For our last family holiday together, we went to the Isle of Wight. The weather wasn’t great for most of our week but with sunshine forecast for our first full day, we decided to take Jessica and Sophie to the Needles Landmark Attraction. One of Jessica’s requests for our holiday was to visit the beach. We remembered the coloured sands at Alum Bay – although forgot that the beach itself was a shingle one and not one of the better beaches on the Island!
There are a variety of different attractions to enjoy at the Needles Landmark Attraction. There are separate costs for each, starting at £2 per person for the Alum Bay Glass Demonstration or sweet making demonstration. Some of them, such as the tea cup ride and carousel only accept tickets; others accept either tickets or cash. You can buy super saver books of tickets at the entrance or at the chair lift. These give you £12 worth of tickets for £9. Children under 4 go free.
Jessica wasn’t interested in any of the rides but Sophie was keen to give them a try. She had fun on the tea cup ride and the car ride with Daddy.
After Sophie had finished on the rides, we stopped for some lunch at Marconi’s Restaurant. The food was quite basic and quite average in terms of quality. It did give Jessica a chance to get out of the wind for a while and warm up though. Naturally once she had warmed up and we were outside again, she wanted to have an ice-cream!
Thankfully the ice-cream didn’t make her too cold. Our next stop was the chairlift to take us down to the beach. It’s quite a steep drop as you head down the cliffs to the shore. I have to admit it made me a little nervous. We did get a good view of the Needles on our way down though.
We hadn’t remembered to bring a bucket and spade with us and there weren’t any for sale in the shops at the attraction. I did manage to buy a beer cooler bucket though. This was a good substitute as far as Sophie was concerned. She managed to find a small patch of sand in amongst the shingle and got busy building a sandcastle. Jessica found it quite cold and windy on the beach though. She was happier to watch, while sitting and snuggling up to Daddy. Once Sophie had finished building her sandcastle, we decided to head back up again.
We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the Sand Shop, the Alum Bay Glass shop and the Isle of Wight Sweet Manufactory, where we watched a demonstration of how rhubarb and custard sweets are made. Jessica was tired out by this time and slept through most of it in her buggy. Sophie enjoyed it though – especially as we got to sample the sweets at the end!
What a lovely day out for you all to remember with Jessica. I’m sorry the weather wasn’t kind to you but how wonderful that Jessica got her trip to the beach.
Nat.x
Love that Jessica wanted an ice cream even though it was so cold! Well done to Sophie for finding her little patch of sand and making a sand castle. x
Thanks Sarah. We had lots of ice creams that week!
What fun! #Countrykids
Lovely that Jessica got her trip to the beach and her ice cream, even though it was super cold. We would have liked to see the demonstration of how rhubarb and custard sweets we’re made. Sounded like a fun wee trip x #CountryKids
A lovely visit even if it was cold. At least it was dry and the children got to see and enjoy everything. The ride down to the beach looks a real highlight and well done on your imaginative bucket purchase! Watching sweets being made has to be one of the best factory visits! A lovely day to capture for the memory bank here.
Thank you for sharing with me on #CountryKids
I used to visit the Isle of Wight a lot as a child as we had an elderly relative that lived in Cowes. I revisited Alum Bay about 20 years ago and remember being disappointed with the beach, I’d forgotten it was shingle too, although the coloured sand still fascinated me. You’ve made me realise that we really should revisit the island with my son and see it once again through the eyes of a child #CountryKids
Aw, this brings back some memories – we visited the Needles a couple of years ago. Such a lovely place. So glad you got to have a lovely time even if the weather wasn’t amazing. #countrykids
We’ve not been to the Isle of Wight, it looks like you made good use of your time despite the chilly weather. Lots of cool things to do there to add to our list, including the raspberry and custard sweets! So glad you’ve got these lovely memories to look back on and that you’re able to keep writing at the moment. #CountryKids
What a fun post!
It’s lovely that you were able to grant Jessica’s wishes of going to a beach and eating an ice-cream #countrykids
Not been there for nearly 10 years! Chair lift always scared me 😉