We are regular diners at the Dimbola cafe in Freshwater Bay. Our holiday let is next door and it has provided many brie, bacon and cranberry paninis. Despite this, I had never got round to visiting the museum at Dimbola. I could tell you great detail about the many Victorian artists who visited but hadn't actually been myself. The opportunity arose during the Women's World Cup when child two made it quite clear that she wasn't interested in watching the match. I dutifully offered to get her out of the way so the rest of the family could watch it in peace. We started at Freshwater Bay's bus stop library before heading for the Dimbola museum. At Dimbola, we paid about £7 for an adult and child and were given a clipboard and quiz - which is an absolute winner for us. A simple trail, ideally with a prize at the end turns a 20 minute trip into a 60+ minute trip. We also found this to be the case at the Isle of Wight Steam Railway recently. Their trail kept our two occupied very nicely and the clues were laid out well across the site. We also visited Yarmouth Castle in the same week. It's a beautiful building with gorgeous views but we were done in 19 minutes. The children's dressing up was being used by others when we popped our head round the door, so we moved along. The guidebook we bought was a detailed guide to its history rather than something to occupy the children. What we really needed was a series of letters hidden round the castle which spell out a word - and a prize pencil at the end. Anyway, back to Dimbola. The permanent exhibition is about the life of Julia Margaret Cameron. She treated photography as an art form, which was a novel idea in the 1800s. The museum is a collection of her cameras and photos, as well as a best-guess recreation of her bedroom. It's a good collection but the venue helps things along a lot as well. The building has a lot of character and excellent views of Freshwater Bay, which are almost as good as the views from my flat which is available to hire from Classic Cottages... (Ed: very subtle). We particularly liked the dressing up area at Dimbola, where we worked our way through the hats and dresses. It turns out that green satin is my colour. Thanks to the trail, we spent a good chunk of time in this part of the museum. Without the trail, I would have still been reading the first entry on the timeline whilst child two was pulling on my arm. When we finally handed in our worksheet, the volunteer on the ticket office did a good job of appearing impressed. This helped greatly. The rest of the museum was all about the Isle of Wight Festival, which holds a personal fascination for me (see our guide to unforgettable festival moments).
The permanent section is about the 1970 festival, which took place down the road in Afton. The temporary exhibition is about the festival's revival from 2002 to 2023. There are photos, a fantastic video of highlights and a few bits of memorabilia. I could have spent an hour or more in here, but child two didn't quite feel the same unfortunately as the trail only covered the permanent museum. I allowed myself a couple of minutes looking at festival photos before reluctantly moving on to the gift shop for an argument about whether a notepad needed to be paid for from the pocket money fund or my money.
0 Comments
Read this guide to getting value for money at Blackgang Chine and Robin Hill before you book! There's an ongoing debate in our house over whether Blackgang Chine or Robin Hill is better. They are both popular Isle of Wight attractions but you may only have the time or budget for one during your holiday. Here's my summary - Robin Hill and Blackgang Chine cost about the same and get nearly identical reviews. They appeal to similar ages, both put on great events and have a similar number of rides. Blackgang Chine is better if you prefer fantasy theme parks and it also wins for views and nostalgia. Robin Hill is more spread out, more focused on nature and has more space for running around, with more playgrounds and more green space. Similar reviews and pricesCustomer reviews of Blackgang Chine and Robin Hill are exceedingly similar. Blackgang Chine scores 4.4/5 on Google reviews or 4/5 on Trip Advisor. Robin hill scores 4.5/5 on Google reviews or 4/5 on Trip Advisor. That gives Blackgang Chine an overall score of 8.4/10 and Robin Hill a score of 8.5/10. Honestly, I wouldn't make decisions based on a 1% difference. Both Blackgang Chine and Robin Hill are owned by the same family business and they cost about the same (see our guide for money saving tips). Robin Hill is usually a couple of pounds cheaper but you pay extra for the toboggan run so the difference is wiped out. Rides at Blackgang Chine and Robin HillBlackgang Chine has the scariest ride (Extinction) but Robin hill has the toboggan run, which is my favourite of the lot. The total number of rides is similar but Blackgang's rides are slightly more intense (only relatively speaker - neither are white-knuckle attractions). Robin Hill has a 4D cinema, a swinging pirate ship, a mini train ride and the toboggan run. There's also a tractor ride, which carries you round the park. Blackgang Chine has a water slide, a pendulum ride (Extinction), a rising platform ride (Evolution), pirate barrels and a magic carpet ride (Shipwrecked). Both parks are best for junior school aged children. Older children will enjoy one or two rides at each park but you might feel it wasn't the best use of your money if they spend the time sitting on a bench staring at their phone. See our guides to days out for teenagers for alternatives. Visiting time and viewsI would say that Robin hill takes us a little longer to visit but a lot depends on whether you stay and watch shows or just race round. The main difference is because Robin Hill is more spread out. Both have good views of the Island to entertain parents but Blackgang Chine wins on views for me. The sea views are really terrific. Robin Hill has nice rolling hills to look at from the observation tower but it's not quite the same. Theme and atmosphereRobin Hill is on a larger site, so it's better for running around. The bottom of the park has space for kicking a football or playing disc golf. There are three playgrounds plus a bouncy nets area at Robin Hill whilst Blackgang Chine just has one smallish adventure playground and a couple of bouncy nets. Robin Hill has lovely woodland gardens and more of a natural vibe with red squirrels (subject to availability) and falconry. Grandma will probably prefer Robin Hill because of the gardens and the roaming peacocks. Both parks put on summer shows and stay open late on some evenings. The Blackgang Chine evening shows I've been to have involved foam parties, loud music and fireworks, whereas Robin Hill does things like amphitheatre shows and hot air balloon events. If I had to choose, I would probably say that Robin Hill edges it on events but I did have a great time at the fireworks and foam party in 2023. Blackgang Chine has more of a fantasy vibe, with cowboys, dinosaurs, fairies, goblins, singing pets, pirate ships and so on. It's great if you like a parade of noise and excitement. In the 1970s, the park was split into themed lands with similar names to one of the Disney theme parks. That vibe has continued, albeit on a much smaller scale than Disneyland. Robin Hill is calmer, greener and more spread out. If you or your children struggle with crowds, I would go for Robin Hill as it's easier to find your own space. The appeal of nostalgiaFinally, there's the value of nostalgia. Blackgang Chine has been going for much longer so you probably visited when you were on a school trip. Some of the vintage attractions still survive, including the maze, the giant smuggler, some of the cowboys and dinosaurs and the fairy castle. See our history of Blackgang Chine for more information.
You may find that the nostalgia is too hard to resist. My father was never a fan of The Needles pleasure park. His ideal Isle of Wight day out involved avoiding people, which is unlikely to happen at something described as a 'Landmark Attraction'. And so, we never made it to the summertime fireworks displays growing up. Personally, I quite like a bit of atmosphere at a busy event and so decided to take child one for an evening out. We were blessed with an extraordinarily beautiful evening with orange skies and barely any wind. Child one was particularly keen to ride on the chairlift. Her last ride had been when she was four years old. It was a little tense as she wriggled and refused my offers to help her stay safely onboard. Six years later, such issues had gone and we greatly enjoyed our trip down. The cheapest way to ride the chairlift is to buy a 'Supersaver' book of 12 tickets for £9. We used seven tickets for an adult and a child to ride down the chairlift (£5.25 if you do the sums). It costs double for a return ticket. Riding down the chairlift offers better views but riding up the chairlift saves you huffing and puffing. I rank a good view highly so we went for that option. As far as I can tell, you can't buy tickets at the bottom of the cliff so you need to make your mind up before setting off. The views were glorious and it gave us one of the highlights of the summer. After climbing back up the steps, we rode the carousel. This required six tokens rather than the five I had remaining from the chairlift. Luckily, I had one token which had been sitting in my wallet for a couple of years which I was able to pull out with great satisfaction.
I suspect that by next summer, child one will feel a little too old to ride the carousel with me. Let's not dwell on that for too long though (Ed: keep it light). Next up, was a Corrs tribute act accompanied by Irish dancers (well, why not?). Finally, at 9.30pm it was the fireworks. I was expecting these to whoosh off the cliff edge but - presumably for practical reasons - they launched further inland. This required the road leading to the Needles to close briefly. Getting out the car park was a pretty drawn out process. My advice is to park near the exit if you want a quick getaway. Even so, it was a really lovely evening and one which we will be repeating next year. Planning an Isle of Wight walking holiday? Check out our top 10 circular walks and our coastal path guide The Cripple Path and Tunnels in Niton is an excellent short walk for adventurous hikers and explorers with a good set of walking boots. I would not recommend this walk for young children, pushchairs, wobbly grandparents, nervous nellies or flip flop wearers. It is an exciting little trip which doesn't take long but you will almost certainly face major peril if you don't pay attention. We parked on Puckaster Lane and walked along Undercliff Drive to the start of footpath number NT117. You can see it on Google maps here. According to an Isle of Wight Council document, 'The name was first recorded in 1608 and comes from an Old English word for a narrow passage'. They reference a book written in 1940 by Kökeritz. From there it was a steep climb up for a few minutes until we reached the rather impressive overhanging cliff. There's a steep drop and no handrails here, so don't walk backwards to get a family photo. I made the foolish decision to send my drone up at this point. I skilfully navigated it through the gap in the trees with the plan of lowering it back through the same small hole. Unfortunately, my finger slipped and the drone disappeared out of view. It then began bleeping at me to let me know that its battery was two minutes away from failing. Needless to say, it was squeaky bum time until I finally landed it. After this excitement we continued to climb and then turned left to follow the footpath along the top of the cliff. The original footpath has been closed as it was getting rather close to the cliff so we ended up walking behind hedges for some of the way. Eventually, the view opened up to give us one of the South Wight's many excellent views. We then carried on and followed the footpath which led us down to Niton's tunnels. By the time you've gone through these you have pretty much completed a circle.
The whole thing took us about half an hour. The drone survived, as did we. **Wightlink's latest deals: Kids Go Free during holidays + Afternoon return for £15.60 + Car ferry offers** Wightlink's My Link loyalty scheme has been running for a few years now, but we've not really got round to crunching the numbers...(*dramatic pause*)...until now! Here's our guide to the discounts you can get with the MyLink scheme and how it compares to other available discounts. Who can sign up for Wightlink's My Link?The My Link scheme is only available 'if you live on the Isle of Wight'. That differentiates it from Wightlink's Multilink deals, which are valid to:
You aren't asked to provide proof of residency, but journeys have to start from the Isle of Wight. What discounts are available with Wightlink's My Link?You get food and foot passenger ferry travel discounts with Wightlink's My Link discount scheme. Honestly, food discounts don't excite me as I'm a bit of a cheapskate who never buys anything onboard a ferry (or onboard a plane or train or from a hotel minibar, football stadium or cinema - as I said, I'm a cheapskate). However, ferry discounts excite me greatly so let's examine those in more detail. The Wightlink My Link discount gives you a reduction of 'up to £2.40 on a standard foot Day Return ticket' or 'up to £3.20 on a standard foot Return ticket to the mainland'. There are also 'surprise seasonal offers'. I can't say any of these have blown my socks off recently but it may be the case that some customers are given better offers than others. I may have just been unlucky. The My Link discount varies as a percentage. For example:
Is Wightlink's My Link the best deal around or are there better alternatives?The good thing about My Link is that it is hassle free. I would encourage you to sign up and use it as a default discount if you would rather not spend too much time jumping through hoops. If you book online, 'your reduced foot passenger prices will automatically apply'. If you are buying a coffee onboard, you can show a QR code on the Wightlink app to get the discount. However, I am of the opinion that most people can beat a 10-12% discount on Wightlink foot passenger fares with a little bit of effort. There are several ways to do this, but I'm just going to discuss the main two on this blog. Firstly, if you are a semi regular traveller then the Multilink foot passenger deal is excellent value. If you pre-pay for five return journeys in a year then you'll pay £16 per return. That's a whopping discount of 57% off the standard period return fare on the Ryde Pier Head to Portsmouth Harbour crossing. It's a more modest discount if you do day trips or use the Lymington to Yarmouth or Fishbourne to Portsmouth crossing. In some cases, My Link actually beats Multilink - for example, a day return from Yarmouth in December 2023 will cost a pensioner £14.10 return, which is £1.90 cheaper than Multilink. My advice is to take a look at the prices on this page and have a best guess of what type of journeys you will be doing. Secondly, there are several ways to get yourself a 20% discount on Wightlink's foot passenger fares which will beat MyLink. Some require paid memberships, others are free to join. For example:
My Link ConclusionsMy Link is worth signing up for if you fit into either of these categories:
Parkdean Resorts is a popular choice for an Isle of Wight holiday - particularly for families. You get reasonably priced accommodation along with plenty of things to do onsite, including swimming pools, playgrounds and some other activities you pay extra for. With a bit of luck, your children will befriend the kids in the adjacent caravan so you can sit on your balcony with a G&T and say things like "ahhhhh, this is the life". But which is the easiest Isle of Wight Parkdean Resorts holiday park to visit if you don't have a car? Here's our guide to public transport and attractions near to Nodes Point, Thorness Bay, Lower Hyde and Landguard. Getting to the Isle of Wight Parkdean resorts without a carLower Hyde Holiday Park is the easiest Parkdean Resorts to reach by public transport - but they can all be reached without a car. For Lower Hyde and Landguard, catch the Hovercraft or Wightlink Fast Cat from Southsea or Portsmouth Harbour and you will end up in Ryde. See our ferries discount guide for current offers or our ferry beginners' guide for some general advice. You can then catch a train to Shanklin which takes 23 minutes and costs about £7 return for an adult. If you have a railcard, I would suggest booking a ticket which includes the ferry and the train journey as you can get a discount on both outside of peak times. From Shanklin railway station it is a six minute walk to Lower Hyde Holiday Park or a 12 minute walk to Landguard Holiday Park. Alternatively, catch a number 2 bus from Ryde bus station (now known as 'Ryde Transport Interchange') which takes about 40 minutes. Get off at Green Lane for a six minute walk to Landguard or Shanklin Bus Station for an eight minute walk to Lower Hyde. If you go for a taxi, expect it to cost you about £15-£20 (this is based on Taxi Auto Fare, so don't blame me if it's wrong!). Uber doesn't operate on the Isle of Wight but will probably arrive in about 20 years' time... What about Thorness Bay and Nodes Point?Nodes Point Holiday Park is also pretty easy to reach by bus on the number 8. There are also open top buses which cover the route. These are very scenic but they are best saved for a day out as you pay for a 24 hour ticket. The bus will take you about 25 minutes from Ryde Transport Interchange to Nodes Point. There's a bus stop for Nodes Point and then it's a walk of about six minutes to the resort entrance. Thorness Bay Holiday Park is a bit more out of the way. The easiest option is to get the Red Funnel foot passenger ferry from Southampton to (West) Cowes. See our ferries guide for discounts and deals. Reaching Thorness Bay Holiday Park by bus is a bit of a job. The only bus which goes vaguely in that direction is the number 32 from Cowes. However, it doesn't run all day and you will end up 30 minutes' walk from the holiday park. Your best option is to get a taxi which will cost you about £10. Things to do within walking distance once you get to Parkdean Resorts on the Isle of WIghtSo, we've established that Lower Hyde and Landguard are probably the easiest Parkdean Resorts to reach by public transport but that Nodes Point isn't far behind. Thorness Bay Holiday Park is a little more inconvenient but it's feasible with a short taxi ride. But what can you actually get to without a car once you reach the resorts? 1. nodes Point Holiday Park without a carNodes Point Holiday Park is particularly good for people who arrive without a car, in my opinion. There is quite a bit to do onsite including the indoor swimming pool, playground and kids' clubs. The beach at St Helens is right next door to the holiday park so you can get there in a couple of minutes on foot. It's a dog friendly beach with a café, although you may prefer to stick to the onsite food and drink. Visitors to Nodes Point can sign up for horse riding on the beach in the summer months. There is also a popular watersports company based at St Helens beach called Tackt Isle where you can hire equipment or sign up for lessons. You will pay £15 to hire a paddleboard for an hour (2023 prices). When you want to explore a bit further I would get yourself a 'Rover + Breezer' 24/48 hour group ticket with Southern Vectis. At the time of writing, the Rover + Breezer ticket costs £35/£42 for a group of up to five people. That gives you access to all of the Isle of Wight buses including an open top bus which stops at Nodes Point Holiday Park ('The Downs Breezer'). It gives you a great view of the eastern side of the Isle of Wight and is also a good way to get to popular areas including the beaches at Sandown and Ryde, the Isle of Wight Steam Railway and Robin Hill Country Park. Top tip: the 24 hour and 48 hours are not just one-day passes or two-day passes. The 24 hours or 48 hours starts ticking when you buy your ticket. Some canny visitors buy a 24 hour bus pass and have a day out in the afternoon and then another one on the following morning. There is more than one open top bus, and you can ride them both with your ticket. I personally prefer the Needles Breezer which covers the Western side of the Isle of Wight (although it's a long way from Nodes Point, as we will discuss later). The alternative is a seven day Freedom Ticket which gives you unlimited bus travel but doesn't include the open top buses. The current price is £67 for a group of five people for a week. Personally, I find open top buses great fun with the wind blowing my hat off and low hanging trees whooshing past. I find normal buses slow, tedious and smelly whilst on holiday. What would I do without a car at Nodes Point?My strategy for a car-free week's holiday at Nodes Point would include a 48 hour bus ticket but spread over three days (buy the pass in the afternoon of the first day). During those days I would head off on the open top bus to see somewhere along the route of the Downs Breezer. There are various attractions and beaches to choose from including Quarr Abbey (a working monastery with free entry), Robin Hill (a good-sized theme park for children aged up to about 11 - read this guide), Brading Roman Villa or the Isle of Wight Steam Railway. You can also stop at popular beaches in Ryde, Sandown and Yaverland (the last one is my favourite of the three). If you are really keen on buses, you can head for the West Wight and see The Needles on the Island Coaster using your 48 hour pass. However, there's a word of warning - it would take you about 2 1/2 hours to reach the Needles and most of the journey is on a closed top bus. My advice is to hop off at Freshwater Bay for an ice cream then hop back on the Needles Breezer which is open top and much more scenic. I'm not sure my body could take five hours on a bus in one day. After 48 hours using the bus pass, I would then spend the rest of the time visiting St Helens beach and Priory Bay. Both are really lovely beaches and have plenty to do if you enjoy watersports. St Helens itself is pretty but there's not a lot to it, so don't expect to fill a lot of time in the village. 2. Lower Hyde and Landguard Holiday Parks without a carThese two Parkdean Resorts holiday often get bundled in together. They are a walk of about 15 minutes apart and you can use facilities at both. Much like Nodes Point, there is quite a bit to do onsite and there are things to do within walking distance. Lower Hyde is about 15 minutes walk to the seafront at Shanklin whilst Landguard is more like 20 minutes. The seafront at Shanklin is probably the best on the Isle of Wight for a traditional family day out at the beach. There are three minigolf courses, a regularly updated amusement arcade which gobbles up 2p coins, a modestly sized funfair, watersports for hire and several beach cafes (see our guide to seafront restaurants). Shanklin has a few other things to do, including a thatched old village which sells vast amounts of cream teas, the Isle of Wight's best theatre (probably) and Shanklin Chine (a nicely lit walkway leading to the beach). Sandown is a couple of miles up the road and has plenty of other attractions including Wildheart Animal Sanctuary (which specialises in lions and tigers), Sandham Gardens (a good playground, minigolf and bouncy nets), a dinosaur museum and a traditional pier. You can reach Sandown via the number 2 bus in about 15 minutes or catch the train from Shanklin. The coastal path between the two towns is pretty but might be a bit ambitious for young children. The Isle of Wight's open top buses don't pass through Shanklin. I would get the 'Rover + Breezer' ticket mentioned above and then catch a 'normal' bus into Sandown where you can meet the open top bus. 3. Thorness Bay Holiday Park without a carIn my opinion, Thorness Bay Holiday Park is the least appealing Parkdean Resorts on the Isle of Wight for those arriving without a car.
The park has some attractions and it has its own beach but you will find it difficult to explore without using taxis. As mentioned earlier, the nearest bus route is a 30 minute walk from the park. The beach at Thorness Bay is great for sunsets and is popular with anglers but it isn't a sandy paradise. It is a scrubby and shingle beach for a peaceful wander rather than somewhere you will be spending all day. In June, Parkdean Resorts announced plans for a big expansion of the entertainments on offer at Thorness Bay. Once this happen, it will be a much better option for car free holidays as you will spend a lot more time onsite. The plans - according to On The Wight - include "Laser quest, high ropes and bungee trampolines" as well as "an adventure golf course, arts and craft den and outdoor mini entertainment stage". We were given free tickets to Blackgang Chine but we wrote what we wanted. Our recent efforts to get to Blackgang Chine’s Summer Fest had a similar vibe to the John Cleese film Clockwise. Child one and I had agreed that we would sneak off when child two was nearly asleep. The younger one is not quite old enough for a late night without it causing major repercussions for the rest of mankind. The original plan was to get there around 7.30pm. That would give us a couple of hours to see the sun set, enjoy Blackgang Chine’s illuminations, join in with the foam party and "ooh" and "aah" at the fireworks. For reasons which are too boring to go into, child two’s bedtime dragged on and we didn’t manage to leave Freshwater Bay until 8.10pm. I told child one that we would be there in 20 minutes, barring any disasters, which would still give us an hour. Disaster soon arrived in the form of road closures on the Military Road, which led to us navigating a detour through the West Wight’s and South Wight's back roads. At times, this invited scenic views of farmers harvesting as the sun set. At other times, this required frantic reversing in roads which are taller than they are wide. I haven’t dared look at my car in daylight this morning, after some of my reversing saw me drag my wing mirror through a hedge. It didn’t particularly help that child one had chosen a playlist called 'Roadtrip Bangers’. I didn’t really need to hear Take On Me whilst facing a tractor on a single track road. Eventually, we emerged back onto the Military Road and parked up at Blackgang Chine. The 20 minute journey had taken 40 minutes, so we rushed inside. Evenings at Blackgang Chine are great fun – and have been for many years. We debated whether to begin with the clifftop party or the dinosaurs. The dinosaurs won, so we ran through Restricted Area 5 to see the residents lit up in multicoloured lights. This area works particularly well in the dark, as the dinosaurs appear particularly menacing. Next was a dash across the bouncy nets of Dodo Valley, as we took a wiggly route to the main attraction of the evening. Pirates' Cove is where the main party takes place on a summer’s evening. Back in the day, Blackgang’s evenings involved gents in hats (I imagine) wandering the pathways admiring the flowers in the Water Gardens (see our history of Blackgang Chine if you enjoy nostalgia). Nowadays, DJ Omar drops banging beats on the clifftop whilst foam spews out from the pirate ships. This was quite a scene. The park was busy and – to quote every on-the-scene-sports-reporter-ever – the atmosphere was electric. Child one and I decided to have a slide around in the foam, which was engulfing the older children at the park. This soon led to wet feet, so we continued our night time turbo tour and visited The Underwater Kingdom. Again, this looked good at night, particularly the great big whale which hangs from above. Child one put in a request for a couple of giant sea creatures which she could climb on, much like the popular climbers in Restricted Area 5. I told her I would pass on the message. Time was getting away from us at this point and the rides were beginning to close in time for the fireworks.
We spent a little bit of time dancing badly in Pirates Cove (apologies to anyone who witnessed this) before the fireworks banged and whizzed. We agreed it was an excellent display. As we left, we discussed what an excellent evening it had been – even if it had only lasted for 50 minutes. “Right then” I said “How do we get home?” My father once gave me a long speech about the magic of a visit to the cinema. "There's nothing like it" he said. "The gathering together for a shared experience, the laughter, the joy" I asked him when he actually last visited the cinema, as I felt he might be exaggerating his passion "Ooh, it was Babe the Sheep Pig I think" I pointed out that the film out in 1995 so he perhaps wasn't cinema's greatest supporter. I had a similar issue with Butterfly World. It features on our guides to rainy days and places to meet animals - but my last actual visit was in around 1990. Back then, it was called Butterfly and Fountain World and I got in for the children's price. With the rain bucketing it down, we decided it was a good time to return after a 33 year gap. We were not the only people to have this idea and the soggy car park was busier than a McDonald's on Saturday lunchtime. My first error on this trip was not asking for a butterfly spotter sheet at the entrance. Every other child had one of these so I was sent back to get one. The queue was snaking round the shop by this point so I weighed up whether an additional purchase required a re-queue or whether a queue jump would be acceptable, as I had done my queueing time. I decided I would rather irritate a shop full of strangers than three members of my family, so I hesitantly hovered at the front of the queue and paid 75p for a spotter sheet. Two minutes later (with the contents of our bag emptied onto the floor of Butterfly World) we realised we didn't have a pen. The farce continued as we discussed whether a double re-queue was acceptable and whether we could use anything else as a pen. This time, Mrs Guru went back inside and re-joined the queue. Finally, we were ready to explore. Inside, there are three main areas. The first room is a greenhouse full of butterflies. This was the headline act for me. We spent about 45 minutes ticking off butterflies on the much-discussed spotter sheet whilst also failing to persuade them to land on us. Next up, we went to an area where you can handle other small creatures called the Discovery Zone This is a wise move by the owners as it pads out a visit nicely. Unfortunately, our timing was not great, as we had missed the morning talks and the handling wasn't starting again until the afternoon. Even so, we spent some time looking at the tortoises, snakes, snails, scorpions and frogs. Finally, there is an Italian area and a Japanese themed area with Koi fish. Again, we had missed the talk thanks to our terrible timing but we still had a go at feeding them. This involved holding baby bottles on the end of sticks to persuade the fish to have a suck. The Koi seemed a little coy so I concluded that they had recently been fed and gave up. On the way back, we returned through the butterfly greenhouse for another attempt to get the butterflies to land on us. We were much more successful this time and persuaded four butterflies to settle long enough for a photo. Lunch was calling us by this point, so I suggested we picnicked in the car. The gap between my seat and my handbrake had recently been cleaned so I was keen to refill it with Wheat Crunches, sandwich crusts and raisins. Getting the younger child to leave took a little bit of persuasion. This is another attraction where you get a free return within a week, which means parents like me can say "don't worry, we will come back another day" when they really mean "we will come back if you go on and on about it". Three bits of advice for visiting Butterfly WorldSo, after 33 years I can offer three pieces of advice about your visit to Butterfly World
This is also a good time to mention that Isle of Wight residents get a discount to butterfly world if you can bring some proof. Anyway, we will return in 33 years time with the grandchildren. |
Isle of Wight Guru's BlogTales of Isle of Wight days out, attractions and ferry discounts from a Wightophile. This site uses cookies - see our privacy policy. Ads & links in bold may give us a small payment from the seller, at no cost to the buyer. However, this never affects our views - if we like it, we recommend it. Archives
February 2025
|