September and the Isle of Wight

On the 4th September we left home to drive and ferry to the Isle of Wight. It was one of the places we had never been to, even at our age! We sailed with Red Funnel from Southampton to Cowes and it was easy-peasy. Arriving at Southampton a bit early, we were put straight on to an earlier sailing, no queueing at all. Off the other end, having eaten our sandwiches on the way, and straight on to the road for Brading. We arrived at Whitefield Forest Touring Park around 3.00pm and were most impressed. We had been told about this site by some dancing friends who were going to be at Bembridge Holiday Park whilst we were there. It was new, only open about 6 months, run by a family who used to manage the Camping and Caravanning Club site at Adgestone. It was beautifully situated in the forest with red squirrels and lots of birds all around. All the facilities were made of wood and everything was very eco-friendly.

We spent 2 weeks there, good weather all the time and visited many beauty spots. Ventnor Botanic Gardens was one of our favourites as well as Shanklin Chine. We made good use of our National Trust and English Heritage memberships going to Osborne House, Godshill Village, Bembridge Windmill, Alum Chine and the Needles on a boat trip.

The Isle of Wight music festival was on whilst we were there and although we were a few miles away from Robinshill we could hear quite a lot of it. We also saw a lot of the revellers walking the lanes with their rucksacks etc. Almost like Glastonbury!

At the Bembridge Holiday Park there was a country music week, so we drove over to catch up with Jack and Hazel on the Friday and then stayed for the dancing in the evening as well as dancing again with them on the Saturday evening. As you can see we usually have our dancing feet with us wherever we go!

Brading Village itself was quite interesting...old pubs, church with a beautiful cross-stitch picture .......




and an entertainment complex called the Brading Experience. Again more suited to children, but we thoroughly enjoyed the day spent there and thought that it was well worth the entrance fee.

We sailed from Cowes back to Southampton on 18th Sepember, once more having our lunch during the crossing. We arrived slap-bang in the middle of the Southampton Boat Show, not a good move with a trailer on the back of us. There were people and cars everywhere, it took us a good hour to get out of Southampton and on the road to Dorset.


We went to stay for a couple more weeks at the Camping and Caravanning Club Site at Moreton, which is not far from Dorchester. This is a well-positioned site not far from many of the highlights of Dorset.


We were able to take the train from just outside the site in to Poole and then a little ferry over to Brownsea Island. We spent a day there wandering around the woods and watching the wild-life. We could see why it was used for the first Boy Scout camp originally by Baden-Powell..it was perfect.

We drove along the coast past little villages such as Abbotsbury and stopped at a gorgeous beach near Burton Bradstock. There was an excellent fish restaurant there, so we treated ourselves to a lunch, then had to go for a walk along the beach to burn off the calories!

We spent a morning investigating the home of the Tolpuddle Martyrs and then went for a look around Brianstpuddle. Every time we drove away from the site we had to cross over the River Piddle...such strange names in this area!

Dorchester was good for shopping and just browsing especially the market and some of the museums when it was raining and Weymouth was also very similar.
Compton Acres nearer to Bournemouth was a pleasant garden to spend a day in, we picked up some good ideas for when we get back home.

Poole had lots of boats and the marina to wander around..we had great fun choosing 'our boat' for when we win the Lottery.Dorset Photos

We managed to find a dance night in Dorchester Corn Exchange one Friday night so dug out our 'dancing feet' once more and went along. It was quite a good evening with a band that we know well, in fact we had also heard them one of the evenings on the Isle of Wight. We also went over to Chesil to a club there as they were advertising a partner dance club night. It was quite small and not really what we are used to, but it is fun to see how other areas learn their dances.

We had intended to pack up and spend a further week at Longleat, but the weather by then had turned quite chilly and wet most days. We were getting a bit fed up with having wet clothes hanging around and the heater on, so eventually on the 8th October decided to come home.

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This turned out to be our last outing of the year, having spent 82 nights on campsites and travelled over 2000 miles. Our site fees total came to £1025 so that works out to about £12.50 per night. Where else could you get that length of holiday for that sort of money? We love our folding camper!!! See you in 2008 in our follow-on diary....thetravelmoores.blogspot.com/