Does anyone else wake up super early on the morning of their holiday? No need for an alarm, we were all up and about first thing. If only we could rouse ourselves for the school run with as much energy! If you’re thinking about booking your next UK holiday, I’d love to share with you our experience and help you get that amazing ‘holiday feeling.’ Here is a complete Isle of Wight trip report for our UK family holiday in April 2021.
Day 1 – Arriving at the Wightlink Ferry
With breakfast in our bellies and the car packed to the brim, we set off at 9:30 am for our ferry. It was a gorgeous sunny Friday, and we were all in a great mood. 2 hours and 15 minutes after leaving London, we arrived in Portsmouth to board the Wightlink Ferry.
It’s an easy process to check-in. Print the boarding pass before you leave and pop it on your dashboard. You are asked to arrive an hour before your departure time. Drive up to the check-in window, where your pass is scanned, and you will be directed to a parking lane. We waited in our parked car until shortly before our departure time. Then the cars are directed by attendants to move on to the ship, which is also really easy. We parked our car again, gathered up our things and headed inside.
Onboard
Some good things to take along with you are jackets or jumpers if you plan on going on the deck outside. Also, you’re allowed to bring your own food and drink, so feel free to pack lunch or snacks and a flask of tea or coffee. We also like to take a card game and a book.
We travelled on the Victoria of Wight, the newest and biggest ferry in the Wightlink fleet. It has several spacious lounge areas and a huge viewing window. Onboard there is a Costa for grabbing sandwiches and hot drinks. If you go to the Wightlink website, you can see amazing 360-degree pictures of each of the decks.
We brought snacks and coffee with us, so we enjoyed those while my youngest son and I played a co-op game on his Nintendo Switch (Stardew Valley is our current favourite). Our teenager had pre-recorded some Netflix shows that he watched on his phone, and my husband read a book on his iPad. It’s very relaxing on the ferry, and we definitely had that ‘holiday feeling’ now.
Arriving in IOW
About 45 minutes later, we were already back in our car and driving off the boat into Fishbourne.
It was now coming up to 2 pm, but our accommodation wasn’t ready till 5 pm, so we headed into Ryde. This is less than a 10 minutes’ drive heading east. We found parking near the Ryde Pier (Sat Nav for St Thomas Street Car Park), we and set off to explore this picturesque seaside town.
Ryde
We arrived on the shopping side of Ryde. Near the pier are clean public toilets, a coffee and doughnut shop, and some scooter rentals. It was a beautiful Friday evening. We saw several people holding a drink and chatting on the low walls that overlook the sandy beach.
We took a lovely stroll into town via Union Street, stopping into lots of interesting independent shops. The boys bought sweets and found a new board game in a charity shop. One shop even had Disney trading pins which we spent some time admiring.
There are plenty of places to eat and drink, but as it was so was warm and sunny, we decided on fish and chips from the Codfather. It was melt-in-your-mouth delicious, and we thoroughly enjoyed the view as we sat eating our dinner by the ocean.
Here’s a parenting tip for you: We pack a small ketchup bottle to take with us to the beach, as my youngest drowns his chips in it!
We were too full for ice cream, so we decided to just let the boys have their sweets and head over to our Cowes, about 15 minutes away, where our accommodation was. Nearby is a small Tesco, so we popped in to grab breakfast items for the next day.
Woodside Bay Lodge
We then headed over to the Woodside Bay Lodge Retreat and saw a sign saying that check-in would happen in our car from 5pm. About 5:15 pm, someone with a clipboard came out to give us our lodge number and told us the keys would be inside. And off we went.
One of the things that gets the boys most excited is opening the door to our accommodation and seeing the inside for the first time, so we let them do that first. It makes me so happy to see them so happy.
Bubbles and bliss
Well, this lodge did not disappoint! I loved that it was open plan, with a huge kitchen, breakfast bar and dining table. The two couches looked roomy and inviting for a movie night, but we had something else to do first.
As it was my birthday, we had splashed out on getting a hot tub. It was nice and hot and ready to go in right away, so we quickly emptied the car and changed into our cossies for a dip. With a glass of wine in my hand, the sun going down and the sky turning pink and blue – I do believe we had managed to capture a bit of heaven.
Holiday tip: We take a portable speaker with us and make a few holiday playlists, so that makes it a bit of a party atmosphere for the kids.
When our fingers and toes were completely shrivelled up, we wrapped ourselves in the lovely towelling robes left for us by Woodside Bay and headed back inside. As it was my birthday, we had brought some cake with us and dished that up now to eat and then we watched a bit of TV.
It was now quite late, so we tucked our 10-year-old into bed, finished unpacking our bits and pieces, and then the rest of us headed off to sleep as well. The beds were super comfy, and I was impressed that the pillows were really nice as well.
Day 2 – Waking up in the Isle of Wight
After a decent night’s rest, I made use of the excellent shower in the en-suite and was pleased to see the sun streaming through the skylight. What a luxury!
My husband was on the deck having a coffee, so I joined him with a pot of tea. It wasn’t that warm outside, but it was clear and bright, and a far better view than our flat in London. The lodge is surrounded by tall, beautiful trees, and you don’t feel overlooked by the other lodges at all.
We made a simple breakfast of cold cereal and fruit salad and had a lazy morning just reading and relaxing.
Appley
After the kids were finally dressed and motivated to leave, we headed out to Appley, a family-friendly beach on the East side of Ryde.
This beach is really unusual because on the one side of the boardwalk you have the sand and ocean and on the other a lush green forest. We strolled along and discovered Appley Tower, which the boys thought looked like a giant rook from a chess game.
As the Appley beach café was, unfortunately, all booked up. So we walked up a short path behind it and found The Old Barracks, restaurant and tea garden. It was a popular place, but with lots of outdoor picnic tables. The queue was quite long, and it took about an hour to place our order. Luckily the boys had brought their football and were happy to kick that about on the grass while we waited. When the food came out about a half-hour later, we were starving!
The kids each got a jacket potato (one tuna, one bean and cheese), and my husband and I had burgers (one veggie, one meat) and chips. The food was a little expensive (comparable to London prices), but it tasted pretty good, and we were happy to sit in the sunshine.
After we were done, we let the kids play in the neighbouring play park. They made a couple of friends, and my husband and I relaxed on our picnic blanket and watched them play. With us being in lockdown for most of the past year, these experiences of being out in public again felt new and strange. And rather quite nice.
When the boys had tired of that, we went back to the beach, and we let our youngest son play in the sand for a bit. I was glad we had brought the foldable chairs as the sea breeze was just a little chilly, and my back needed somewhere to sit that wasn’t on the ground.
Finally, we headed back to the car, stopping off for ice cream on the way. Our 10-year-old and his dad had Magnums, and our 14-year-old and I had delicious ice cream cones (bubble gum and coffee, respectively). We found a wall to sit on close to the water and soaked up the last of the sun.
Evening
Back at the lodge, the kids immediately wanted to have another dip. So, we changed and had another hot tub party. Somehow, we were still hungry for dinner, so we whipped up some cheese tortellini, some frozen veg and a garlic flatbread and tucked in.
My youngest was tired out, so he shortly went off to sleep. The rest of us played the new board game we’d picked up in the charity shop – Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (junior edition). I thought it might be a bit young for us, but it was actually a good laugh and some of the questions quite challenging! I’d definitely not win a million on the TV show – junior edition or not!
Day 3 – Sandown to Shanklin (and back)
It was our last full day, and we planned to make the most of it. We had porridge for breakfast, and I’d relented and let the kids get Pop-Tarts too (hey, we’re on holiday, right?).
I’d found a place that rented bikes on Sandown Beach and booked this by email the day before. Sandown is about a half-hour drive from Cowes. I rang up to check on the parking situation (limited, but paid street parking is nearby), and we headed out for another adventure.
Beach bikes and lunch
The lovely chap (Bruce) at Sandown Bikes and Beach sorted us out with 4 bikes and 4 helmets for about £45 for 4 hours. He gave us a map and encouraged us to ride up to Shanklin Beach. We’d been there before, and it sounded fun, so off we went.
The route is dead easy, just a straight path along the ocean for about 20 minutes or so. It was another beautiful day, a bit cool, but that was to be expected in April. And once we got going, it soon warmed up.
It was lovely to see all the sailboats in the water and also some windsurfers. The boys loved riding, and looking back, it was a real highlight of the holiday.
In Shanklin, there are two terrific crazy golf courses at The Pirates Cove and Jurassic Bay Adventure Golf. Plus, plenty of amusements and the beautiful Shanklin Chine. But we had done these things already and were happy to keep riding. We headed up a steep incline for another path that took us to the town. Along the way was The Carlton Hotel, which has a deck tea garden. The menus looked enticing, so we stopped off for a drink and some lunch on their big lawn.
The kids ordered a hot chocolate and a diet coke (their holiday favourites), and my husband and I had a beer and a cider. To eat, we all had a version of the baguette. They were fine, but again, similar to London prices and nothing too amazing. The crab was a bit fishy, so I wouldn’t recommend that one particularly. The view is what makes this place really special, you are high enough to get a glorious look at the ocean, and it was another really bright day to enjoy it.
Shanklin Town
Cycling further up, we came to a road which headed into an old town high street. This is a delightful place, full of thatched roofs and charming pastel-coloured shops. The boys were delighted with The Rock Shop, with its wide selection of fudge and sweets. We also popped into Jingle Bells, a year-round Christmas shop, where they offered to personalise our baubles.
A fun kid’s fair was happening on the street corner, but our time was running out, so we headed back towards Sandown to return our bikes.
The ride back was just as enjoyable, and although we were tired, we were a bit sorry that our journey was coming to an end. We stopped to get some ice cream from a vendor on the seafront. But the poor man spent several minutes having trouble with his card reader for another customer, so, in the end, we decided to give it a miss. The kids had some sweets to munch on anyway and were not disappointed.
Back at our accommodation, we had a new game to try out. The makers of Foul Play had kindly sent us their new murder mystery card game to try out, so we played a few rounds of that, which was good fun.
Solving murder cases had made us too tired to cook, and Woodside Bay offers a food delivery service, so we rang up and ordered a pizza and wedges. Our eldest doesn’t like pizza, but he was more than happy with beans on toast, and at this point, we weren’t overly hungry anyway.
Dinner was cleared away, and the kids were begging for – you guessed it – another hot tub party! It was dark by now, so we made full use of the glowing lights inside the hot tub, the boys taking turns changing the colours. We played a few camp-style games like Shopping List (one person adds something to the list and the next person has to remember all the items on the list and add one more. And so on). We also like to play Guess My Disney, a game we have invented for holidays. This is one where someone thinks of a Disney something (character, ride etc.), and the others ask yes or no questions to try and guess what it is.
By now, it was getting really late, and after our youngest was in bed, it was time to think about packing up. With the TV on in the background, my husband organised the kids’ things, I attacked the kitchen, and then we both packed our own cases. The swimsuits were hung up and still wet, so we planned to finish it off in the morning and headed off to collapse into our bed.
Day 4 – The last morning
It’s always tough on the day of departure, especially when you’ve had such a good time. We finished off the last of the milk and cereal and made some sandwiches and coffee for the journey home. We tidied the last bits away, and my husband packed the car while I finished getting ready.
The kids played on their game system. Everyone was a little quiet. This was good because we had to check out by 9 am and there was a fair bit still to organise.
It wasn’t clear where to leave our key, but since the key had been in the lodge when we arrived, we left it in the same place when we departed.
An unexpected delay
It was 9:15 am when we arrived at Fishbourne for our return ferry. It was then that we found out, due to thick fog, we’d be delayed about an hour. There was no obvious way to turn around, and we didn’t have a lodge to go back to anyway, so we parked up and prepared to wait. There’s a small gift shop on-site, so my husband got a coffee, and I bought some flapjacks to tide us over later. There are toilets here, as well as water for your pets.
We passed the time with books and Stardew Valley again, and just before 11 am we were allowed to drive our car onto the ferry.
We parked up and headed inside. It was much colder than the previous days, so I was glad we’d brought our jumpers. We found a place to sit and ate our flapjacks and played a card game called Monopoly Bid. We hadn’t played it before, but it was easy to learn, and we enjoyed it. Perfectly timed, we finished the game, and it was announced that we were to head back to our cars.
It was an uneventful drive back, and we were back home by 2 pm.
Until next time
If you’ve made it to the end, thank you! I hope you’ve found something in our Isle of Wight Trip Report that was helpful or inspiring. I have recommended this trip to so many of our friends. I hope that you have just as much fun as we did.
As I said before, be sure to check out our packing list, as I know you will find it useful. If you have any questions or comments, do leave them below, I’d love to hear what you think.
We are already planning our next trip. Until next time, happy travels!
ISLE OF WIGHT TRIP REPORT
