The Wonders of the Isle of Wight with Darren & Marguerite

 The Wonders of the Isle of Wight 

Our first stop was visiting the infamous tourist attraction The Needles. It is well known for its multi-coloured sand cliffs and stunning views across the Solent. We stood on the ‘look out’ deck and marvelled at the magnificent views across the Solent, taking photos and watching the boats bobbing about in the distance.

We visited the sand shop full of all the different coloured sand that are only found on the Isle of Wight. We loved filling up glass ornaments with the sand and we were all very proud of our final creations. 

The sweet factory demonstration was amazing to watch. We couldn't believe the amount of sweets that were being made every single day here. Luckily for us, we got to sample some of these tasty treats! 

What a wonderful day we had exploring the Model Village at Godshill. It is set in 2 acres of lovingly landscaped gardens with scale models of both Shanklin and Godshill taking you back to the 1920s. Walking around here was a real delight; the time and effort it must have taken to recreate the quaint village scenes was unimaginable. 

We chose to visit the steam railway at Havenstreet for the day. This is a heritage railway travelling through 9km of countryside from Smallbrook Junction to Wootton Station, passing through Havenstreet where the line has a station, headquarters and depot. It was amazing to  watch the engine move from the front of the train to the back in order to pull the carriages the opposite way down the line. 

  

We took our seats to watch the fantastic flying display held by the Haven Falconry Bird of Prey centre and Martin was lucky enough to have his photo taken with one of the beautiful birds. We visited the centre before lunch and viewed the birds as well as ferrets, rabbits, insects and many more. 

We spent some of our evenings making the most of the onsite pool. We practised our swimming and played lots of fun games, too.