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  • Home
  • Why You Should Visit The Isle Of Wight
  • Ferry travel advice & discounts
    • Discount Isle of Wight Ferry Travel
    • Isle Of Wight Ferry Beginners Guide
    • Wightlink's Tesco Clubcard deal – is it the best discount?
    • Using Wightlink’s Multilink deal for cheap ferry travel
    • Cheap Isle of Wight Ferry Travel For Caravans
  • Holiday parks, hotels, camping & cottages
    • Family holiday parks & caravans >
      • 10 Of The Best Isle of Wight Caravan Holiday Parks
      • Park Resorts And Parkdean Resorts Isle of Wight Holiday Parks
      • Which Isle Of Wight Holiday Park Should I Stay In?
      • Last Minute Deals And Discounts At Holiday Parks
      • Is There A Haven Holiday Park On The Isle Of Wight?
      • Whitecliff Bay Holiday Park Reviews and Facilities
      • Lower Hyde And Landguard Holiday Park Teview
      • 6 Tricks To Save Money At Isle Of Wight Caravan Holiday Parks
    • Hotels & guest houses >
      • Isle of Wight Hotels - a beginner's guide
      • 10 Best Isle Of Wight Luxury Hotels
      • Warner's Bembridge Coast & Norton Grange hotels
      • 5 Best Isle of Wight Coach Tour Holidays And Trips
      • Isle of Wight Hotels With A Sea View
      • 5 Ventnor Hotels And Guest Houses
    • Spa Breaks & Romantic >
      • 3 Best Isle Of Wight Spa Break Hotels And Spa Days
      • Romantic Isle Of Wight Holidays For Couples
    • Camping & glamping >
      • 20 Isle Of Wight Camping And Touring Parks
      • Isle of Wight Glamping
    • Cottages & self catering >
      • 10 Best Places To Stay In Shanklin
      • 10 Best Places To Stay In Cowes
      • 10 Best Places To Stay In Newport
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      • 10 Isle Of Wight Wheelchair Accessible & Disabled Friendly Holidays
      • Brambles Chine And Linstone Chine Self Catering
      • 5 Isle Of Wight Holidays Including Ferry Travel
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      • 5 Best Isle Of Wight Holiday Lodges
      • 10 Best Isle Of Wight Hot Tub Holidays
      • 10 Best Isle Of Wight Holidays With Swimming Pools
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      • 20 Quirky Places To Stay On The Isle Of Wight
      • 10 Best Isle of Wight Airbnb Holiday Homes
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      • 10 Best Places To Stay For Large Groups
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    • Accommodation advice >
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      • Where Is The Cheapest Place To Stay?
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      • Major Festivals And Carnivals
      • Isle of Wight Festival 2022 Lineup And Tickets
      • 10 Unforgettable Isle of Wight Festival Moments
      • Isle of Wight Festival History
      • Cowes Week - Attractions And Accommodation
    • Free days out & attraction discounts >
      • Free Days Out On The Isle Of Wight
      • Discounts To Isle Of Wight Attractions
      • Itinerary For A Budget Isle of Wight Holiday
      • 10 Ways To Save Money On Isle Of Wight Holidays
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      • Activities For Toddlers On The Isle Of Wight
      • Activities For Children And Families On The Isle Of Wight
      • Activities For Teenagers On The Isle Of Wight
      • Activities For Adults On The Isle Of Wight
      • Activities For An Isle Of Wight Stag Do
      • Surviving An Isle Of Wight Holiday With A Toddler
    • Quirky days out >
      • 10 Quirky Days Out On The Isle Of Wight
      • 10 Things You Can't Do On The Isle Of Wight
      • 10 Things You Can Only Visit On The Isle Of Wight
      • Isle Of Wight TV & Movie Tour
      • 10 Reasons To Visit The Isle Of Wight
    • Days out in Ryde, Sandown, Shanklin, Ventnor >
      • 10 Things To Do In Bembridge, St Helen's and Seaview
      • 10 Things To Do In Cowes And East Cowes
      • 10 Things To Do In Newport and Carisbrooke
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      • Historic Attractions On The Isle Of Wight
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      • 5 Isle Of Wight Car Journey Games
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      • The Isle Spy Car Journey Game
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    • Which Is The Best Isle Of Wight Beach For...
    • Isle of Wight Beaches Interactive Map
    • Isle Of Wight Tide Times
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    • Isle Of Wight Surf Forecast
    • Isle of Wight Watersports
    • The Beach Holiday Checklist - 5 Accessories
    • Mobile Version Of Isle Of Wight Best Beaches
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    • Walking >
      • Walking The Isle of Wight Coastal Path
      • 10 Best Isle of Wight Walks (Circular, 3-9 miles)
      • 10 Isle of Wight Short Walks For Children (1 Mile)
      • Isle of Wight Themed Walks
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Isle of Wight Guru

5 Things You'll Find In Your Pockets After An Isle of Wight Holiday

25/4/2022

0 Comments

 
I have a bad habit of not emptying out my coat pockets. On the first day of winter, I will often pull a coat of the cupboard, feel an odd shape and say "Oh, that's where my sunglasses went!".

If you're returning from an Isle of Wight holiday with children then I guarantee you'll find these find these five things in your pockets:

1. Yellow tickets from Shanklin's Summer Arcade

If the weather isn't living up to those Isle of Wight pictures you saw on Instagram then you'll find the crowds gathered in Shanklin's Summer Arcade. For a single pound you can enjoy up to three minutes of fun, throwing balls at a clown's face or playing a giant keyboard.

You'll be rewarded amply with a splurge of yellow tickets which can be exchanged for an array of wonderful plastic souvenirs. Within a few minutes you'll find that collecting yellow tickets has become more important to you than eating or breathing.

We collected more than 600 yellow tickets over three visits recently and exchanged them for, er, two squishy balls. 

Still, I enjoyed playing the giant Space Invaders game and Mrs Guru enjoyed wasting £5 on the grabber machines. She likes to explain how they are rigged and then goes ahead and plays them anyway. Good times.

By my guesstimate, I'd say that the two yellow tickets left in my pocket are worth as much as two thirds of a penny. I'll be clinging on to them for my next visit.
Summer arcade tickets from Shanklin
Shanklin's seafront arcade will soon have you desperate for more yellow tickets

2. A crumpled Map of Blackgang Chine

The first time I took my oldest daughter to Blackgang Chine, she was scared of everything. She was probably three, but she only really enjoyed the swings and the talking bins. Thankfully, Blackgang Chine is free for under fours.

Regardless, she spent the next month showing friends and relatives her map of Blackgang Chine. The map became so worn that I had to repair it with Sellotape.

"That's the Cowboyland that I didn't like...and that's the Princess Castle that I didn't like...and that's the Dinosaurland that I didn't like" she told my mother, repeatedly.

One day, I will collect every Blackgang Chine map ever produced and ask if they'll display them at the Museum of Island History.
Blackgang Chine map 2022
A crumpled Blackgang Chine map provides much post-visit entertainment

3. Unused Supersaver Tickets from Alum Bay

I love a day out to The Needles and Alum Bay. The views are smashing and there's something for most ages, including a carousel for little ones, a chairlift for slightly older ones and a box of fudge or a nice sit down for great-grandads. It's free to get in, apart from the cost of parking (£6 in 2022). The National Trust's Old Battery is excellent if you want to avoid the school trips and funfair.

I also admire a business model which sells tiny containers of sand on an Island full of sandy beaches. That really is up there with selling ice in Antarctica.

​The Supersaver Tickets are something else I always get sucked into. Each ride and attraction requires a few £1 tokens, but if you buy a book of 12 then you only pay £9. We always end up with two or three leftovers and then lose them before our next visit.

When we visited The Needles three weeks ago, I asked a member of staff at the small Co-op in Freshwater if they would accept them as a form of payment. He just looked a bit confused.
The Needles Supersaver Tickets
Non-refundable and not accepted at nearby branches of the Co-op

4. A priceless fossil/a worthless stone

Thankfully we are past the days of the children insisting on bringing a bucket full of shells and stones back from the beach. Mrs Guru would usually allow them to fill up the bucket to "keep the peace" and then I would discreetly put them back on the beach a couple of days later once they had forgotten. I feared that Freshwater Bay would run out of stones if every visitor took home a bucketful.

Nowadays, we tend to pick up something which looks kind of like a fossil and then hold onto it just in case we've discovered a new species. There's no logic to this, as it just sits in the boot of my car for six months whereas if we'd left it behind then a geologist might have found it and placed it in a museum.
Rock found on Brook Chine
The fossil of an Iguanodon vertebrae, or perhaps just a rock. We shall never know.

5. Sand

However hard you try, you will end up with sand in your pockets after an Isle of Wight holiday.

​You'll also find it in your car's footwell (up to your ankles), in your suitcase, in your roofbox and between your toes. Remarkably, you'll find sand everywhere even if you don't step onto a sandy beach. No one knows how this happens.
Freshwater Bay with glistening sea
Even a walk along the rocky part of Freshwater Bay will result in sand in your pockets
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