Lonely Planet singles out Isle of Wight in the top 10 global cycling destinations

With the Wessex combined League Cyclocross champion on our staff line-up, Wightstay know how good the Isle of Wight is for cycling.  Turns out Lonely Planet have been exploring the Island, too.  This is from the Isle of Wight Council's recent press release:

The Isle of Wight has been named as one of the top 10 destinations in the world for cycling.

Looking down into one of the Island's deep and mysterious green gullies

The Lonely Planet Guide describes the Isle of Wight as a 'cycling paradise that is home to some of the UK's most varied terrain'


It goes on to describe 'lush velvet hills rolling into the sea, narrow lanes through tidy hedgerows, deep and mysterious green gullies, and the Island's most striking feature, the ridge of white chalk cliffs stretching across its breadth.'

The Isle of Wight is listed alongside destinations including the Otago Peninsula in New Zealand, San Juan Islands in Washington in the USA and the West Coast in Tasmania, Australia.

David Pugh, IW Council Leader said "This is very good news for the Isle of Wight, especially ahead of the annual Isle of Wight Cycling Festival which is organised by the council.

"We are blessed with stunning views and areas of outstanding natural beauty and, as a keen cyclist myself, I am not surprised the Island has made it into the top 10 destinations of the world."

It is not the first time cycling on the Island has been highlighted by national publications. The Good Mountain Biking Guide described the Tennyson Trail as 'possibly the best chalk trail in the UK' while the IW Cycling Festival regularly features in national and international media.

This year the festival is held between 17 - 25 September and features over 60 rides, including the popular Hills Killer and Cycle the Wight.

More information on the Cycling Festival can be found at www.sunseaandcycling.com 

We'll see you out on the trails this autumn!

Warming up for the Isle of Wight Festival

This weekend it's the Isle of Wight Festival!  As ever there's a huge range of acts who must be making their way to the Island right now, most of whom must be checking the weather forecasts hoping it stays dry.  The headliners include Kings of Leon, Foo Fighters, Pulp, Kaiser Chiefs, Kasabian and a huge slew of other artists.

I can see one of my Wightstay co-workers already has their Messenger status set as 'FESTIVALLLLLL' so I suspect they're possibly going this weekend.  Isle of Wight Festival is now a huge event, with a 20,000 people increase from last year to 90,000 attendees.

Obviously this means Newport will be frantic during this weekend, but places like the West Wight will still provide quiet and tranquility for those wanting to get away from the hurly-burly of the Festival traffic.

We took a drive down the Military Road, the South Western coastal road, last night.  It was bathed in beautiful light as the sun went down.  Although it took us rather longer to drive, we've condensed it down for you, so why not have a watch:

This is the sort of reason (aside from the Isle of Wight Festival!) people come to the Island.  The coastal areas are largely unspoilt and have great, safe, clean water to swim in. Check out the list of beaches here.  There are three Blue Flag certified beaches at Ventnor, Shanklin and Sandown, as well as the more rural areas.

So, if you're here for the FESTIVALLLLLL (or the Bestival in September) don't forget to have a look around the rest of the Island - it is a stunner!

Isle of Wight Festival Calendar 2011

If you're thinking about coming on holiday to the Isle of Wight, we thought a round up of 2011's festival events might be useful, if you're helping to set your calendars, so here's a round-up of some of the highlights!

The Isle of Wight Walking Festival kicks off May 7th-22nd. Our properties are an ideal base, with footpaths very close to all of them. Bring your hiking boots and stride out on the feature walks in this festival in 2011.

Sailing into the nearest town to our properties is the Yarmouth Old Gaffers Festival on 3-5th June, providing a fantastic spectacle of these gracious boats cruising and racing out of Yarmouth, with great viewing along the seafront and from Yarmouth Pier.

The Isle of Wight Festival takes place 10-12th June and the line up is looking particularly fine this year, with Kings of Leon, Pulp, Foo Fighters and Kasabian breathing a new generation of life into the 'legends' theme.

Hot on the heels of the Old Gaffers is the Round the Island Sailing Race on 25th June. If you've never seen a flotilla of thousands of sailing boats racing around the world-famous Needles it is not to be missed! Some fantastic viewing locations are only a few minutes from our houses.

2011 is a very special year for the Isle of Wight - we're hosting the NatWest Island Games 25 June - 2nd July. People from Islands all around the world will converge on the Isle of Wight to take part in a wide range of events, held at numerous venues. Whether you want to spectate, or you're involved, you can find great facilities on Wightstay for this event.

The Rhythm Tree World Music Festival at Calbourne Water Mill returns 22-24th July. If you don't fancy camping and aren't so good with teepees Wightstay has accommodation available close to this jolly, small festival.

Cowes Week storms on to the Island 6-13th August, bringing with it a huge range of events and activities, in addition to the sailing. After some stunning action in 2010, the Extreme 40 racing series has just last week confirmed it will be back in Cowes in 2011 for the UK round. It really is sailing's Formula 1 racing series!

Foodies should make sure they get to the Garlic Festival 20-21st August. With all things garlic and an increasing range of other culinary delights it's an eating event not to be missed.

With acts including The Cure, Brian Wilson DJ Shadow and many others The Bestival is already hotting up to be a fantastic event.

The Isle of Wight International Classic Car Show takes place at Newport Quay on 17th September and Ryde's Eastern Gardens on September 18th, with proceeds going to different charities on either day.

This is followed up by the Sun Sea and Cycling festival 18-26th September. Many of the  properties on Wightstay are bike-friendly and provide easy access to the Isle of Wight's quiet roads and the great bridleway network - the most dense and well-maintained in the UK.

The 2011 season closes with the Autumn Walking Weekend 21-24th October, with a series of events already in place to suit a wide range of abilities.

Look out for updates from the Wightstay Team through 2011 about all of these events and more and if you're holding an event you'd like listed or covered, don't hesitate to get in contact with us!

Snow day on the Isle of Wight

For the second time this year the Isle of Wight has been hit hard with snow. It was starting to look like we might miss what the rest of country had been experiencing throughout the week, but overnight the white stuff fell constantly and we woke up this morning to a perfect blanket of snow. The pictures below were shot early this morning on a walk through Cowes. Shame it is a bit too early for Christmas, but at least there are a couple of snow laden Christmas trees on route.

Cowes Esplanade

Queens Road

Cowes Town Centre

The Union Inn

Christmas Tree outside The Vectis Tavern

Celebrating Isle of Wight festivals 2010

While there's a lot of excitement about Tom Jones joining the Isle of Wight Festival this year we want to take a moment to celebrate (slightly late) a rather fine accolade recently given to Rob da Bank and his Bestival.  Last Friday the Bestival 2010 won Best Large Festival at the UK Festival Awards.

Photo of Rob receiving his award here.

Seeing as the Bestival has only been going since 2004 this really does represent a meteoric rise for Rob's Bestival.  One of our contributors was at the Bestival throughout this year, with his camera.  VentnorBlog recently featured his pictures here.

The graph shows just how the Bestival has had to scale since 2004 when 5000 people attended.  They've risen to the challenge with aplomb!  This year - the Year of the Fantastic - bands included The Prodigy, The Flaming lips, Dizzee Rascal, Rolf Harris, Gil Scott-Heron, Roxy Music, Marc Almond, Level 42, Echo & The Bunnymen, The XX, Howard Jones, Heaven 17, Chase & Status, Tinie Tempah, Rox, Simian Mobile Disco, Stornoway, Hot Chip, The Wailers, Lucky Elephant, Ellie Goulding, as well as the usual collection of Isle of Wight bands. 

These performers were spread over the main stage, the big top, the rock stage and the bandstand, as well as various other smaller performance areas. 

Some of our favourite pictures - possibly the most photographed fancy dress outfit at the event:

Wayne Coynes of The Flaming Lips whips everyone into a frenzy - 'she can be a helicopter' - cue everyone in the audience making helicopter noises and whirling their arms above their heads! Their set was like a carnival, with ticker tape poppers and huge exploding balloons filled with confetti thrown out over the crowd.

 LCD Soundsystem close the Big Top at 1AM on Monday morning with an amazing euphoric set (can you tell I'm a fan?)

We'll definitely be there again in 2011!

Dinosaurs and vintage buses this weekend!

This weekend at Dinosaur Isle there’s an exhibition of fossils, prehistoric finds and other ancient artefacts collected from the Isle of Wight and beyond.  The display will range from flint axe heads through dinosaur bones, down to the smallest of fossil insects.

You’ll be able to chat to palaeontologists, archaeologists, natural historians and collectors from Dorset, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. Displays include those from the Natural History Museum, Gosport SEARCH and Portsmouth University.  If you go along you can also take part in activities run by the Isle of Wight Heritage Service.  Face painting will be available for children.  Weather permitting there will also be two guided fossil walks running at Shanklin and Yaverland beaches. 

What better way to spend Saturday with the kids?

The Isle of Wight Bus Museum provide the entertainment on Sunday, with their annual running day.  An amazing variety of vintage buses and coaches have homes on the Island and these will be bought together at Newport Quay on Sunday 17^th October.  The day will include bus runs around Newport and a wide variety of vehicles, including pre-WWII buses and coaches.

Save Ventnor Botanic Garden

Ventnor Botanic Garden is currently local authority owned.  It is a much valued and loved local resource.  It also houses a significant and beautiful collection of plants.  The public future of the garden is currently in question, as the Isle of Wight's local authority reviews its spending plans and tries to find ways of spending money.

The visitor centre at Ventnor Botanic Garden

Vine walkway

Some of the Wightstay team spent last weekend at the garden, supporting the Hop Festival, which was a celebration of arts, crafts and local produce from the Island.  A beer produced from the garden's own hops was also launched at the event (hence the name).  We want to see this fantastic and beautiful resource stay in public hands for future generations to enjoy.

The Hop Festival 25-26th September 2010

There is a limited time public consultation.  If you feel the garden should remain in public ownership, please complete it here.

Resources like this are a fantastic place for all ages.  The Botanic Garden is a fantastic place to visit if you're visiting the Isle of Wight.