Isle Of Wight

Bembridge Windmill

High St, Bembridge, Isle of Wight, PO35 5SQ
Tel: 01983 873945
E-mail: bembridgemill@nationaltrust.org.uk

Needles Old Battery

West Highdown, Totland, PO39 0JH
Tel: 01983 754772
E-mail: needlesoldbattery@nationaltrust.org.uk

Yarmouth Castle

Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, PO41 0PB
Tel: 01983 760678

This last addition to Henry VIII's coastal defences was completed in 1547. It houses exhibitions of paintings of the Isle of Wight and photographs of old Yarmouth.
Magnificent picnic spot with views over the Solent.

Calbourne Water Mill

Newport, Isle of Wight, PO30 4JN
Tel/Fax: 01983 531227

A 17th century working water mill. The mill mentioned in the Doomsday Book, stands in beautifully kept grounds. Also at the site are; wind engine, rural museum, freshly baked bread and cakes from the flour ground by the mill, café, gift shop and free parking.

Carisbrooke Castle

Carisbrooke, Newport, Isle of Wight, PO30 1XY
Tel: 01983 522107
E-mail: carismus@lineone.net

Carisbrooke Castle is in the care of English Heritage. It offers seven acres of castle and earthworks to explore. The oldest part you see today is a Norman motte and bailey - a stone shell keep on a mound, and a curtain wall round a courtyard, occupying the site of a former Saxon burh. Other medieval features are the well, with a treadwheel worked by donkeys, and the gatehouse, with its twin drum towers. Objects recovered from excavations in the castle (on loan from English Heritage) are displayed in the museum.
 

BOWLING GREEN Apartment, Carisbrooke Castle is a self catering holiday property within the castle walls and available through English Heritage. More info...

East Cowes Heritage Centre

8 Clarence Rd, East Cowes, Isle of Wight, PO32 6EP
Tel: 01983 280310    Fax: 01983 296718

Permanent exhibition showing the development of East Cowes over the last 200 years, plus temporary exhibitions on aspects of local history.

Tennyson Monument

Tennyson Down, Freshwater Bay, West Wight

It was the remote tranquillity of the Island that drew Alfred Tennyson to settle at Farringford in 1853. He came at a stage in his career when he was achieving some critical acclaim - succeeding as poet laureate upon the death of Wordsworth in 1850. His presence at Freshwater drew a wider circle of notable visitors there - Benjamin Jowett, Edward Lear, Sir Arthur Sullivan, Charles Darwin and Prince Albert to name but a few. After his death in 1892 the great marble Maltese Cross was put up on the down where he had walked, and which now bears his name. The inscription reads: "In memory of Alfred Lord Tennyson this cross is raised as a beacon to sailors by the people of Freshwater and other friends in England and America".

The Hoy Monument

North End of St Catherine's Down, Near Blackgang, West Wight

A prominent feature on St Catherine’s Down is the Holy Monument, a tall stone column with a large finial sphere at the top. It was built in 1814 by Michael Hoy, a merchant trading with Russia, who lived in a house called The Hermitage on the eastern slope of the down. The occasion was a visit to Britain by the Tsar Alexander I of Russia, at that time - having just entered Paris in triumph at the head of his armies - the lynchpin of the coalition against Napoleon.

A small inscription on a white marble plinth on the north face reads: In commemoration of the visit of His Majesty Alexander I, Emperor of all the Russians, to Great Britain in 1814, in remembrance of many happy years of residence in his dominions this pillar was erected by Michael Hoy. A later tablet on the south face of the column base tells an entirely different story. It was added by a subsequent owner of the land and the inscription reads: This pillar was erected by William Henry Dawes late lieutenant of H.M. 22 Regt in honour of those brave men of the allied armies who fell on the Alma at Inkermann and at the siege of Sevastopol AD 1857. This is indeed a tale of a truly two faced monument.

Grays Monument

Church Litten, Near Entrance to Lord Louis Library, Newport

In the early 1800's the usual way of sweeping any substantial chimney was to send a little boy up it, brushing the soot as he climbed. One of these climbing boys was Valentine Gray a nine year old pauper from Alverstoke who went to work for a Newport sweep, a Mr Davis.

One day the boy was found dead in his sleeping quarters, the outbuilding of a house in Pyle Street, Newport. A surgeon who examined the body found that it was a mass of bruises, and that the cause of death was a severe blow to the head. There was a prolonged inquest and eventually Davis and his wife were imprisoned for manslaughter. The public compassion for the boy's fate was reflected by the erection of the monument that now stands in Litten Park, Newport: To the memory of VALENTINE GRAY the little sweep. Interred January the 5th AD 1822 in the 10th year of his age. In testimony of the general feeling for suffering innocence this monument is erected by public subscription.

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Mottistone Manor

Mottistone, Newport, Isle of Wight, PO30 4ED
Tel: 01983 741302
E-mail: mottistonemanor@nationaltrust.org.uk

Osborne House

East Cowes, Isle of Wight, PO32 6JY
Tel: 01983 200022    Fax: 01983 281380

Pay a visit to Queen Victoria's favourite holiday home. The house has remained largely unchanged since the country's longest serving monarch died here 100 years ago.
Restoration work has been carried out on the recently re-opened Durbar Room which houses many gifts and treasures presented to Queen Victoria as does the Swiss Cottage which can be visited by horse and carriage. There are beautiful gardens to explore and the walled garden has recently been restored. It's easy to relax and spend a whole day here and the grounds enjoy beautiful views of the Solent and beyond.

 

PAVILION COTTAGE, a former cricket pavilion, is a self catering holiday property within half a mile of Osborne House, available through English Heritage. More info...

Afton Park Gardens, Plant Nursery, Cafe & Shop

Freshwater, Isle of Wight
Tel: 01983 755774
Web: www.aftonpark.co.uk

Located on the Isle of Wight, the gardens at Afton Park incorporate a popular plant nursery, wildflower meadow and apple orchard open to the public 7 days a week in season. The newly designed and planted gardens sit in an area of outstanding natural beauty, beneath the chalk downs close to Freshwater Bay, at the western end of the Isle of Wight.

As well as the gardens a wildflower meadow is being developed on this beautiful seven acre site. There are planted borders, a cottage garden (which is also the tea garden for the Apple Tree Cafe), a Summer Garden, a gravel garden and numerous other plantings around the site. This allows our plant nursery customers to see how the plants we sell might be used. The Orchard is another aspect of what we do. We have 150 apple trees, mainly Cox and Bramley, which we tend and harvest and provide the focus for our annual Isle of Wight Apple Days Festival in September.