What's on in the area

Isle of Wight

Daily

Cost: Free to visit

Hours: Accessible 24 hours

Just 22 minutes across the Solent on the high-speed Red Jet out of Southampton harbour, the Isle of Wight is quite literally a whole new world of possibilities! Whether it's walking the multi-coloured sandy cliffs of the southwest, visiting the impressive Needles (complete with lighthouse), exploring the Victorian delights of Osborne House and the dark medieval splendour of Carisbrooke Castle or enjoying a traditional British seaside on the east coast, there is plenty for the whole family to enjoy.

Of course, Cowes - especially during the annual Cowes week - has enough to entice the day visitor from Southampton, with its myriad yachts and sailing heritage, but there is so much more to explore. Around half of the island - some 120 square miles - is designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), and its history dates back an impressive 115 million years. It's no wonder, then, how much fossil evidence there is of dinosaurs!

More recently the Romans used the island as a base - there are Roman villas at both Newport and Brading - and, in 2003, a gold sword ornament, thought to belong to brutal 7th-century king Caedwalla, was discovered in sand at Bembridge. After the Norman invasion, William the Conqueror granted overlordship to his relative William FitzOsbern, who began Carisbrooke Castle. The De Redvers family took over the lordship of the island in 1101, and they kept it for nearly 200 years before its last survivor, Countess Isabella de Fortibus, sold it to Edward 1 in 1293 for 6000 marks.

The royal connections continued. Charles I fled to the Isle of Wight and was kept in Carisbrooke Castle before being taken to London and beheaded. Queen Victoria became a regular visitor and built a royal residence at Osborne House. Holidaymakers such as Darwin, Keats, Longfellow, Lewis Carroll and Charles Dickens all visited.

With miles of beautiful walks, as well as the still-thriving seaside resorts of Ryde, Sandown and Ventnor, the Isle of Wight is a holiday destination in itself. One day may be a bit too much to see the six wonders of the island, but they are wittily summed up by the following riddles:

Needles you cannot thread;
Freshwater you cannot drink;
Cowes you cannot milk;
Newport you cannot bottle;
Lake you can walk through and stay dry;
Ryde where you walk!

Southampton