Monday 12th May 2025

The last few months have been very hectic with Viv's mum Joan spending time in hospital and needing daily carers coming in to look after her. At the age of 101, she is entitled to need looking after and during March we looked for a suitable care home for her. The pressure on Viv, travelling from home to Roehampton every day was taking its toll and finally on 2nd April, Joan moved into her new room at a care home much closer to us.

All in all, she has settled in very well, new found friends, some of whom are able to converse with her and she with them, but you can imagine the conversations between two people who are both hard of hearing, with memories ranging from minutes to the 1930's, life can have its interesting challenges.

Why do I mention all this? Well, we decided we needed a short break, to recharge the batteries. Viv spent many happy holidays on the Isle of Wight with family and friends so it will be a trip of memories for her. For me, less so, more a trip of discovery. I have been, just the once, over 30 years ago.

So here we go, setting off from home about 8.30am, heading for the Wightlink car ferry from Portsmouth at 11.20.

Easy crossing taking just 45 minutes. Time for a tea and shortcake biscuits, to fill a Pre lunch gap you understand.

On arrival at Fishbourne, an easy disembarkation and just a short half our ride to Shanklin. Mind you, everywhere on the IOW is a short ride away, so it seems!

Our hotel, the Belmont is a Victorian house built in 1862 as a gentleman's home and in a former life may even have been a gentleman's club. Now it boasts 12 rooms, a very nice fully stocked bar area, a pleasant garden with a pool. Sadly for us, the pool has undergone a refurbishment and the paint is still drying! The outdoor cocktail bar may still open before we leave.

Owned and run for the past eighteen years by Linda and Des, they have learnt over the years what works and what doesn't. Des is a car enthusiast and Linda is, quite clearly, the driving force behind the operation. 

When you consider the road where the hotel lies, is full of other hotels, making things profitable is not an easy task. We had a very interesting discussion with them before heading out for dinner, yes, they don't do evening meals.... have tried it but doesn't pay, either in terms of profit or staffing needs. Most guests want to eat out and when it rains, there is the potential for 24 guests to decide, with little notice they want to eat in. Nightmare to plan and execute.

The hotel foyer is really interesting. The usual array of 'what to see in IOW' is expected. What is not, is the hotel shop, the honesty snack cabinet, the coffee machine and the drinks cabinet. All designed, very cleverly, to offer the widest array of facilities at the lowest possible cost. Very astute!

Coupled with that is the 'clever' we don't enter your room whilst you are staying. At first, you might reasonably think, 'poor service' but if you are staying for a short break as most do, how often do you need the towels changed, what hardship making the bed and if you want the bottled water changed, you take it to Linda! I like their approach!

As you might expect, if you have read other trip accounts, you will not be surprised to know that we have the largest room in the place. Top floor, lovely views, but why did we pack so much.... flights of stairs and no bellboy!! Maybe this minimalist approach does need a rethink. We didn't choose this room but the under capacity at this early stage in the season proved advantageous for us.

A nice lunch at the Pencil Cafe in the village, two mega filled sarnies washed down with the very agreeable glass of Grigio did the trick. Followed by a walk through the village and the town, yes, Shanklin boasts both. No idea why.. The high street is suffering, like many British seaside towns. There is no doubt, the heady opulent days of the English Reviera of periods in the 20th century have long gone. Empty shops are a sign of better times gone by.

Viv wanted to relive her memories of nearly sixty years ago. Frequent holidays with the extended family on the IOW. Sandown, the next nearest metropolis, three miles away offers a golfing complex not quite of Trump proportions. Browns, opened in 1932 and designed by Sir Henry Cotton, a multiple international tournament winner ( according to the sign on the wall). We opted for the Red course, a 14 hole, par 3 pitch and putt affair. Armed with a wedge and a putter, 3 tees, three golf balls, a scorecard and a pencil, we headed of the the first tee. Safe to say, not having picked up a club since I retired from golf three years ago, I was soundly beaten by Mrs R. In fact, reflecting back on my performance, I can say, with some certainty that, my best golfing occasions are definitely a thing of the past and what's more, the course may have been designed by Henry Cotton, but I played more like Billy Cotton!

Monday evenings are, as is the case at home, considered to be a fasting time. You are not supposed to eat on a Monday evening. Our recommendation for the evening turned out to be closed.

Instead, we ventured up the High Street to an Asian restaurant, I hesitate to say Indian as i believe it is actually Bangladeshian ( no idea if the descriptive adjective for someone or something from Bangladesh, perhaps Bangladeshie? Who knows? Anyway, what a find this was. The best Indian (style) restaurant we have eaten in for years. Two meals of great taste, fabulous service, well priced and most enjoyable. We plan to return. I realised, as I neared the end of my meal that the portion control and filling at The Pencil Cafe had come back to haunt me. Note to self, if we go again to the House of Spice, don't have the bacon, Brie and cranberry sandwich at lunchtime!

A great first day and apart from almost needing a hoist to get out of the bath, a very successful introduction to the IOW.

Tomorrow it's the turn of Osborne House, looking forward to it!

Tuesday 13th May 

Woke up early with the sun streaming in ushering in another wonderful spring almost summers day.

Breakfast was a delight if a little over indulgent! Cereal, fruit juice, yoghurt and a full English breakfast for me, a double Eggs Benedict for Viv. The hot food was cooked to order, nicely served on a hot plate. I was very good, I declined the helping of baked beans on health grounds..... the health of others was my main concern!

We headed off to Osborne House, a mere thirty minutes drive away. Thinking it opened at 10.30am we arrived at 10.32am only to find three coaches had arrived in time for the 10am opening time. A long queue was evident but heh ho who cares, we are on holiday.

Very impressive facade greeted us.

Greeted at the ticket desk by a very helpful English Heritage person, he proceeded to tell us that sadly, the estate bus service wasn't operating today. He must have looked at us and realised this could be a problem for two sprightly, finely tuned, athletic, OAPs such as us. 

Little did he know, my daily step count was going to smash through the 10,000 steps barrier with or without his bus!

Osborne House really is an amazing place offering a wonderful insight into the life and times of Queen Victoria, hubby Albert who she saw off at the age of 41, her nine children (no wonder he bailed out early!, poor chap was probably exhausted.)

Leaving Osborne House, we took a brief look at Cowes and then headed to Bembridge to check out some old haunts of Viv's. The Duver pub and nearby beach were interesting.

You can just make out some old very dilapidated beach huts on the right. Designed as a railway carriage with luggage racks, I am sure in their heyday they looked great, but now they are run down, broken and some are derelict. A sign of the times. I am sure someone could remove them and build something more pleasant to look at.

As good as Monday's meal was, sadly tonight's was the opposite. Viv's pasta was way too spicy 🌶️ and my pizza was a burnt 🔥 offering, so much so, I had a very interrupted night's sleep with far too many trips to the bathroom! No more information needed!

Wednesday 14th May

Not a great start to the day and feeling rough after bad night. Thankfully the hotel shop stocked the Imodium and they seemed to work. Gentle breakfast and we ventured out for a walk along the front at Shanklin.

it is very hilly with a serious cliff edge which over the years has seen properties previously well back from the edge, now lying at the foot of the cliff.

The previous owner of the Chine Inn died a year or so ago, and his estate can't get a buyer. It was a gold mine for making money, apparently valued now at £750k, but is right underneath the cliff which has already had landslides, impossible to get insurance, so a tough sell.

The lift is still going strong, built in 1892 and was originally a hydraulic process. Damaged in WWII, it was demolished in 1958. The latest version was renovated in 2017

We walked down and took the lift back up ti save our tired legs. They aren't daft, they charge a return fare if £1.00 per passenger but no discount for one way trip!!

A trip to Thompson Garden Centre in the afternoon, again not venturing too far in the delicate state I was in. We will return tomorrow to buy some wild flowers for our gardener to plant out when we get home.

Tonight we were treated to a BBQ by mein host Linda. Vastly over provided for portions, an 8oz burger followed by a hot dog which was massive. Served with chips and salad, all beautifully cooked but seriously overfaced!! The Belmont has a nice cocktail bar in the garden which also houses a sizeable pool (sadly without water till the weekend).

Tomorrow, our last full day sees us off the Mottistone Gardens, then the Needles, then the garden centre. After a better night's sleep hopefully!

Thursday 15th May

Last full day! Headed off to the far western side of the island to check out The Needles. The drive over using the coast road is interesting largely due to areas that are now simply no longer there! Road diversions, or rather Road Closed signs are many and varied.

Not only that, when we got to The Needles, expecting to find a National Trust (newly enrolled members) venue, we found ourselves in a car park linked to an very tacky and gaudy looking 1970's Amusement Park, charged £6 to park, reduced to £4 on explaining indignantly that we are NT members 'don't you know'.

We walked to the viewing platform - took our pics and left. Parking rate of around 50p a minute!

Another lesson learned as well, we are so rubbish at taking selfies.....

Either my arms are too short or too feeble to hold the phone at the right angle, get all objects in the frame long enough and then be able to press the photo button with the same outstretched arm. No wonder the Japanese use selfie sticks!

Then we headed to Mottistone Manor House and Gardens. Absolute delight! Gardens containing a myriad of wild flowers and lovely views.

Spent a couple of hours wandering around and taking in the views, cheating as well using my Parent Planter app to identify the species of plant and sound incredibly like Monty Don.

Headed then to Carisbrooke Castle, which was also very impressive with wonderful views over the surrounding countryside.

One of us managed a walk to the Keep, the highest point of the Castle.

You can, if you wish, walk all the way around the castle walls which is unusual if not a little daunting at times, especially when the wind blows.

We ended our day heading home via Thompson's Garden centre having picked up some plants we had spotted earlier in the day at Mottistone. Not sure they will look quite so impressive in our little garden but you never know.

Our final evening meal was at Pendleton's in Shanklin Village, a lovely restaurant with English cuisine and run by a couple of young lads. Lovely food and a nice buzzy place to eat.

Back on the ferry tomorrow.