A favourite of Royals and Rockers, the Isle of Wight has an illustrious past. We asked Sue Emmerson of Visit Isle of Wight what events and attractions she is looking forward to most in 2014.
What’s new on the Isle of Wight for 2014?
First off the starting blocks is a brand new music event aimed at anyone wanting to combine a coastal escape with some top quality live music in a wide variety of intimate settings. Acoustic Isle, which is being held between 13 and 23 March, will feature around 100 live performances in pubs, bars, cafes and restaurants right across the Island.
Several top-name acts will rub shoulders with the Island’s own up-and-coming talented musicians, who have helped to establish the Island’s reputation as being a place where top quality live music can be found on most nights. www.visitisleofwight.co.uk/events/acoustic-isle
The fabulous new £1.2m Train Story Discovery Centre at the Isle of Wight Steam Railway will bring to life the locomotives, carriages and wagons which date back 150 years to the birth of railways on the Island. Packed with interactive activities and fascinating displays, visitors will be able to taste life in the 1940s and learn how the staff and volunteers of this fascinating railway go about restoring the railway’s rolling stock for future generations to enjoy. Train Story is open to visitors every day from 16th March to 2nd November and is well worth a visit. www.iwsteamrailway.co.uk.
Isle of Wight steam railway [c] John Faulkner
What are you most excited about in 2014 on the Isle of Wight?
Time travel, which is the theme of this year’s tourism campaign! The Island is going to become one big time machine from the dinosaurs to the space age and rocket ships. We are going to be focusing on the Island’s history including its landmarks and attractions – and a model time machine will be created in time for the launch in May.
What is the wackiest attraction in 2014?
After forty-two years of providing fun and memories for generations of families, Blackgang Chine’s Dinosaur Land, filled with much loved static dinosaurs, is undergoing a major reinvention that will take adventures with dinosaurs to another level.
This iconic tourist attraction will open ‘Restricted Area 5’ this spring, and bring you up close and personal with dinosaurs of all types including an Argentinosaurus, which is bigger than a double decker bus, and possibly the largest animatronic T-Rex in the country. A visit is a must – but only if you’re brave enough! www.blackgangchine.com
Can you recommend somewhere to see or something to visit that is less well known or not on the usual tourist trail?
A stunning view is tucked away at St. Catherine’s Point, the most southern tip of the Island. After lunch in the nearby 16th century Buddle Inn, I walk down the road to see St. Catherine’s Lighthouse set in the middle of patchwork fields, looking out over the English Channel – simply mindblowing! www.trinityhouse.co.uk/lighthouse-visitor-centres/st-catherines-lighthouse-visitor-centre
I always take my own visitors to Dimbola Lodge, the restored home of Victorian photographer, Julia Margaret Cameron, at Freshwater Bay. It’s a fascinating place with a unique collection of photographs – think Tennyson and Dickens and other celebrities of the day who visited the Island – and an exhibition of items from the original 1970’s pop festival. The Mad Hatters tea room – so called because some of Lewis Carroll’s characters were based on the “Freshwater Circle” which included Alfred Lord Tennyson and Margaret Cameron – is a must too. I sometimes wonder what Jimi Hendrix, whose life-size bronze statue graces Dimbola’s front garden, would make of it all! www.dimbola.co.uk
If someone is visiting for a short break, what are the 3 things they must see?
Osborne House – not least because of the exciting new developments at Swiss Cottage, which is a full-size ‘Wendy house’ built at Prince Albert’s instruction in the grounds of the estate between 1853 and 1854. Set to open in April, “Childhood at Osborne” will reveal the hidden world of royal childhood on the Isle of Wight. This was the domain of the nine royal children, who played at being adults during their summer holidays on the Isle of Wight and learnt the life-skills their father believed would make them better people, and better rulers. www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/osborne/garden/swiss-cottage/
The Dinosaur Island App Trail which gives you the chance to be seen standing alongside dinosaurs in the very place they were discovered. The six “meteorites” on the trail are full of information and it’s a great way to spend a day. In fact, the Coaster bus route, which runs daily, takes dino fans from Ryde to Yarmouth along the Island’s south coast calling at attractions en route including Isle of Wight Zoo, Dinosaur Isle, Blackgang Chine, IW Pearl and The Needles Park with four return journeys per day. www.visitisleofwight.co..uk/dinosaur-island/dinosaur-island-trail
Yarmouth, with its narrow streets and stylish shops and galleries. When the sun comes out, visit nearby Colwell Bay with views across the Solent to Hurst Castle. Ferries from Yarmouth to Hurst Castle operate from May 7th to Sept 14th.