Walk 50 Whitwell Road Railway Line Loop - 3.5 miles

 This is another version of Walk 48, but a flatter version starting at the top of the town and taking in Paradise Walk and ending at the town centre and buses.

The route begins at the top of Spring Hill or anyway along the top road; Bus 3 has a stop at the by the fish and chip shop at the top corner of Gills Cliff Rd.

At the bottom of Gills Cliff Rd, bear right along the Whitwell Road, taking the path that follows the road inside the hedge. After about 700m, a path descends marked to Paradise Walk and St Lawrence Shute. Keep on this path, descending through woodland until you reach the end, where you will see the old railway bridge and a flight of steps leading up to the old railway line.

Turn left at the top of the steps and simply follow the path first through woods, then into Pelham Rd, Steephill Court Rd and Castle Close to pass the old Ventnor West Station. Carry on downhill to come on Castle Rd, turn right down the hill, then left past or through the park to come back into the town centre.

Walk Details:

Start: Mitchell Avenue                                                                                                                 Finish: Ventnor town centre
Distance: 3.5 miles
Time:  1.5 hours
Refreshments and WC: in Ventnor Park                                                                                       Bus 3 from town centre to top of Gills Cliff Rd . Route runs from Ryde to Newport half hourly.                                                                      

Walk 49 Ventnor to Godshill - 3.3 miles

One way to go from Ventnor to Godshill is over Stenbury Down, but this is the lower and relatively flat route. You can start from anywhere in Ventnor but I have started from the number 3 bus stop outside the Island Free School in Upper Ventnor. Where the road bends left, Rew Lane runs behind the main road to rejoin it in Wroxall.

Just past Span Farm is Span Lodge where Rew Lane bears right to lead down into Wroxall village, but take the path that runs straight ahead around Span Farm.

Soon, hopefully avoiding cows, the path leads along the back of Appuldurcombe House, the seat of the Worsley family.

The roofless mansion sits in what were once fine grounds laid out by Capability Brown and, at present, although owned by English Heritage, it is free to wander round the ruins of this grand home. Closed Saturdays. Historic England, in its entry on Appuldurcombe, calls the house a "masterpiece of English Baroque" and records that Henry VIII visited Sir James Worsley at Appuldurcombe in 1538.

The house was once a Norman priory, then a convent, and then home to the Elizabethan Leigh family, connected by marriage to the powerful Worsley family, who became Governors and Captains of the Isle of Wight. From 1701, Sir Robert, the 4th Baronet, began rebuilding the Tudor mansion into a grand country house in Palladian style with Corinthian capitals.

While it was owned by Richard Worsley, the 7th Baronet was the subject of one of the great scandals of his day. He completed the mansion, filled it with Greek marbles and a fine art collection and married the wealthy heiress, Seymour Dorothy Fleming. But the marriage was not a success and Lady Worsley was rumoured to have had 27 lovers, one of them her husband's close friend George Bisset. Lord Worsley brought a criminal case against Bisset, but, scandalised by the revelations, the court awarded him only one shilling in damages, destroying his reputation.

The affair is the subject of the book, The Scandalous Lady W. by Halle Rubenhold, which was turned into a BBC TV film starring Natalie Dormer.

 

As you return through the main entrance turn left to join the track you left earlier to proceed across fields to pass through Freemantle Gate, which was once the entrance to the Appuldurcombe estate, added in the 1770s in Neo-Classical style.

Pass through the gate and take the path leading in 1 mile to Godshill, passing horses and alpacas en route. You pass Godshill Manor Farm and return to the main road opposite Moor Farm, turning left to walk into Godshill Village.

Walk Details
Start: Bus stop by Island Free School School,  Rew Lane
Finish: Godshill
Time: 3 hours                                                                                                                           Distance:3.3 miles
Refreshments: Godshill village cafes.
WC: Godshill Car Park Public Toilets and in The Old Smith shop/cafe                                    Bus: No 3

Walk 48 Ventnor Park to Ventnor West Station - 3.75 miles

Somehow, though it is on my doorstep, I had never done exactly this walk, until I discovered it with a walking group. I started in Ventnor town centre and headed west to follow Undercliff Drive through Ventnor Park. This award-winning park is best visited in June or July, when its immaculate flower borders are a mass of colour.

Ventnor Park was once the property of the Hambrough family, who lived just across the road in Steephill Castle (demolished). It was given to the town in Victorian times, and many rare plants and trees date from this time.

Here you can find an aviary, putting green, cafe and bandstand, where live music can often be heard on summer Sundays. In midsummer, the park comes to life when the Ventnor Fringe festival sets up its tents and the park plays host to music, theatre, comedy and, of course, a beer tent.From here, continue westwards, passing Ventnor Cricket Club and the Botanic Gardens. Just beyond here you will come to a sign for St Lawrence at the entrance to Inglewood Park, a crescent that leads uphill before descending to meet the main road again.

This was the entrance to St Lawrence Hall, originally called 'Inglewood'. It was built in the French chateau style in1886 but after World War II, it was adapted to a hotel, which burnt down in 1951.

St Lawrence Hall

It was the home of Admiral John Jellicoe, who commanded the Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland in May 1916 during the First World War. He was later designated First Sea Lord, then Governor General of New Zealand. If you have 35 seconds to spare on YouTube, you can see him inspecting the guard in Dublin in 1930. He was a very tall man!

 

Follow Inglewood Park up and bear left until you reach the north-west corner, where a small path leads up amongst trees, passing through the remains of a railway bridge.

Just through the bridge, look right and you will see a footpath sign leading up a staircase, which leads to a flat, straight wooded path that was once part of the railway track.

After a few minutes, the path joins a tarmac road, on which you go straight ahead.

This track will lead into Pelham Road. A little further down, you will join Castle Close to come to the former railway station of Ventnor West, now a private home.                            

When the station opened in 1900, it was part of an extensive rail network, but of course today only the Ryde to Shanklin line is still running. Ventnor West was on the extension line of the Isle of Wight Central Line from Merstone, but was not as popular as the main station above the town. The photo below dates from 1958 but the station had closed in 1952 along with the rest of the line.

"Ventnor West station remains. 13.1.58" by Roger Joanes is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Pictures of the station when operating in the 1950s can be seen here.

Beyond the station the road winds down to join Castle Road just above Ventnor Park. From here, either return past the park to the town centre and buses, or head up Castle Rd and zigzag up to the top of the town. Here you will find yourself in the shadow of St Boniface Down, where a tunnel came out at the site of the main Ventnor station, now buried under the industrial estate.

Walk Details
Start: Ventnor Park
Finish: Ventnor Park
Distance: 3.75 miles
Time: 1.5 hours
Bus: No 3 from Newport or Ryde
Refreshments/WC: In town or Ventnor Park (summer).

Walk 46 Luccombe to Sandown - 4 miles

A regular winter walk, so I was surprised I hadn't written it up before. It's an ideal starter for the new year, not too long and fairly flat.

Leaving the bus route at the green known as Big Mead, Priory Rd leads to the steps to Luccombe beach. This end of the beach stays quiet even in high season, free from deckchairs and other enticements.

From here, one can walk along either the beach or Esplanade as far as Yaverland at the foot of Culver Down beyond Sandown to the east. However, the reverse is not true and only at very low tide it possible to head west towards Ventnor, scambling over rocks; really not advisable.

Nothing is more typical of the Isle of Wight than thatched cottages, and there are a fair few thatched pubs, but as far as I know, the Fisherman's Cottage is the only thatched pub on the beach, tucked away at the foot of the natural gorge of Shanklin Chine. According to Historic England, the cottage was built in 1871 by William Colenutt, who created the path through the Chine and set up the first bathing machines on the beach.

Later the pub provided hot seawater baths for Victorian tourists seeking health cures, and the Chine now contains the only surviving example of a Hot Brine Bath, a marble basin dating from c.1845, with wooden handrails, now a Grade II listed building.Generally the pub is only open April to November.

Passing the foot of the Chine, the route follows the Esplanade with its familiar array of beach shops, cafes and pub-restaurants. 

 Note along the way the three ornate Victorian shelters.

 

At the far end of the Esplanade is the South East Beach Cafe with its decking projecting on to the beach, 

Here we come to Shanklin Sailing Club and the beginning of the sea wall walk through Lake to Sandown.

 Plenty of dog walkers were in evidence today.

 Sandown's Esplanade hotels may have seen better days, but a new Premier Inn is being built. The beach, however is a fabulous stretch of soft sand.

At the end of the sea wall we come to the remains of Sandown Pier. A 360 foot pier first opened for the 1879 season, to be extended to 875 feet in 1895. The ballroom at the pavillion end of the pier was at the heart of the resort and paddle steamers called at the new landing stage. In the 1990s, the theatre was replaced with a bowling alley and golf course, and the beach end is still a popular attraction with a cafeteria, shops, kiosks and amusements.

My walk ended with lunch at one of a number of popular seafront eateries, looking out at the view up to the coastguard cottages and monument on Culver Down

Retracing my steps to the beyond the pier, steps lead up to the clifftop path and the WW" defences at Battery Gardens by which I made my way back to Shanklin.

Walk Details
Start: Big Mead, Shanklin
Finish:Lake
Distance: 4.18 miles
Time: 2 hours
Bus: No 3 from Ventnor, Ryde or Newport
Refreshments/WC: South Beach Cafe, various along seafronts