Winter 2022
Winter 2022
Branch Holiday, Isle of Wight
Mark and Sarah Wilson
Bembridge RNLI station, near the hotel
We were a group of 27 who stayed at the Warner’s hotel in Bembridge. Our room was delightful as we had an upstairs room, with balcony, overlooking the sea.
We woke the first morning to sunshine that followed us to the visit to Osborne House (run by English Heritage). It was somewhere I had always wanted to visit. For me it was a personal one as I have long connections with India and was thrilled to see so much represented there by way of statues, paintings, stunning silver and jewels and of course the famous Durbar Room. The top floor was closed due to staff shortages and the basement closed also – but this time due to damp.
We walked to the Swiss Cottage and round the gardens admiring the gardens and the ancient trees including a couple of cork trees. We noticed that there were electric minibuses available.
Another day saw us visit Carisbrooke Castle, again well worth a visit especially as the introductory talk was given by a donkey (cartoon one)! If you’re good with heights, then launch yourself up to the battlements - and good luck coming down to a really good cup of tea and cake.
Isle of Wight Steam Railway
Every boy’s dream was our trip on the Isle of Wight Steam Railway. The journey itself was great fun and for us made all the more special as we shared our carriage with two older ladies from Ukraine with whom we shared smiles and a little bit of English. The workshop where the carriages were being repaired and renovated, plus the museum, topped off one particular boy’s happy day.
We didn’t know that the island is famous for growing garlic and the garlic farm is where you can see and in some cases sample what can be done with garlic. We bought a black garlic (black because of the smoking process). Apparently, it’s sweet and can even be used in brownies!
There are amazingly eight Roman villas on the Isle of Wight. We visited the only one that can be visited, at Brading. I’m not a person who enjoys ‘piles of rocks’ but this took my breath away. We had the most fantastic volunteer telling us all about the site, the history and the stunning architecture - and even the fact that they had to water the sedum roof this summer because of the extreme heat. The coffee and cake were spectacular, the café run by volunteers.
Our evenings were great fun. We all got together before dinner for a catch-up and an occasional cocktail or beer, and then on to dinner. We had an area set aside and moved around tables each evening and breakfast. The buffet had themed evenings and there was plenty of choice both at dinner and for breakfast. There was also evening entertainment, which for us involved watching others ballroom dancing, and then a versatile band, followed by a singer, who played familiar music to put a smile on our faces.
This was our first visit with the Parkinson’s Oxford group and we loved it. In no small part because of how well Martin had organised us – thank you. We look forward to hearing about next year’s trip and encourage others to come along for the ride.