A weekend away

I'm not sure how or why, but I seem to have forgotten to post about our trip to the Isle of Wight. I was so sure I had written about it that I've just been going backwards and forwards through my posts to try and find it. No there isn't a post about it, so I'd better get on and remedy that. 

Our trip took place over the last weekend in February, with the hope that the weather wouldn't be too wet or cold. We drove to Portsmouth to pick up the car ferry and the weather was cold but dry for the crossing. We left from the Isle of Wight ferry terminal in Portsmouth harbour

We spent most of the crossing out on deck enjoying the sunshine. You can see the cars on the upper car deck. A lot of people had no idea how to deactivate their car alarm so they kept going off with the swell.

The crossing was quick and we were soon on our way to Ryde and our hotel. Once we had checked in we decided to have a walk before getting dinner. We headed for the sea front . By this time the light was fading and the tide was out 

Looking out to sea from the harbour wall, the beach was sandy and stretched a long way. I loved the sky

We watched a hovercraft arrive and after a short delay to allow a change over of passengers the hovercraft slowly turned and headed back to the mainland.

We continued our walk around the town but the light was fading fast. We found a restaurant for dinner and then headed back to the hotel to decide on our visits for the next day. I'd taken my knitting with me so I worked on that for a while.

On the Saturday we decided to visit Carisbrook Castle. It is built on top of a hill but doesn't dominate the skyline. It is a motte and bailey design and building began in the 12th century. The gatehouse was built in 1464

We looked in the rooms of the gatehouse and checked out the inner courtyard through the window.

Near the domestic buildings in the courtyard, is the well-house which has a working donkey wheel. This is still working and operated by donkeys so our next visit was to see the donkeys. One donkey was about to give a demonstration of how the well worked but she wasn't in the mood to do work. She was in a very grumpy mood. By this time I was ready for a cup of tea or coffee and we just happened to be near the cafe so we stopped and enjoyed a refreshing drink and tasty cake. As we  walked out of the cafe we met the donkey again and she was in a much better frame of mind having been given treats following her demonstration, The well is also famous as the hiding place of the Mohune diamond, in the 1898 novel Moonfleet, by J Meade Falkner.

We took a walk around the garden created by Princess Beatrice, who was the youngest daughter of Queen Victoria. She lived in the castle during the summer from 1896 to 1944 as the Governor of the Isle of Wight. 

There were some primroses in bloom but mainly the beds were waiting for the weather to warm up before they burst into flower.

We visited the chapel which is is located next to the main gate. In 1904 the current chapel was built to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Charles I's execution. There has been a chapel here since medieval times.

The ceiling was very decorative.

We walked all the way round the outer walls and then climbed up to the keep. There were a lot of steps but you got a good view of the surrounding area.

Finally we headed into the museum that housed a lot of memorabilia from Charles I who was a prisoner here for 14 months before he was executed and also from the island as a whole. Below is a bible and prayer book dating from 1634. The fabric and embroidery was fabulous.

This is a pretty 17th century needlework box from Newchurch. All girls would be taught needlework but most would have had a very plain needlework box.

Below is a linen nightcap belonging to King Charles 1

This is a pattern book from Nunn's lace factory and the following photo shows gloves and a collar made from the lace.

A waistcoat nicely decorated with embroidery

I spent sometime looking at the doll's house, which was fun.

I found the next couple of items very interesting.

Having seen all we wanted to of Carisbrook castle we drove to Osbourne house where we had some refreshment and took a walk in the grounds. We both enjoyed the walk but by the time we were finished we were tired so we drove back to our hotel for a rest before dinner. In the evening we read and I got on with some knitting. We had enjoyed our day 

I will tell you about our visit to Osbourne house on the Sunday in my next post. It's getting rather late and I'm working tomorrow so I need to get some sleep.

Take care

Lyndsey