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Could this mean I have finally caught up? Perhaps all but some photo posts.
This will be the last blog for a few days. We had a quiet couple of days on the Isle of Wight after Drew and Keith returned to Southampton. A day wring blogs and loading Photo albums here in Southampton on Thursday and today …. Friday, we take the train to London. Ches and Drew are attending a Cordon Bleu course on making macarons on Saturday while Keith and I will visit Apsley House (the Duke of Wellingtons house). We'll return to Southampton on Sunday and fly to Amsterdam on Monday afternoon.
For now, a brief blog about our last two days on the island.
We just lazed around the apartment on Tuesday morning. I think I mentioned that a hare came to visit at 5:30am as I sat in the lounge. I wrote blogs.
We'd decided to give the restaurants etc one last chance and settled on the Spyglass Inn on the waterfront at Ventnor. It's website states: "The Spyglass Inn is full of character and its well-deserved reputation is founded on good grub, great beer and a fantastic atmosphere." This means that every single bit of flotsam and jetsam that has been taken into the Inn is still there. Hardly any room for customers.
In fact, so tight a fit that the table I selected, in a bay window sitting side by side, was accessed through a doorway half filled by a gent sitting at his table. That left around 40cm of space to squeeze through. Ches didn't. She didn't see the 10cm step, or the sign on the top of the doorway. How could she? She had to focus on squeezing through the doorway. She shoulder charged me as she dropped her hip into the table and dropped to her knees. She now has a bruise around 15cm long and 10cm wide with an imprint of the table carving. We're particularly sorry not to have said something to the management. A chap at an adjoining table, with a walking stick, remarked that he hadn't been aware of the step and might just have also had a fall. 30 minutes later, another women fell into Cheryl's lap.
It took a while for Ches to feel comfortable to eat. A pint of Crabbies Ginger Beer helped a little. The barman talked me into an IPA. I thought a local but no, from Portland Oregon. Why serve a US beer her? It was just OK.
For lunch, we lashed out and Ches had white and brown crab meat of fries. I had fisherman's pie. The chips were almost as good as those we had had in Somerset. Russet potatoes perhaps. Che's crab and my seafood were very good. We were both as full as goog. Apparently not quite. Drew and Keith are still paying us out for saying that and then not 30 minutes later having an ice-cream.
The ice-cream shop in the upper town has a reputation. The owner always adds half a dozen new recipes every day. I had Red Velvet Chocolate and Ches had Chocolate Bischoff. Not just great ice-cream but amazing value as her idea of a single scoop was three scoops that filled the cone to the very tip.
We were full as googs. A very light dinner was all we could fit in.
BTW, Ventnor now has an annual festival as a lead in to the Edinburgh festival.
I can't leave without a little bit of history about Ventnor. Ventnor Town Council report: "Concurrent with the Isle of Wight's separation from mainland Britain around 7000 B.C. a series of landslips stretching from Luccombe in the east to Blackgang in the west created the area of natural beauty known today as the Undercliff, some seven miles long bordered on one side by the sea and on the other up to half a mile inland by cliffs and downs rising above Ventnor to a height of almost 800 feet; the highest point on the Island.
The area of Undercliff on which Ventnor stands was originally part of the Anglo-Saxon manor of Holeway in the parish of Newchurch - held in 1263 by Roger de Hineton of Holeway. By the early 18th century Holeway had given way to Ventnor recorded in 1617 as Vintnor (possibly with wine connotations) the Lord of the Manor being John Popham.
Noted for its catches of crab & lobster Ventnor was described in 1813 as The most picturesque spot along the coast; the smallest of small villages, consisting of a group of low thatched fisherman huts along the shore, and an old corn & grist mill perched on a crag high above the beach on which the stream that turned it dashed in a picturesque cascade towards the sea . . . . . a little wayside inn with one or two lodging houses.
In the 1830s all was to change when, thanks to a commendatory report submitted by Sir James Clark an eminent physician of the day on the beneficial qualities of the climate, Ventnor became the fashionable place to be and entered a period of feverish speculative development with most of what had hitherto been farmland (200 acre Littleton farm and 130 acre Ventnor farm) being sold piecemeal for building. By 1840 almost all remotely suitable land had been sold off with over 100 new landowners owning over 250 separate plots. Land values had risen from £100 an acre to £800 an acre. The population of under 100 persons in 1810 had risen to 900 and by 1851 would rise to 3,000 (to almost 6,000 by the end of the century).
In 1848 a promenade was constructed and in the early 1860s a short lived harbour followed by a pier, and with the railway reaching the town in 1866 Ventnor enjoyed great popularity, Victorians and later Edwardians flocking to the town in their thousands to admire its scenic beauty and bask in its equitable climate.
The 1920s and 30s saw Ventnor continuing to attract holiday visitors from far and wide with popular Summer Shows held on the Pier and from 1937 at the newly opened Winter Gardens. Boat and charabanc trips enabled the visitor to experience the delights of the surrounding coastline and villages, while the steam trains of the day ferried the visitors to and fro from Ventnor's two stations: a memorable holiday venue.
Following the Second World War the visitors returned but by the mid 1960s with the advent of cheap foreign travel, Ventnor like many British resorts went into decline. The steamer service was lost as were a number of fine local buildings including Steephill Castle, but it was the closure in 1966 of the Town's Railway Station that most seriously affected Ventnor's prosperity.
With its Victorian infrastructure nestling beneath the impressive eight hundred foot St Boniface Down midst the enchanting Undercliffe with its miles of coastal and country walks, the new millennium sees the uniquely situated and fondly regarded Ventnor enjoying a renaissance attracting visitors old and new from across the country and abroad."
I think we all agreed that Ventnor was our favourite town on the island. No that we say those on the eastern side. Drew is pretty adamant that he'd prefer to say at the manor on future trips. It's secluded and protected from the winds and yet just short drive to Ventnor and other towns. A god way of avoiding the tourists in the summer season.
Jonathan had texted us to say we were welcome to stay on until 10:00 despite it normally being a 9:00am exit. We took him up on the offer and left at 9:30. We'd run out of puff so didn't fancy exploring west Cowes. They let us on board an early ferry, so we were back in Southampton early afternoon. Returned our rental car and back home at Rockstone Place, I haven't set a foot outside since. That all ends in an hour when we head off to the station and travel to London. For now, read on about Ventnor, and we'll see you on the other side.
Unfortunately, I have to turn to Wiki again. It has more information than I can find anywhere.
Ventnor (/ˈvɛntnər/) is a seaside resort town and civil parish established in the Victorian era on the southeast coast of the Isle of Wight, England, eleven miles (18 km) from Newport. It is situated south of St Boniface Down, and built on steep slopes leading down to the sea. The higher part is referred to as Upper Ventnor (officially Lowtherville); the lower part, where most amenities are located, is known as Ventnor. Ventnor is sometimes taken to include the nearby and older settlements of St Lawrence and Bonchurch, which are covered by its town council. The population of the parish in 2016 was about 5,800.
Ventnor became extremely fashionable as both a health and holiday resort in the late 19th century, described as the 'English Mediterranean' and 'Mayfair by the Sea'. Medical advances during the early twentieth century reduced its role as a health resort and, like other British seaside resorts, its summer holiday trade suffered from the changing nature of travel during the latter part of the century.
Its relatively sheltered location beneath the hilly chalk downland and south-facing orientation towards the English Channel produces a microclimate with more sunny days and fewer frosts than the rest of the island. This allows many species of subtropical plant to flourish; Ventnor Botanic Garden is particularly notable. Ventnor retains a strongly Victorian character, has an active arts scene, and is regaining popularity as a place to visit.
While Bonchurch and St Lawrence both have churches dating back to the Norman era, the area in-between that became Ventnor was unremarkable until the 19th century. In Anglo-Saxon times it was known as Holeweia, which by the 12th century had become Holeweye, or hollow way (although possibly the name derived from the Holy Well spring on the downs).[3] By 1617 its name appears as Ventnor, probably named after the family name le Vyntener.
There are indications of Bronze Age settlement, with burial mounds on the nearby downs, and excavations have evidenced small scale settlement in the area during both the Iron Age and the early Roman period. These include middens and palaeoenvironmental deposits at Binnel Bay, Woody Bay, St Catherine's Point and Rocken End. The Isle of Wight was the last part of England to be converted to Christianity, and Saint Boniface is believed to have preached locally in the 8th century. During the 13th century, the area was covered by the manors of Holloway and Steephill, both belonging to the Lisle family.
A 1992 archaeological survey found evidence of a medieval settlement at Flowers Brook, which was referred to in a 1327 subsidy roll as Villata de steple. This area was subsequently incorporated into two farms, with some cottages on the site demolished in 1834. Ventnor watermill, on a site just north of the current cascade, is first mentioned in 1327, was destroyed by fire in 1848, rebuilt by 1853, and demolished in 1875.
In the early nineteenth century, in addition to the mill, Ventnor consisted solely of a few fishermen's huts by the cove, a couple of inns, and a farm. In 1804, it was described by John Britton as a "hamlet...formed by a range of neat cottages chiefly inhabited by fishermen, open to the sea in front, and backed by woods and the high downs". The area was divided between the parishes of Godshill and Newchurch. In 1820 both of the manors (Holloway was then known as Ventnor Manor) were sold to John Hamborough and other building speculators. The spur for expansion was the publication in 1830 of the second edition of physician James Clark's book: The influence of climate on disease. This identified the microclimate of Ventnor and the Undercliff as ideal for people with chest complaints ("nothing along the south coast will bear comparison with it", Clark enthused), at a time when consumption (now known as TB) was a common cause of death.
Thereafter Ventnor developed very rapidly into a town, with numerous hotels and boarding houses targeting sick visitors, particularly during the winter, and a wider range of shops than would be expected for a town of its size (by 1891 it had four chemists). In 1844 Parliament passed an Act "for better paving, lighting, cleansing, and otherwise improving part of the parish of Newchurch, called Ventnor, and for establishing a market therein". However, not everyone was enamoured with the fast-growing town: in 1845, after recounting the positive reviews of others, writer John Gwilliam complained of the "intolerable" summer heat and the chalk dust about the town, concluding that to live there would "be one of the greatest punishments that could be inflicted upon me in the Isle of Wight".
In 1853 the first newspaper on the island, the Ventnor Mercury, was launched (it continued publication until 1985). In 1869 Dr Arthur Hill Hassall opened the Royal National Hospital for Diseases of the Chest in St Lawrence, and many local buildings date from the 1860s, by when the current commercial centre of the town was already substantially developed. The later nineteenth century also saw development aimed at wealthier holidaymakers from Britain and Europe, as British seaside resorts generally became very popular.
The first pier from 1860 was washed away. Breakwaters were built in 1863, and by the following year, a steamer service to Littlehampton connected with trains to London. In 1866 the Isle of Wight Railway reached Ventnor, and in 1870 the iron Royal Victoria Pier was constructed. Subsequent storm damage delayed the full establishment of steamer services until 1888 when they were carrying 10,000 passengers from Bournemouth, Southsea, Sandown and Shanklin. The railway ran a non-stop train from Ryde to Ventnor, named 'The Invalid Express' for the consumptive patients; one train famously completed the journey in a little over twenty minutes. Ventnor became known as 'Mayfair by the sea' for the number of wealthy Londoners who were visiting. In 1887, Bartholomew's Gazetteer described Ventnor as "one of the most popular of English health resorts", with the parish then having a population of 5,739.
By the early twentieth century, Ventnor was a flourishing resort town, with several newspapers, a scientific institute, an extensive library, assembly room, pavilion, various sporting clubs, several churches, an annual regatta and carnival, and a new municipal park. In 1901 its population exceeded 6,000.
The physical fabric of the town was not affected by the First World War, although local businesses suffered from the suspension of the summer and winter resort trade, and its war memorial commemorates the local men who died in the fighting. Ventnor and St Lawrence became receiving centres for wounded soldiers. The summer holiday visitors returned in the 1920s, although the winter health trade never resumed. The town reached its zenith in the 1930s when steam packets operated between Southsea and the town's pier. The Art Deco Winter Gardens opened in 1936/7. The relatively small sandy beach was ideal for bathing, and Victorian era hotels in the town's suburbs and near the sea, such as the Ventnor Towers Hotel, remained popular with tourists.
During World War II, the Isle of Wight became a heavily defended restricted area. The radar station at RAF Ventnor was attacked several times during 1940, and the town itself was also bombed, and again in 1942. By the end of the war 120 buildings in the town had been destroyed and nearly 1,500 damaged, with sixteen fatalities. The holiday trade disappeared and was slow to return during post-war austerity. Nevertheless, by the early 1950s the number of tourists warranted 46 trains scheduled to run between Ventnor and Ryde every summer Saturday.
By the 1960s, the British seaside holiday was facing competition from cheap foreign package tours and the rising popularity of motoring. The railway line to Ventnor West closed in 1952 and to Ventnor station in 1966. The pier, damaged by fire and the elements, had fallen into disuse and was finally dismantled in the 1990s. By the 1980s, according to author Michael Freeman: "The town entered the twilight era that characterised so many English seaside places...[with] crumbling public facilities, boarded up shops, faded lodging houses and hotels, not to mention unemployment". During more recent years, there have been some signs of a renaissance, as its strongly Victorian character came back into fashion, with development of the Haven, re-opening of the Winter Gardens, some new shops and restaurants, a lively cultural scene, and the growth in short break travel.
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