

Getting to the water at low tide takes a long time at Appley. The sand goes out towards the end of the pier but there are some nice shallow pools of water on the way which you can paddle around in.

An alternative beach with shade is Priory Bay, which is backed by trees. However, it's a right old effort to get to it. On a hot day, you'll be swearing like Malcolm Tucker by the time you reach the beach. 

Meanwhile, Shanklin doesn't have any natural shade but there are deckchairs and parasols for hire which should do the trick.

My personal preference is to visit the Isle of Wight's beaches in the late afternoon or early evening during a heatwave.

The temperature has cooled a little and most people have gone home. If it's low tide then the little pools of water in the sand feel like walking into a bath. I realise that 5pm isn't a great time to take children out to the beach.

The air conditioning at Brading Roman Villa isn't really there for the benefit of sweaty visitors like you and I. It's actually there to preserve the Villa, which I'm assuming would combust if it crept above 20 degrees. 

Regardless, you can wander the villa around on a hot day without your legs sticking together. Make sure you spend a reeeally long time reading all the information boards so you get plenty of time in the cool environment.

Suggestion number three takes us back to Ryde, which has a swimming pool with a retractable roof. On sunny days they slide it open, so you can enjoy an outdoor swimming pool with indoor changing rooms.

We've found that a woodland walk is a pretty good all-weather activity. If it's pouring with rain, you get a bit of shelter and if it's blazing hot then you get a bit of shade.

At the risk of sounding like a tree hugger, I'm going to suggest that a woodland full of native deciduous trees will provide better shade than a forest full of coniferous trees (i.e. Christmas tree types).

Your options include:

• Parkhurst Forest near Newport is a mix of 'ancient woodland and heathland'. That means you'll get shade in the ancient woodland bits, but you'll get severely burnt in the heathland. Perhaps you can run between the two.
• Firestone Copse near Ryde has 'English Oak and Ash as well as coniferous Douglas, Cedar and Scots Pine'. That means you'll get nice shade from the oak and ash and then get sunburnt underneath the coniferous trees.
• Brighstone Forest in the West Wight. I've not been for a long time, but my mother says it is shady along the paths.
• Borthwood Copse near Sandown is an 'ancient oak woodland with sunny glades' so it should give good shade.
• America Wood near Shanklin is mostly 'high oak forest with downy birch' so it should have plenty of shade.

Please comment below if you can offer further insight. Perhaps we can determine which Isle of Wight woodland is the most shady.

Alright, alright, spending two hours in a dark room may not be making the most of summer on the Isle of Wight.

However, if you've spent a summer living with hayfever then a cool dark room and a huge cup of cold Fanta may be just what you need. I get it, brother.

Away Resorts now owns four different holiday parks and lodge resorts with hot tubs on the Isle of Wight. They're a popular choice, partly because they'll get you a hefty discount on the Isle of Wight ferry if you stay with them.

Away Resorts has run Whitecliff Bay Holiday Park in the East Wight for donkeys' years, but in 2022 they merged with Aria Resorts and took on three other lodge parks including:

• The Bay Colwell in the West Wight
• The Lakes Rookley in Central Wight (no-one normal actually uses the phrase 'Central Wight', but it's a short way of saying that it isn't by the sea) 
• St Helens Holiday Resort in the East Wight.

They're all dog friendly and offer hot tubs and a range of different types of accommodation, but which is best?

The short answer (for those who don't want to read all my waffle) is that St Helens Holiday Resort gets the best reviews but it's small and simple, whilst Whitecliff Bay Holiday Park is the best for a beach holiday and has the best facilities. The Lakes Rookley is cheapest in our price comparison.

Here's our guide to which is best Away Resorts for you, along with a price comparison:

Whitecliff Bay Holiday Park is a big, busy, family-friendly holiday park on the outskirts of Bembridge in the East Wight. 

Over the last few years they've spent a lot of money adding flash new accommodation with cool names like TriBeCa and Rockstar. They even featured on a Channel 5 TV programme where Shane Ritchie larked around on the Isle of Wight and said things like "Corrrrrrr, look at that, me old mucker!". If that doesn't convince you, I don't know what will. 

Whitecliff Bay has recently stopped offering camping and touring and are focusing on their caravans, lodges and glamping. There's a much bigger choice of accommodation types at Whitecliff Bay Holiday Park than there are at the other Away Resorts on the Isle of Wight.

If you want plenty to do onsite then Whitecliff Bay Holiday Park is your best bet out of the four Away Resorts holiday parks on the Isle of Wight.

It's got indoor and outdoor swimming pools, as well as minigolf, a playground and an arcade.

During term time they have things like Tots Breaks which are aimed at pre-schoolers, whilst during the summer holidays they put on outdoor cinema where you can sit outside and hope it doesn't rain. In peak season, there are free daily activities for kids such as a toddlers' disco as well as things you pay for, such as arts and crafts, archery, disc golf and baby ballet (more details on the entertainment programme here). There's also evening entertainment for grown ups.

The onsite restaurant is a good size and there's also a beach café during peak season.

However, the very best thing about Whitecliff Bay Holiday Park is the location. When the sun shines, the beach at Whitecliff Bay is truly gorgeous and even muscles its way into my top 5 Isle of Wight beaches. It's hard to access unless you are staying at an adjacent holiday park, so it doesn't get unpleasantly busy. 

One downside is that the slope down to it is ferociously steep and has claimed the good-natured attitude of many a beach-goer. My wife's language changed from Stepford-Wives-Esque to Tarantino-Esque in the time it took to get from the bottom of the slope to the top.

It's also worth looking at the map to figure out where your accommodation is. The site is split into two with a road going through the middle. That's not a big problem but if you're in the furthest away point then it's getting on for 15 minutes to walk to the beach.

Customers give Whitecliff Bay an average review score of 4/5 on TripAdvisor or 4.3/5 on Google Reviews. That puts it in the middle compared to the other Away Resorts on the Isle of Wight.

When we stayed at St Helens Holiday Resort it was called St Helens Coastal Retreat. The renaming happened in 2022 when Away Resorts took over. I think it's a much better name, as it's not right next to a beach and it doesn't have the range of facilities you might expect at a 'retreat'.

However, it's got a lot going for it once you get past the name. For starters, it is the highest rated Away Resorts site on the Isle of Wight, according to customer reviews (4.5/5 on TripAdvisor or 4.4/5 on Google Reviews).

A lot of the lodges and caravans have been added in the last few years so you've got a good chance of a very modern property which isn't looking like it's been lived in by a parade of holidaymakers with hairy dogs.

We made use of the outdoor swimming pool, which is small but good fun (and it was heated). There's also a small playground which was completed shortly after we left.

The location is at the end of a wiggly road past some houses. It's within a pretty coastal village called St Helens in the East Wight which has a large village green. Walking down to St Helens beach will take you about 15 minutes. If you're a bit more determined, you can walk to Priory Bay which is a sandy paradise.

St Helens Holiday Resort is a much smaller resort than nearby Whitecliff Bay Holiday Park, so it's a good choice if you want a quiet base for exploring the Isle of Wight.

There isn't a restaurant onsite, but Bembridge has a good choice and there are plenty of other good places to eat depending on whether you prioritise a sea view or occupying the children whilst you enjoy a glass of Merlot.

The Lakes Rookley is something of a rarity on the Isle of Wight - a holiday resort which isn't by the beach.

There are plus sides to that, assuming that you've bought a car with you. 

You can explore a lot of the Isle of Wight with a short drive. The seaside resorts of Shanklin, Sandown and Ventnor all about 15 minutes away in the car, whilst Compton Bay in the West Wight and Cowes in the North Wight are both 20 minutes drive.

The absolute longest drive from The Lakes Rookley is the 35 minutes to Alum Bay and The Needles lighthouse. Most Islanders wouldn't drive this far unless it was a very special occasion (e.g. a family wedding or perhaps a funeral of a relative, at a push). If you're a hardened mainlander then you'll be used to drives of more than half an hour so it will be fine.

Anyway, back to The Lakes Rookley. In terms of scale, it is bigger than The Bay Colwell and St Helens Holiday Resort but it's smaller than Whitecliff Bay Holiday Park. 

There are two swimming pools, including one indoors and one outdoors. The Lakes are also used for watersports such as kayaking and paddleboarding. Of course, you could do these on the seafront at Shanklin or St Helens but there's less risk of being dragged out to France from a lake in Rookley.

You can eat onsite at The Lakeside Bar and Eatery. Rookley itself doesn't have a huge amount to it (there's a car dealership, but I doubt that would entertain the kids). However, Shanklin, Sandown and Ventnor have lots of places to eat with a sea view. If you are after chain restaurants and fast food then Newport is your best bet (Beefeater, Pizza Hut, McDonalds, KFC, Burger King).

The poshest and most expensive accommodation at The Lakes Rookley are the Lakehouses which have a pleasant view. At the other end of the accommodation range, we found that The Lakes Rookley was the cheapest of all four Away Resorts on the Isle of Wight (see further down for our price comparison).

Reviews of The Lakes Rookley are a little bit behind the other three Away Resorts on the Isle of Wight. Customers on TripAdvisor give it 3.5/5. On Google Reviews it scores higher with a score of 4/5. A lot of the older reviews will be from several years ago when it was Rookley Country Park. I would read through the more recent reviews for a more accurate summary.

Finally, The Bay Colwell which is a bit of an all rounder.

It is certainly smaller and less well equipped than Whitecliff Bay Holiday Park and The Lakes Rookley. 

However, it does have an indoor swimming pool (unlike St Helens Holiday Resort, which has an outdoor pool). It's also much close to the beach than The Lakes Rookley and St Helens Holiday Resort. You can get to Colwell Bay in about five minutes on foot. 

There's bike hire, soft play and a coffee shop onsite. 

The accommodation is mostly rows of two bedroom chalets which have been much improved in recent years. They're described as 'Cottages' on the website and some of them have hot tubs. The more expensive accommodation are 'Lodges', some of which have an extra bedroom.
 
It's also the only Away Resorts site in the West Wight. Generally speaking, the West Wight is prettier and less developed than the East Wight (complaints from East Wighters to the usual address, please). 

Colwell itself is developed, but the nearby West Wight coastline which runs from Freshwater Bay to Chale in the South Wight is populated by more cows than people.

If you are coming from the Westcountry, then The Bay Colwell is convenient to reach via Wightlink's Yarmouth to Lymington crossing. The ferry takes 40 minutes and then it's a seven minute drive to the resort.

We started by looking for a week for the cheapest accommodation available in August 2023. We searched for a seven night holiday. Prices don't include ferry travel, although you can get it for around half price if you book through Away Resorts. Expect to pay about £50 - £150 for the ferry depending on when you travel and how long you stay. From cheapest to most expensive:

• The Lakes Rookley - £864 (Comfort Caravan)
• Whitecliff Bay Holiday Park - £1255 (Value Chalet)
• St Helens Holiday Resort - £1454 (Superior Caravan)
• The Bay Colwell - £1906 (Luxury Cottage)

​
We then looked for the same holiday but with a hot tub. So, it's a holiday in August 2023 for four people, staying for a week, excluding the ferry:

• The Lakes Rookley - £1561 (Luxury Caravan with a hot tub)
• St Helens Holiday Resort - £1716 (Superior Caravan with a hot tub)
• Whitecliff Bay Holiday Park - £1821 (Superior Chalet with a hot tub)
• The Bay Colwell - £2386 (Luxury Cottage with a hot tub)

​So, based on our mini price comparison, The Lakes Rookley is the cheapest of the four Away Resorts on the Isle of Wight and The Bay Colwell is the most expensive. I would caution that prices vary a lot depending on when you visit and what accommodation you choose.

As of June 2022, the review scores for the Away Resorts on the Isle of Wight look like this:
​

1. Away Resorts St Helens Holiday Resort - 4.5/5 on TripAdvisor, 4.4/5 on Google Reviews - total of 8.9/10
2. Away Resorts Whitecliff Bay Holiday Park - 4/5 on TripAdvisor, 4.3/5 on Google Reviews - total of 8.3/10
3. Away Resorts The Bay Colwell - 4/5 on TripAdvisor, 4.3/5 on Google Reviews - total of 8.3/10
4. ​Away Resorts The Lakes Rookley - 3.5/5 on TripAdvisor, 4/5 on Google Reviews - total of 7.5/10
   
   

There's a notable caveat with the review scores for three of the four Away Resorts holiday parks and lodge resorts on the Isle of Wight.

All three of the parks have seen big changes in the last few years, so the older review scores are not particularly relevant.

St Helens Holiday Resort, The Lakes Rookley and The Bay Colwell have all changed hands twice in the last few years. They were previously known as St Helens Holiday Park, Rookley Country Park and Colwell Bay Holiday Park until they were bought by Aria Resorts in 2017. Aria Resorts invested a lot of money in the sites and then the company merged with Away Resorts in 2022. At this point, St Helens Coastal Resort got its new name of St Helens Holiday Resort. (Ed: will there be a test on this at the end?).

My advice is to look at some recent reviews, rather than going on the overall score.

The Isle of Wight is not vast, so travel times from the ferries are not a major factor if you are bringing a car. However, if it's a weekend visit or if you have children who don't travel well (i.e. all children) then it's something to consider.

• The Bay Colwell is in the West Wight so it is seven minute drive to Wightlink's car ferry which links Lymington and Yarmouth. That crossing is quieter and less regular than the other two but it's more convenient if you are coming from the Westcountry. It's a longer drive to the other car ferries. It takes about 35-40 minutes to get to Red Funnel's ferry which connects Southampton to East Cowes or Wightlink's car ferry which connects Portsmouth to Fishbourne.
• The Lakes Rookley is about 20 minutes drive from the busier car ferries (Red Funnel's Southampton to East Cowes route and Wightlink's Portsmouth to Fishbourne route). It is 30 minutes drive to Wightlink's Lymington to Yarmouth Route.
• Whitecliff Bay Holiday Park is 25-30 minutes from the two busiest ferry ports (Southampton to East Cowes with Red Funnel or Portsmouth to Fishbourne with Wightlink). Wightlink's quieter crossing from Yarmouth to Lymington is a colossal 45 minutes drive from Whitecliff Bay Holiday Park. Please, please, please don't attempt a drive of that distance without packing a snow shovel and enough food to last you for three days - even if it's a baking hot day (Ed: I think you're getting carried away again. I'll call your mother). 
• St Helens Holiday Resort is close to Whitecliff Bay, so it's a similar distance from the ferries. It is 20 minutes from Wightlink's Fishbourne - Portsmouth Route or 30 minutes to Red Funnel's East Cowes - Southampton crossing. Much like Whitecliff Bay, it is 45 minutes to Wightlink's Yarmouth - Lymington crossing. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Also, make sure that you get Away Resorts to book the ferry for you. It'll save you as much as 50% compared to going direct.

See our full guide to the Isle of Wight ferries for beginners.

Parkdean Resorts are one of the biggest holiday providers on the Isle of Wight.

They've got four holiday resorts including:

• Nodes Point Holiday Park, right by the beach in St Helens in the East Wight
• Thorness Bay Holiday Park, also right by a beach. This one's in the north wight and the beach is a bit more shingly and scrubby. It's popular with anglers and it has super sunsets.
• Lower Hyde Holiday Park and Landguard Holiday Park, which are both in Shanklin. The seafront is very family friendly with minigolf and amusements. The resorts are about a mile from the beach, so you will probably want to drive.

​
​Back in April 2022, the Isle of Wight County Press reported on plans for new and upgraded properties at the Parkdean Resorts on the Isle of Wight. They said: "Seven additional new caravans will be added at Nodes Point; 32 caravans across the four resorts will be upgraded; and, at Landguard Holiday Park, 11 lodges have been refurbished." 

​We've done a bit of digging around and figured out which are the newest caravans at Nodes Point, Landguard, Lower Hyde and Thorness Bay holiday parks. I personally try to get as new a caravan as possible. The upgrade cost is not always that much (compared to - for example - upgrading to a hot tub) but it can make quite a difference if the caravan is only a few months old. (We've also recently written a guide to the grading system for caravans and lodges at Parkdean Resorts on the Isle of Wight, as it can be a little confusing).​

The Yarmouth Caravans are one of the more expensive caravans at Nodes Point Holiday Park, but they are considerably cheaper than the lodges. They have three bedrooms, so you could squeeze eight people in if you really wanted to. That would include two people sleeping in the lounge. 

They are labelled as 'extra wide' which means that they are at least 12 foot wide according to the Parkdean Resorts grading system. You get a shower room with a toilet, plus an extra toilet. That might cause a bit of a queue in the morning if eight people are waiting for a single shower, but it's quite typical of a holiday park caravan. Bear in mind that you might be using the swimming pool, which has its own showers.

If you do fill it up then it is really good value per person, per night.

Meanwhile, the new lodges at Nodes Point are the Yaverland Lodges. I am not completely sure whether they are new buildings or refurbished, but they will look shiny and new either way.

You'll pay a lot more for a lodge than you do for a caravan at Parkdean Resorts. When we checked prices for a week in September 2022, we found that the Yarmouth caravan was £809 whilst the Yaverland Lodge was more than twice the price at £1949.

However, lodges at Parkdean Resorts are considerably bigger. This one is 20ft wide, which is twice the width of the very cheapest accommodation at a Parkdean Resorts site.

For the upgrade, you get a shower/bath (which is unusual at a holiday park) in one room plus a shower room ensuite off the main bedroom. That means you'll have much shorter queues in the morning!

You also get a washing machine and dishwasher. Again, that's unusual with Parkdean Resorts accommodation on the Isle of Wight.

There are two types of caravan new at Landguard for 2022 - Yew Caravan and Fir Caravan. The accommodation at Landguard is named after trees and doesn't have any relation to the names of the caravans and lodges at Nodes Point.

The Yew Caravans sleep six people in two bedrooms. I would say they are ideal for four people, but you could squeeze an extra person in if you needed to. 

They are 'extra wide' so it's at least 12 foot wide. They come with a single shower as well as an ensuite. 

It's graded as 'premium' which means it is the highest quality offered at Parkdean Resorts. This three tier system isn't used at all the resorts, but where it is you'll see labels on the booking page to say that a caravan or lodge is either Standard (£), Superior (££) or Premium (£££).

We found a week in early September 2022 was £559, which was only £100 more expensive than the cheapest caravan available. That's a worthwhile upgrade by my reckoning!

The other new accommodation at Landguard for 2022 are the Fir Caravans.

They have a similar footprint to the Yew Caravans but squeeze in an extra bedroom. That means you lose a bit of space elsewhere, but they are a good option if you have three or four children and don't want someone to end up in the lounge. The single beds you get in caravans are usually a bit smaller than standard sized single beds so not ideal for a six foot teenager.

Again, you get a shower room, as well as an extra toilet.

There's one grade of caravan at Lower Hyde Holiday Park which is new for 2022. It is the sister park to Landguard in the seaside resort of Shanklin.

​17 of the 66 Parkdean Resorts are described as 'Headliner Parks' based on their entertainment programme.

Two of the Isle of Wight resorts are 'headliner parks' for 2022 including Lower Hyde in Shanklin and Thorness Bay in the North Wight.

The Longboard caravans at Lower Hyde have two bedrooms, but they don't have a sofa bed so you are limited to four people. The definite plus side is that means you have two toilets for four people. There's a single shower to share, which will be fine for four people unless anyone is particularly slow...

It is 'extra wide'. Again, that means it is at least 12 feet wide.

Three different types of caravan at Thorness Bay Holiday Park are new for 2022 - Crew, Squadron and Mast.

The main difference between them is that the Squadron caravans sleep eight people in three bedrooms, whereas the Crew and Mast caravans sleep six people in two bedrooms. If you are a family of five or six then my advice would be to go for the three bedroom model. Sleeping in the lounge is OK for a couple of nights, but it can be a bit inconvenient, particularly if the lounge-sleepers don't go to bed last!

All three have a fridge freezer. Some of the older caravans at Parkdean Resorts on the Isle of Wight just have a fridge which is a bit limiting if you want to mostly self cater, or just keep a box of ice creams to avoid paying seafront prices!

Nodes Point Holiday Park is one of the Parkdean Resorts which has 'received new luxury developments for prospective holiday home owners'.

We've written a guide to owning a caravan on our other site, Holiday Park Guru.

Owning a caravan is very different to buying a standard residential home. In many ways, it is more like buying a car. You get enjoyment and use out of it for several years (and potential income), but it depreciates rather than gaining value. 

You also pay pitch fees which is a bit like the service charge you pay if you own a flat. 

With Parkdean Resorts, the pitch fees range from about £2600 to just over £9000 per year.  

You also have other costs to consider, such as 'rates' which is a contribution towards business rates.

There's also something called a 'licence' which is the length of time that you can keep the caravan you've bought at the site. Holiday park companies don't want tatty old caravans at their lovely resorts, so they put a time limit before you need to replace the caravan, extend the licence or relocate the caravan.

There are other costs which will be more familiar - gas, water, insurance, electricity, TV and broadband. 

The good news is that you can rent out the caravan when you aren't using it, which can offset a lot of the costs. In some cases, people make a profit whilst also having a holiday home they can use.

On the way home from the Isle of Wight Festival 2022, my walking companion commented that he had never been to the Glastonbury Festival and would very much like to.

It's been a few years since my last Glastonbury Festival, but pre-children I went three or four times over about six or seven years. The vagueness on my part is not down to a drug-induced haze but just a poor memory.

Anyway, I do recall a couple of key differences between Glastonbury and the Isle of Wight festival which we debated during our walk back to the cinema car park.

Glastonbury certainly has a longer list of big name bands each year and it's easy to be awed by this. It's a truly great festival and I'm not meaning to put a downer on it.

However, my experience is that the bands at Glastonbury are spread out over so many stages and such a large geographical area that you will only see a fraction of them.

The stage scheduling clashes are severe and I recall a couple of times where there wasn't much of interest to me personally for a few hours in the afternoon, and then there was an almighty collision of five or six great bands all appearing at once.

This is presumably done for practical reasons with Glastonbury being attended by about 210,000 people in 2022 once you include artists, workers, blaggers and people who actually bought a ticket. I'm no expert on crowd management but spreading people out is presumably a lot safer than having everything watching one act.

Definitive figures for the Isle of Wight Festival 2022 are hard to come by, with some reports saying 50,000 attended and others saying 'over 90,000'. I'll update this blog if I get a final answer.

My most memorable stage clash at Glastonbury was choosing between Iggy and the Stooges and The Killers. At the time, I liked both and couldn't decide where to land. Watching a bit of each isn't an easy option because the crowd size and venue is so large that walking between stages is slow. Add in a little rain and the mud soon slows you down as you squelch and slide around. The worst was when the mud turned from a chocolate mousse consistency to a sticky brownie consistency. Boots became stuck after each step and you soon decided to stay put.

Incidentally, I chose The Stooges but the rest of my companions chose The Killers. The Stooges was an excellent gig which included a mass stage invasion and someone unfurling a banner which called for the return of the Wispa.

On the Friday night of the same festival, I had to choose between Arctic Monkeys, Bjork, Hot Chip, Spiritualized, Damien Rice, Fatboy Slim and The Waterboys. I chose Bjork, but I would have happily watched any of the others.
​
The Isle of Wight Festival does occasionally have Main Stage/Big Top clashes but they are not so severe. Watching half and half is also quite feasible if you don't mind watching from a distance. There are several other stages but they tend to be local artists and up and coming acts which you can stumble upon rather than big names with big queues.

The differing ticket price is also worth a mention. In 2011, Glastonbury was £195 and the Isle of Wight festival was £175.

In 2022, Glastonbury had increased £85 to £280 whilst the Isle of Wight Festival had only increased by £20 up to £195. For islanders, tickets were only £145, putting them at about half the price of Glastonbury.

I'm not trying to start a rivalry between the two festivals. ​They are very different beasts and they both have a great history and heart. I've had a great time at both. I just felt that the Glastonbury weekend was a good moment to share our post-festival debate.

I also appreciate that this is far from a comprehensive comparison. I haven't dipped into the cost of a portion of chips, the convenience for travelling, the cleanliness of the toilets or the queue time to get in. I'll leave that for another day when I've drawn up some graphs and charts.

Parkdean Resorts is one of the most popular options for an Isle of Wight holiday park. They've got four resorts on the Island, including Landguard and Lower Hyde in Shanklin, Nodes Point in St Helens and Thorness Bay in the North Wight.

You can read our comparison of the resorts here.

When you book a Parkdean holiday on the Isle of Wight you'll be faced with a big choice of accommodation and a big range in prices.

For example, we searched for a week in August 2023 and found that a family of four could paying anything from £909 for a Port Caravan at Thorness Bay Holiday Park through to £3589 for a Sandown Lodge at Nodes Point Holiday Park.

Here's the key bit - there isn't currently a grading system used by Parkdean Resorts across all its resorts for its accommodation. You won't find caravans with the same names at different resorts. This can be a little confusing.

Instead, you need to do a bit of digging to figure out what you're getting for your money.

Parkdean Resorts provide a useful bit of information on the booking page when you search for prices. Look for a green rectangle that says either ‘new this year’ or ‘new on park’.

‘New This Year’ is the best thing you can see. As you probably guessed, it means the caravan is very new and shiny. Personally, I prioritise the age of a caravan over the facilities.

‘New On Park’ is a caravan which has been added within the last three years. That’s not quite as good, but it’s still new enough that they’ll be looking very decent.

If there isn’t a green square then the accommodation has been there for more than three years. That’s not necessarily a big problem, but a shiny new caravan is worth paying a bit more for.

When we checked, all four Parkdean Resorts on the Isle of Wight had two or three grades of caravan listed as ‘new this year’. We also know that in 2022, seven new caravans were added at Nodes Point. There have also been 32 caravans which have been upgraded across the four sites in the last year and 11 of the lodges at Landguard have been refurbished.

The number of people that a caravan can accommodate is important, but the width is also worth checking if you don’t want to spend the week falling out with each other.

Look for the phrase ‘extra wide’ in the caravan description which means it is 12 foot wide or more (that's the same as two average male adults lying down).

If you don’t see 'extra wide', then you can assume that it’s probably a standard 10ft wide caravan which will be cheaper. If you're going to be out and about a lot then a couple of feet isn't a big deal. If you're a family of six, including four teenagers, then a bit more space will be welcome.

Lodges at Parkdean Resorts are considerably wider than caravans. Most that I’ve seen are about 20 foot wide, which is double a standard caravan width.

One of the big upgrades you get with more expensive caravans at Parkdean Resorts on the Isle of Wight is an ensuite with one of the bedrooms.

When we checked, en suite facilities were only available in about 1 in 4 of the different types of accommodation at Thorness Bay or 1 in 5 at Lower Hyde and Landguard. Nodes Point has a lot more ensuite facilities – about two thirds of the different types of accommodation have an ensuite.

Also, note that a lot of caravans just have a shower rather than a bath. If you need a bath, you'll likely need to pay for somewhere with a bit more space.

Of course, remember that a quick dip in the sea is as good as a bath whilst on holiday (Ed: are you sure about this?)

A sea view is worth paying for if you can afford it, in my opinion. We’ve found that if you have children, it’s nice to be able to spend the evening outside on the veranda.

Landguard and Lower Hyde are both inland, so you won’t get a sea view there. Thorness Bay is next to the beach, but the layout means that the accommodation is set back from the beach.

The only Parkdean Resorts accommodation which is advertised as having a sea view is at Nodes Point and is called the Sandown Lodge. My guess is that these are the ones which have the best sea view, as there are quite a few caravans at Nodes Point with at least a 'sea glimpse'.

Hot tubs are available at all of the Parkdean Resorts holiday parks on the Isle of Wight. However, if you do have one it bumps the price up considerably as they need a lot of maintenance (and they’re very popular). They are only available with lodges, rather than caravans.

​The cheapest Parkdean Resorts accommodation on the Isle of Wight with a hot tub in August 2023 was around £2000 when we checked, compared to about £900 for the cheapest caravan. Both of those were at Thorness Bay Holiday Park.

You’ll find hot tubs in one or two of the different types of lodge at Thorness Bay, Lower Hyde, Landguard and Nodes Point.

Washing machines and dishwashers don’t come as standard in Parkdean Resorts caravans on the Isle of Wight. It tends to be the more expensive lodges which have them. Of course, a lot of people eat out and there’s a launderette onsite you can use if you need to clean your pants.

Central heating and double glazing are pretty much standard in Parkdean Resorts holiday parks on the Isle of Wight. I only managed to find one grade of caravan which didn’t have double glazing (it was at Lower Hyde).

Of course, that makes a big difference if it’s cold but it also makes some difference in regulating the inside temperature if it’s very hot.

The more expensive accommodation at Parkdean Resorts has a veranda, which is worth paying for in summer but less important if it’s cold.

At Nodes Point, verandas are quite common which makes the most of its location overlooking the sea. Verandas are less common at Thorness Bay, Lower Hyde and Landguard. I would start with Nodes Point if sitting outside is important to you.

Towels aren’t provided as standard at Parkdean Resorts on the Isle of Wight. I wouldn’t upgrade just to get towels provided, but it’s something that you get with most of the lodges rather than with the cheaper caravans.

The number of bedrooms certainly affects the price, but it's not as significant a difference as you might think. We regularly see deals where an eight person caravan is only a few pounds more expensive than a similar six person caravan.

As you may know, a lot of two bedroom caravans are listed as being for six people. That includes two people sleeping in the lounge which is not ideal in my experience. It’s fine for a short break but after a few nights it’s a bit annoying!  

Whatever you choose, you’ll get bedding provided and use of the facilities but it's worth understanding that there are notable differences between the accommodation.

My favourite trick is to choose the factors which are most important to me and then put the accommodation in ascending price order.

If you're really keen, you might like to do what we did and put our 10 factors into a table to make the comparison easier.

We've picked out the cheapest caravan at Parkdean Resorts Isle of Wight for a week in August 2023, as well a mid priced option and the most expensive lodge we could find.

If you can only afford a modest upgrade then my advice would be to seek out the caravans which are listed as 'new on park' or 'new this year'.

The difference in price between older and newer caravans can be quite minimal. 

For example, we searched for a week in August 2023 at Thorness Bay and found that it was only £40 to upgrade from the cheapest caravan (£909) to one which was 'new on park' (i.e. less than three years old). To upgrade from the cheapest caravan to one which was new this year was an extra £250.

An upgrade to a slightly more expensive caravan tends to get you a bit more space and an en-suite which are both big plus points if you are filling up a caravan. They probably aren't worth paying for if you have a small family.

Upgrading to a lodge with a hot tub requires a much bigger increase in your budget. The cheapest we found for our comparison week in August 2023 was £2089 for a Harbour Lodge at Thorness Bay - more than twice the price of the cheapest caravan at the same resort.

It's also worth thinking about the location. I would say that a veranda is more worthwhile at Nodes Point - which overlooks the beach - than it is at Landguard or Lower Hyde which are a mile inland.

Also worth considering is the time of year you are visiting. An off peak upgrade is much cheaper than a school holiday upgrade. You may decide to go for the cheapest accommodation in summer, because you'll be out all day and can spend the money you've saved on eating out. If you visit in mid October then you may spend more time indoors and getting a hot tub or a wider property won't be such a big increase in price.

You may have noticed that Landguard Holiday Park grades its accommodation into Standard, Superior and Premium. In summary, that means:

• Standard (usually cheapest, described as ‘simple, affordable and excellent value’)
• Superior (mid-priced, described as offering ‘every home comfort with a little bit more space and a fresher finish’)
• Premium (usually best and most expensive, described as 'our latest and most spacious holiday homes')

This three tier system is useful, but there isn’t a published tick list of facilities which determines the grading so it's hard to know if an upgrade is worth it for you. I prefer to use the filters on the booking page, as shown above.

For example, one of the most important things for us on holiday is a dishwasher as we usually self cater rather than eating out. It's not immediately clear which of the three grades would include a dishwasher but you can figure that out with the filters.

Thorness Bay, Nodes Point and Lower Hyde don’t yet use this three-tier system so it's hard to compare like for like between resorts.

​BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions came from Freshwater Memorial Hall recently. It was an enjoyable programme with an audience booing and cheering like they were at Shanklin Theatre watching Jack and the Beanstalk in mid-December.

The most interesting moment for me was the ferries discussion, in which someone repeated the old line about the Solent being the most expensive stretch of water in the world per mile (or at least one of the most expensive).

I’ve often wondered where this line came from originally. I suspect it may be similar to the claim about the entire population of the world fitting on the Isle of Wight. We reckon that one ceased to be true in about 1981. We looked into this one in this guide.

The most relevant research I’ve found on ferry prices between different locations was done in 2016 by NatureNet, but this looked at per-km foot passenger fares. It put the Isle of Wight ferries in the mid-table.

However, a lot has changed since 2016 and I wanted to know how car ferry costs compare, since most families still bring a car with them to the Island.

Unfortunately, making a comparison isn’t as simple as you might expect.

​Many years ago, the Isle of Wight ferries offered more car journeys at fixed prices. I don’t recall the exact details but I seem to think that at the turn of the millennium there were two or three car ferry prices depending on when you travelled.

Nowadays, the Isle of Wight ferries operate much like airlines for most car ferry journeys (with a few exceptions, such as day return special deals and Multilink). Prices go up and down with demand so you can get a much lower price at 3am on a Thursday in February than you would get on 1pm on a Saturday in August.

There are other complications, as users of the same ferry will probably be paying different amounts.

For example, if you were to book a lunchtime return from a Saturday to Saturday with Wightlink in August 2022 then you might more than £250 for a car and passengers.

However, if a local resident uses the Wightlink Multilink deal then they might pay somewhere around £60.

If a holidaymaker stayed at a local hotel or holiday park then they might pay about £120-£200 depending on the ‘trade rate’ available. We’ve seen deals with Whitecliff Bay Holiday Park which are about half the standard fare.

Other canny travellers will have used £80 of Tesco Clubcard vouchers and others will have gained a discount through English Heritage or one of the many other discount providers.

See our ferry discounts guide for the full list of offers, which also includes Red Funnel’s latest deals and an ongoing 10% discount.

​For our comparison, we looked at two return different journeys - one off peak and one on peak. We figured that would give a fairer comparison of costs as some ferry companies use 'flexi' pricing (e.g. Wightlink and Red Funnel) and others use a simple fixed price model (e.g. Calmac in Scotland, at least as far as I can tell)

For the peak ferry we looked at the cost of:

• a return journey for a family of four, travelling from the UK mainland on a Saturday in mid-August 2022
• a standard sized car without a roofbox or trailer
• the fare closest to noon on each day

This produced a higher cost per mile/km than you'd get off peak, but it's when the most number of people want to travel so it is worth examining. We applied the same to other crossings so it should be comparable.

We didn’t include:

• discount codes or other offers, just the straightforward price for booking direct. It wouldn’t be fair on non-Isle of Wight ferry companies otherwise, as I’ve done zero research into their deals and loopholes.
• upgrades, such as priority boarding or easier cancellation.
• every single ferry crossing in the world. I need to pick the kids up from school in 20 minutes, so I'm afraid my research is limited to a selection of journeys from the UK.
  
  ​For some routes, there wasn’t a Saturday crossing, so we went for the nearest date available. 

For the off peak journey we looked at

• a return journey for a family of four, travelling from the UK mainland fpr a Monday to Friday midweek break in mid October, during term time
• a standard sized car without a roofbox or trailer.
• the crossing closest to 9am
  ​

Again, we didn't look for discount codes or offers and we didn't include upgrades and extras.

​Here's our results, presented as a series of numbers and as a chart.

First, here's the peak time prices in order of price per kilometre. The Solent crossings are in bold.

And here's the same data on a bar chart. If you can't read them then you can make them a little bigger on a desktop by clicking on the image.

Next, here's the peak time figures with the Norfolk chain ferry excluded as it skews the figures a fair amount.

Next, here's the off-peak data table.

And here's the off peak data presented as a bar chart. Again, click to make it a little bigger on a desktop.

And finally, here's the graph without the Norfolk chain ferry to make it easier to see smaller differences.

As I've said many times on this website, you really shouldn't be paying the full price for a ferry crossing to the Isle of Wight. Our discount ferries guide has lots of suggestions for money saving:

• There's a 10% discount code on our ferries discount page which is valid all year round for Red Funnel. Often, there are better discounts, such as around Black Friday when they've offered 25-50% reductions.
• Regular travellers or those with an Isle of Wight residence can save a lot by either getting a Red Funnel Travelcard or a Wightlink Multilink pass. The Red Funnel pass requires an initial investment for £1000 but it doesn't expire. Combine it with the Red Funnel Rewards car and you get about 23% off any crossing. The Wightlink deal requires you to travel five times a year, but it's probably worth getting if you have an Isle of Wight residence and use the ferry three or four times per year.
• Getting your accommodation provider to book for you is a big way to save money which a lot of people overlook. Some holiday parks will offer you a saving of as much as 50% on ferry+accommodation deals whilst a big hotel chain such as Warner Leisure do very good value fixed price deals (currently £60).
• You may be better to leave the car at home to save some money. This is most likely to be a saving if you are a) visiting at peak time when the car ferry prices are high but the foot passenger prices don't increase b) travelling alone or as a couple as foot passengers are charged as individuals whilst cars are charged the same whether you have one or seven passengers c) getting the train to Portsmouth, Southampton or Fishbourne so you aren't paying for mainland parking and d) have a free bus pass.

Big thanks to Matthew Chatfield, who made this research much quicker by publishing data on different crossings for foot passengers.