Travel Information

Alverstone Mead is located south-east of Alverstone, and south of the Sandown to Newport cycleway on the Isle of Wight.  Bird watchers and wildlife enthusiasts, and keen walkers will love this area of conserved reserve. You can find several different habitats here; include the low-lying grasslands, hay meadows, ditches, open water, and woodland. To get into the reserve you can use one of several public footpaths, try NC 44, which runs between Burnt House Lane and the new Sandown to Newchurch cycleway; alternatively try from footpath NC 17 from Alverstone Road. Other footpaths in the area connect to these. The reserve is open at any time. Wildlife in this reserve varies greatly with the different habitats. Grassland in the west contains yorkshire fog, meadow buttercup, crested dog’s tail, sheep`s sorrel and soft rush. In the easterly parts the marshy ground contains a wide variety of sedges including carnation sedge, oval sedge, greater pond sedge, and brown sedge. The meadows have many over-wintering and passage birds including water rail, green sandpiper, common snipe, redshank, grey heron, and yellow wagtail. Resident birds spotted here include kingfisher, sedge and reed warblers and reed bunting and Skylarks. Make sure you take your binoculars. Additionally the large network of ditches is rich in plant species. This reserve is worth a visit if you love wildlife watching and are on your Isle of Wight Motorhome Hire Holiday. For more information on the Nature Reserve click the Blue text below.

Alverston Mead Nature Reserve
Alverston
Near Sandown
Isle of Wight

Amazon World Zoo Park is a great day out for all the family. It is well stocked with mammals, birds, Reptiles, Insects and Spiders, Fish and ampibians from all over the world. This is the place to see a vast variety of exotic animals. Many of the animals are rare and unusual and make up the 200 different species housed here. There are talks and displays and its likely you will leave the Zoo Park having learned something new and interesting about the wildlife of the world. The zoo runs a comprehensive conservation programme which includes a breeding programme. It’s not just a question of pairing up the same species and hoping for the best! The breeding Programme has a stud book to ensure that potential females do not mate with a near relative and the species becomes inbred. Potential females may have to be transported from Europe, USA, Australia or even Japan. This is expensive, particularly after 6 months in quarantine first! This zoo is definitely doing its bit to ensure that endangered species are bred and continue for our children and grandchildren to enjoy. The zoo Keepers are friendly as well and are happy to answer any questions you have about the animals. When you are on the island on your Isle of Wight Campervan Hire Holiday, it is worth visiting this zoo for an interesting day out. Find it on the A3056. Look out for the ‘Fighting Cocks Roadhouse’ and the zoo is just opposite, between Newport and Sandown.

Amazon World Zoo Park
Watery Lane
Nr Arreton
Isle of Wight
PO36 0LX

Tel: 01983 867122

You don’t have to go to Russia or America to see part of the space age technology!  The UK was in the space race too, testing and launching its own rockets into the stratosphere. The Isle of Wight housed an amazing testing site for rockets at the needles headlands. Not the rockets you see on Bonfire Night, these were the big boys!  The Needles Headland was transformed into something like a James Bond film set. Here are 2,200 square feet of control rooms and underground stores, 4,260 square feet of laboratories and offices and 3.080 square feet of workshops and smaller machine shops. Used by 240 people in the 1960’s this was a hive of activity testing the Black Knight and Black Arrow space rocket engines, prior to the rockets being shipped to Woomera for launching. It’s an imposing structure. It is hard to imagine the reality of the place and the tense nerve racking excitement that these hundreds of people must have felt on the launching of each test rocket. Scary and very noisy stuff! The end of a 65 metre tunnel provides the closest view of The Needles from land, so views from this site can also be spectacular. There is also a refreshment Kiosk on site. On your tour of the Isle of Wight in your Motorhome Hire this place should certainly be included for a visit. Parking for your Isle of Wight Motorhome Hire may be available at The Needles Pleasure Park, currently £4 per day and a reasonably easy half-hour walk brings you to the Old Battery or the return fare on the open-top bus is £5. Prices for 2011. Alternatively there is a National Trust car park 3 kilometers from the venue (OS map ref. SZ 3245 8555) at the end of Highdown Lane, Totland. One of the walks from the National Trust car park is extremely steep in places and one much easier. Both these walks will reward you with stunning coastal scenery. Owned and run by the National Trust and its helpful volunteers this is part of our recent history and is worth a visit. For admission prices and opening times click on the National Trust website.

The Needles New Battery
Isle of Wight
P039 0JH

The castle is located close to the village of Carisbrooke and its car park is accessible by a narrow road. At one particular section of this narrow road, traffic lights operate the flow of traffic, as it becomes too tight for cars in both directions to pass safely. Carisbrooke was the strongest castle on the Island a it is visible from some distance. The history of the site dates back to Roman times with traces of a Roman Fort found underneath some buildings.The main rooms in the castle became used as the official residence of the Governor of the Isle of Wight until the 1940s.The Great Hall, Great Chamber and several smaller rooms are all open to the public, and an upper room houses the Isle of Wight Museum. Most rooms are partly furnished, but it is the features and fireplaces in these grand rooms that are the main interest. A feature and tradition of the castle are all the donkeys they keep there. All the donkeys have names that begin with the letter ‘J’. This tradition was started when Charles I was a prisoner at Carisbrooke. When Charles I wrote letters or was planning his escape route, he always signed his letters with a ‘J’. So for 150 years all the donkeys at the castle have had a name beginning with ‘J’. While you are at the castle you must also visit the garden dedicated to Princess Beatrice. Not our present Princess by that name but instead the youngest of Queen Victoria’s nine children, who was also called Princess Beatrice. She was her mother’s lifelong companion, and was only allowed to marry on the condition that she and her husband continued to live with the Queen. If you are on the Isle of Wight on your Motorhome Hire Holiday this is a castle worth a visit. The castle is managed by English Heritage, and for more information, click the blue text below.

Carisbrooke Castle
Castle Hill
Newport
Isle of Wight
PO30 1XY

Telephone: 01983 522107

Garlic may seem not the most attractive of things to celebrate with a festival but this festival may certainly change opinions. Garlic can be associated with vampires and certainly can be associated with smelly breath for the more ardent garlic eaters! You dont have to be a garlic eater to have fun at the festival.Colin Boswell in the Isle of Wight started his farm producing garlic and it is now one of the UK’s biggest producers. Apparently, the long sunny days and local soil make the Isle of Wight a uniquely fertile place in which to grow garlic. Twenty seven years ago, the farm launched the Isle of Wight Garlic Festival. This festival is a mixture of everything,being a food event, part country fair, part sixties pop festival. There is something here for all the family to enjoy over the two day festival period. In recent years the entertainment has included; The Wurzels, Chas n Dave, Brotherhood of Man, Mungo-Jerry, The Foundations and Alvin Stardust. Among those already booked for the 2011 show, are top English rockers, Matchbox! To back up these stars, there’s music all day from their talented supporting bands and local singers. There are over 300 stalls and attractions, including walk-around entertainers (some under cover if the rain descends). There will also be a huge funfair, weensy railway, water-ball pond climbing wall and most essential to any British event, there will be a tea tent. Travel in your Isle of Wight Motorhome Hire and make this event a highlight of your holiday stay on the island. The Garlic Festival is located at the address given below.

The Garlic Festival
Fighting Cocks Crossroads
Bathingbourne Lane
Sandown
PO36 0LU

Whilst exploring the beautiful Isle of Wight in a motorhome, take a quick trip to Osborne House, once home to Queen Victoria and family. Osborne House is one of the Isle of Wight’s most popular tourist attractions and offers a brilliant tour of the decadently opulent interiors, extensive gardens and hot houses along with a well-respected restaurant and cafe.

Osborne House is a truly breathtaking example of fine architecture and design and it is no surprise that the location had been used to film scenes for Mrs Brown (1997).

There is also currently a display of costumes used in the film The Young Victoria (2009) which starred Emily Blunt in the lead role.

Osborne House
East Cowes
Isle of Wight
England
PO32 6JX

The owl and Monkey Haven is just that, a haven for these wonderful creatures! You get to see a whole host of different species of owls plus some very endearing monkeys of all shapes and sizes. The whole family will enjoy an outing here and children especially will be fascinated by what they see. There is a tea room selling delicious cakes and beverages and there is a children’s play area. For the more adventurous you can treat yourself or another to become a Keeper for a day. For £140 (in 2011) you learn all about caring for the animals. There is a lunch included with this day and you also get to hand feed some of the animals. Finally you receive a photograph to remind you of your day plus a certificate. Perhaps a Keepers day would make an ideal gift for a birthday or to mark a special occasion. To take advantage of this day you must be over 16 years of age and have booked in advance. There are a number of health and safety conditions which must be complied with so check the website link at the bottom of this page for more details. You can also have a Lemour Encounter for £50 (in 2011). You have the chance then to feed and interact with the black and white ruffed lemurs. Lemours are friendly, and they feed from your hand. Here too you will have your photograph taken as a reminder of the day. There are also events taking place during the summer period. To visit the Owl and Monkey Haven on your Isle of Wight Motorhome Hire holiday from Coppins Bridge in Newport, travel along the Ryde road. Turn immediately right at the traffic lights onto Staplers road. Drive one mile along Staplers road, pass the lavender Farm and turn left into Owl and Monkey Haven. The Haven is open from 10am daily. For more information click the blue text below.

Owl and Monkey Haven
5 Acres Farm
Staplers Road
Newport
Isle Of Wight
PO30 2NB

The Isle of Wight is certainly the best place to party and watch a Carnival. In 2010 the island staged over twenty carnivals and each year they get better and better. Collect your southern England Motorhome Hire on the mainland and take the ferry from Portsmouth, Southampton or Lymington. The children will find the ferry ride an adventure in itself. It feels as if you are traveling abroad to a foreign land! Alternatively you can collect your Motorhome on the island itself if there is one available. Touring with your Southern England Motorhome Hire is the best way to see the Isle of Wight. You travel in comfort with everything you need at hand. The Ryde main Carnival takes place on Saturday 20th August 2011 and it has everything a great carnival should have, over 2000 performers take part, its colorful, the costumes are amazing and the atmosphere is electric. If you miss it in 2011, plan your 2012 holiday around the new date as soon as its published. The whole family will enjoy the spectacle. Because the carnival is in August , book your campsite and Southern England Motorhome Hire, well in advance, or you could be disappointed. The carnival will certainly be a highlight of your trip.

Ryde
Isle of Wight
United Kingdom

This is an historic monument located on the Isle of Wight, overlooking Chale Bay high on top of St Catherine’s Hill. To get there, travel east of Blackgang roundabout, off theA3055. It is a medieval octagonal tower, once said to have been used as a lighthouse, and built here in 1328 as penance for stealing church property from a wrecked ship. Known locally as the Pepperpot, it stands on one of the highest parts of the Isle of Wight. This is part of the Tennyson Heritage Coast and was previously the site of a prehistoric burial mound and a small medieval oratory. . Some believe that St Catherine’s Oratory was erected by Walter de Godeton in 1328. He is said to have been a local landowner who was condemned by the Church for stealing casks of wine from a shipwreck which had occurred in 1314 off Chale Bay. The cargo was originally intended as wine for monks in France. The Church threatened Walter with excommunication unless he built a lighthouse above the scene of the shipwreck, together with an adjoining oratory.  In the oratory the monk was to maintain a light and to say masses for souls lost at sea. These duties were apparently carried out until the16th century. The views from the top of St Catherine’s hill are spectacular. It would not have been a reliable spot for the light house as the hill is often shrouded in fog. The present day light house is positioned in a much better place. If you are on the Isle of White on your Campervan Hire Holiday and enjoy walking and viewing places of historical interest, add St Catherine’s Oratory to your list of places to see on the island. For more information click the blue text below.

St Catherine’s Oratory
St Catherine’s Hill
Isle of Wight
England

A collection of sailing and power boats, both local and national interest and importance. A Charity and a Registered Museum, and run entirely by volunteers. Most of the boats at the Museum are of wood, from sailing dinghies to powerful speedboats.

Classic Boat Museum
Thames craft
Newport Harbour
Isle of Wight
PO30 2EF

Telephone: 01983 533493

Run entirely by volunteers, this museum was converted from a Car Showroom. On spring hill just off the high street, Ventor’s social history is displayed. Check opening times.

Ventor Heritage Museum
11 Spring Hill
Ventnor
Isle of Wight
PO38 1PE

Telephone: +44 (0)1983 855 407

Climb up four floors to the top of Bembridge windmill and you will be over thirty feet high with the views out over the fields of the Isle of Wight. This is the view the miller must have had all those years ago. The windmill makes a lovely pastoral scene and it is easy to see why it inspired JMW Turner to immortalize it in his painting in 1795.  Built around 1700 it is the only surviving windmill on the Isle of Wight and currently owned and run by the national trust. Previously the mill had been owned by the Dennett Family for most of its working life. Its not working now, but it does have most of its original machinery intact. You can watch a short film on the milling process while you are in the mill. Steeped in history, it is easy to imagine the ordinary folk toiling away in this mill providing flour from the grain for the local people. On windy days, with the machinery whirling at full pace this was a busy and industrious little mill. Now silent, the mill is preserved as one of the Isle of Wight’s most iconic images. Click on the National Trust website for opening times and admission prices.There is no toilet for the public here but that wont pose a problem when you are touring in your Isle of Wight Motorhome Hire as all the facilities of home are where you choose to park up!

Bembridge Windmill
High Street
Bembridge
Isle of Wight
PO35 5SQ

Telephone: 01983 873945.