Isle of Wight holiday break 2nd to 5th May 2025

Five members and two guests joined us for a short trip to the Isle of Wight, staying at the HF House at Freshwater Bay. Landing at Fishbourne, we hopped around the corner to the masterpiece of a building called Quarr Abbey. The new monastery building is only 114 years old but even so is well worth a visit. The original abbey, now a ruin, dates back to the 12th Century. Next stop was the Ventnor Botanic Garden, but after some refreshments we had little time left before we had to head for our holiday home for 3 nights at Freshwater House, where we were greeted with a cream tea.

On Sunday as many of the other guided walkers were heading for The Needles, we felt a trip to Freshwater would be a better option. The path was mostly beside the Western Yar River, a site of Special Scientific Interest as well as a safe haven for many small sailing boats. Finding somewhere to eat our HF picnic was a slight problem until we found a secluded spot near St James Church. Suitably refreshed we headed back on the opposite side of the river and visited the church and pub at Freshwater before eventually getting back to Freshwater House. Total mileage was around 8.1/2 miles, but we had taken all day!

On Monday we made our trip to the Needles and came back via Tennysons Down. The Old Battery at the end of the Needles was of interest, but membership of the National Trust was needed. The walk back was along the top of Tennysons Down, with glorious views all the way. This walk was shorter than the day before at around 6.1/2 miles.

Our last day was spent at Osborne House, full of history of Queen Victoria. Several of us were surprised to find that so many of European royal families are directly descended from this queen. After touring the house we made our way to the Swiss Cottage, a favourite haunt of the royal children, and then down to the Queens private beach. We were very lazy and caught a minibus back to the car park. From there it was only a short trip back to the ferry and eventually Portsmouth Harbour. The rain threatened for the weekend never materialized and a very relaxed trip was complimented by some good food and service from the HF house.