Family Holidays: Isle of Wight family holidays and breaks
Take the Family holiday rating 
Why
It's gentle. Its climate is mild. It's just off the south coast of England and we at Take the Family we think it's well worth a visit. It was good enough for Queen Victoria and her family so it should keep yours amused.
Visiting the island can still seem something of a time warp, but people are
waking up to its vast potential and recently the family accommodation and facilities
have been improving fast. However, near the ferry arrivals you can be overwhelmed
by coach parties of day trippers and the island does have its fair share of
tatty shops in and around its quaint Victorian resorts. That said, visiting
any island is a fun adventure for kids with the promise of boat journeys and
possibly even pirates and the Isle of Wight is one of the most accessible in
the UK.
PS. If you've got very small ones beware mentioning Cowes too often. They're just going to get confused when they don't see many moo moos in town.
- Top left: Freshwater Bay
- Top right: The Needles
- Bottom left: Lighthouse on th Isle of Wight
- Bottom right: Cliff tops of Compton Bay.
When
While the island's quiet, gentle atmosphere is one of its main draws, it can also mean that many attractions for children are closed from mid-autumn to Easter.
How
Take the train and the boat
Waterloo-Portsmouth or Waterloo-Southampton hourly fast services (bus-link
between station and rail service at Southampton). Rail to Southsea and connecting
bus. You can buy train tickets from TheTrainline.com,
the UK's biggest seller of online train tickets across the UK and Europe. You
will then need to take a passenger ferry, for which it is not generally necessary
to book. Options are:
Portsmouth-Ryde 10 minutes
Southsea-Ryde (hovercraft) 10 minutes
Portsmouth-Ryde (catamaran) 15 minutes
Southampton-West Cowes 22 minutes
Taxis will then take you to your destination.
Take the car and the boat
Lymington, Southampton and Portsmouth are all on or near the M27 motorway
which links to the M3/M25 from London. Take a look at our car
hire page. You
will then need to take a car ferry:
Portsmouth-Fishbourne 35 minutes
Lymington-Yarmouth 30 minutes
Southampton-East Cowes 55 minutes
We can help you with great
ferry rates for all Isle of Wight crossings. Remember to book in advance
if you plan to travel during the summer. Other options include:
Wightlink: (08705) 827 744. Operates Portsmouth to Fishbourne or Ryde, and
Lymington to Yarmouth. (Also produces a booklet to pub walks on the island,
including three pubs where children are actively welcomed and there is a good
kids menu.) Hovertravel: (01983) 811 000/01705 811 000. Operates Southsea to
Ryde plus a catamaran Southampton to Cowes.
Take your time to get around
Most roads are minor so you can't go anywhere too fast. There are bus services around the island, particularly good in summer.
Stay
While there are a handful of good hotels for families on the island, it is
much harder to find quality mid or budget priced places to recommend. Our favourites
include the Seaview Hotel and the
Wight Montrene Hotel in Sandown, with its own indoor pool as well as being
moments from the beach. Search tons of family hotels with partners Active
Hotels or browse some great self-catering cottages, such as the gorgeously
secluded Northwood, nr. Cowes, with partners Cottages4you,
with whom you can save an exclusive 5% by booking through Take the Family. There
are also several very good bed and breakfasts and a multitude of self-catering
cottages or barn conversions that are off the beaten track, through Wight
Farm Holidays.
You could use the Wight Hot Line, run by the tourism office (01983) 813 813, but not all our accomodations listed are members.
Do
Take in some history and there’s plenty
of it!
Osborne
House Queen Victoria’s favourite holiday home, East Cowes.
There are horse drawn carriage rides to the Swiss Cottage where the royal children
learnt cooking and gardening. A new adventure playground.
Carisbrooke Castle Newport. There are walls to walk round, an entertainingly eclectic Isle of Wight Museum, donkeys (who demonstrate how they draw well water), an area on the history of the castle, tea room, lots of running around space and children’s quizzes plus relevant children’s books.
Yarmouth
Castle was built for Henry VIII for coastal defence with Master Gunner’s
quarters, Great Hall and the open gun platform with good views over the harbour
and Solent.
Brading
Roman Villa from 3rd century AD with mosaic floors and excavated
objects.
The Roman
Villa at Newport from 2nd century AD with one of the best preserved
bath ranges in Britain.
Bembridge
Windmill (NT) used up to 1913.
Take in a museum
From smuggling to dinosaurs – kids can’t ask for
much more than that – well apart from smuggling dinosaurs, we suppose.
The Smuggling Museum Ventnor. Smuggling methods over the centuries (and the island’s smuggling history). Intriguing.
The
Lilliput Antique Doll & Toy Museum Brading. with a reported 2,000-plus
dolls from 2000BC to the present day.
Shipwreck Centre and Maritime Museum Bembridge.
Frontline
& Aviation Museum Sandown Airport. WWI and WWII memorabilia including
the Red Baron’s tri-plane.
Dinosaur Farm Brightstone. The location of one of the UK’s most important dinosaur skeletons (bones are revealed regularly in the cliff landslips). Experts can be seen preparing bones for research and are happy to talk to visitors including children. Jigsaws include three-dimensional, opportunities to draw and generally get involved. Well worth a visit.
The
Dinosaur Isle Museum near Sandown, with 25,000 specimens many of
which dinosaurs but including more than 1,000 fossils from the island.
Dinosaur Isle – In the shape of a pterosaur, transporting visitors to the time of the dinosaurs smelling their breath for example and showing experts at work. dinsosaur-isle
Fort Victoria Country Park – with a Planetarium run by an enthusiast, Model Railway with tokens to set away all kinds of models, Marine Aquarium of local and tropical sealife, and Seabed Heritage Exhibition of what has been found so far under the Solent.
Take in some animals
Isle
of Wight Rare Breeds & Waterfowl Park, St Lawrence, with 40-plus
breeds of cattle, deer, sheep, goats, pigs, otters, etc.
Flamingo
Park, Seaview. In gardens
overlooking the Solent, 100+ species of birds ranging free, many feeding from
visitor’s hands, including penguins. Well run.
Isle
of Wight Zoo and Tiger Sanctuary, Sandown. Largely tigers with at
least 10 in residence plus jaguar and leopard. Planning to focus particularly
on cats and lemurs in future. Children’s play area.
Butterfly
World and Fountain World Wooton, the second with different fish.
Brickfields
Pony Rides, shire horses, wagon rides, working displays, blacksmiths,
children’s play fort and tractors, plus two daily parades of horses with
a medieval knight, cowboy and Indian who chase each other.
Amazon World Newchurch. Amazon rain forest wildlife with jungle and village settings. Also petting area and adventure playground. Section on how to re-establish forests.
Isle
of Wight Donkey Sanctuary, Wroxall, with 2 special Christmas opening
days with Mr & Mrs Santa, along with a Nativity Stable
Owl
and Falconry Centre at Appuldurcombe House, Wroxall. Daily flying
displays. Planning to double birds to 80 for 2000 including vultures. (The partly
restored 18th century house, damaged by sea mines, is also open.)
Take them to (yet) another theme park –
we know they work!
Blackgang Chine near Ventnor, a park with attractions from dinosaurs to cowboys and Nurseryland characters, an interesting museum section including information on shipwrecks, and local trades. New high-speed water slide but the vast majority of children’s attractions require them to burn off their own energy.
Robin Hill Countryside Adventure Park, Downend near Arreton, 88 acre park with adventure rides including The Time Machine.
The Needles Park, Alum Bay – with activities and chair lift down to the sands. Attractions include a Sweet Manufactory and Junior Driver, a miniature roadway where you can safely let your four to eleven year olds loose in electric cars.
Take in a beach
The tourist office’s Official
Beach Guide details water quality, car parking, information on dogs, refreshments,
and access.
Recommended by the Good Beach Guide for good water quality were Totland,
Colwell Bay and Compton Bay, largely shingle
with some sand at lower tide. Compton is a surfing beach so sometimes less suitable
with children. The second two are limited width, backed on to by suburbia.
Elsewhere, the guide reports, you might do better to avoid swimming. The tourist office volunteered that a new sewage system will take it further out into the channel.
Sandown and Shanklin operate the Kidzone
Beach Safety Initiative scheme in the summer.
Take a look around
Walks – including to Newtown,
once the island’s capital but now just grassy tracks where there used
to be rich merchant’s houses. At Shanklin Chine (a pretty gorge with waterfall)
there is a heritage centre with information on nature trails. The Tennyson Trail
is over downland with sea views. The tourist office offers booklets with suggestions.
Cycling is popular on the island,
making use of minor roads and lanes, plus bridleways. You will generally need
to bring children’s bikes.
Riding can be arranged with:
- Allendale Stables, Godshill (01983) 840 258
- Bellwood Liveries, Ningwood, (01983) 531 261 (majority children)
- Brickfields, Binstead (01983) 525 467
- Sally’s Riding School, St Helens/Bembridge (01983) 872 260.
Take a dip:
- The Heights Leisure Centre Sandown
(01983) 405 594
- Medina Recreation Centre Newport
(01983) 523 767
- Waterside Pool Ryde
(01983) 563 656
- West Wight Pool
(01983) 752 168
and if you're still stuck...
Isle of Wight Wax Works, Brading.
Waltzing Waters Aqua Theatre Ryde, with displays of water and lighting.
Isle of Wight Steam Railway, restored 10-miles from Wootton to near Ryde.
Eat
The two best restaurants on the island are attached to hotels – The George in Yarmouth and the Seaview Hotel in Seaview. Most pubs and cafes offer local crab and lobster sandwiches and salads. In fine weather the best places to eat with children (apart from picnics on the beach of course) are those right by the sea. The Spyglass pub at Ventnor has good local bitter and parents can sit outside and keep an eye on older children playing on the beach below. The Baywatch at St Helens has tables practically on the beach. Booking is advised in the evening during August.
The Wight Inn Chale
An obvious choice though often crowded.
Seaview Seaview
(see accommodation)
Is good for lunches.
Spyglass Inn Ventnor
(01983) 855 338
Built in old style, offering music most evenings.
Dunnose Cottage Luccombe Chine
(01983) 82 585
With prized garden so children are asked to respect this.
The Bonchurch Inn
Bonchurch
(01983) 852 611
A stone pub with meals (the landlord is apparently Italian) and kids menu.
The Bugle Inn Brading
(01982)
Neat with adventure playground and baby changing facilities but uninspiring surroundings.
Buddle Inn Niton
(01983) 730 243
Once a farm, offering bar games including shove ha-penny. Beer not all it might be.
Cost
Take a chill pill, it's the Isle of Wight not the Isle of Gold, you should escape without spending too big a fortune.
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