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The Isle of Wight: A Jewel, Rare and Untouched
By DAVE ABBOTT
Old England is fighting for survival. Even songbirds are leaving. The bucolic countryside, the green and pleasant land of the "New Jerusalem" is in fact an urban forest of rolling sprawling suburbs with occasional fields interspersed between various motorways.
Now, close your eyes and picture a land of country lanes and thatched cottages. On the Isle of Wight it is possible to see just that while in the distance, a green and pleasant patchwork of fields and the organized randomness of aVictorian Park.
An island little known to overseas visitors, it is fondly regarded in England as a sailing mecca (Cowes Week), celebrated for its Royal gardens (Osborne House), or known for its notoriety (Parkhurst Prison that houses infamous criminals).
As a university student, I worked a number of summers there as a bus conductor, waiter and ice cream salesman, serving holidaymakers from the bleak industrial towns of Leeds or Newcastle. To return after so many years had me wondering what to expect. Happily my concerns faded as I circled the island.
The 400 year-old gingerbread cottages remain untouched, their storybook looks suggesting Rupert the Bear, Winnie the Pooh and Hobbits might be home. The Island Trust has not allowed high-rise developments, fast food outlets or freeways to spoil the ambiance.
Blessed with fields of yellow flaxseed, red poppies, green grasslands, manicured gardens, ancient hedgerows and grazing wildlife, the countryside is a mosaic of colour interspersed by historic sites like The Needles and Freshwater Bay.
In Newport, the island capital, the Farmers Market has been held on the same spot for at least 1,000 years. Shoppers with a liking for whimsy dress like the rest of England but cheaper. They want the same things, but they're clearly poorer or more frugal than city folk.
In a local pub, the Dairyman's Daughter, the beer-bacon-butty get-together of round-faced-ruralists propped up the bar like a cast of characters from Coronation Street.
"A Hereford on a rope beats a Potbelly any day," said Bert slapping his hand on the bar ending a long discussion centering around pigs, the favorite meat in England since Celtic times.
Led to slaughter through feast or famine, to feed urban progress, each breed was carefully forged from forced copulations over hundreds of generations. Farmer Evans, maker of sausages and bacon, proudly proclaims his pigs are happy. I buy another round so I can continue listening to their lovely burr. "Thanks nipper" they say, hoisting another fine local ale.
The Priory Bay Hotel on the Bembridge-Ryde road on the northeast corner of the island, built by Medieval monks, Tudor farmers and Georgian gentry, is an old Thirteenth Century monastery, a medley of buildings sympathetically restored to maintain tranquil interiors and peaceful landscapes.
It has its own resident ghost, a young woman and her dog, well-known to the staff and seen by guests on occasions. On the
TRAVEL DIARY
By DAVE ABBOTT
photo credit: Isle of Wight Tourism
400 YEAR-OLD gingerbread-style houses, thatched cottages and ancient churches are common on the Isle of Wight.
morning I was checking out, an eight-year-old girl, not knowing or having any prior history, asked the name of the dog that licked her hand while she was half-asleep!
Ivy-dappled country churchyards dot the island and appear attractive as final resting places. At a Sunday morning family service in a Fourteenth Century church in Ventnor, dubbed "England's
Madeira" by the Victorians, the warm welcome from the vicar and parishioners made me want to move there.
After purchasing the ubiquitous Sunday newspapers, I enjoyed lunch at a beachside restaurant overlooking the English Channel. (Roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, seven different vegetables, apple crumble, and coffee - Cdn$18.)
The island countryside is the raw material that fuels urban imagination. The countryside inspires - the city consumes. The Isle of Wight is a jewel of flowers, butterflies, virgin woods, windmills and watermills, quiet coves and 100 kilometres of beaches that stretches seemingly endlessly. The Isle of Wight is a very special place, left behind, untouched.
•
Dave Abbott's Travel Diary is heard three times daily on the Jim Pattison Group Radio in Vancouver on Radio 600 AM.
Getting There: Take a train from V\feterloo Station, London to Portsmouth (one hour) www.britrtail.co.uk It's a short walk to the ferry and just 45 minutes to Ryde and the Garden Isle. www.wightlink.co.uk.
Isle of Wight- Known asthe Garden Isle, this jewel is sited in the English Channel and accessible by ferry from Portsmouth, Southampton and Limington. For details of hotels/resorts in Ventnor, Shanklin, log on to: www.islandbreaks.co.uk.
The Priory Bay Hotel - The Country House Hotel by the magnificent Priory Bay. Sailing, shooting, fishing, riding and gliding are available nearby. The hotel offers low, mid and high season rates. Details at www.priorybay .co.uk.
Air Transat is Canada's leading charter and vacation airline. The new fleet includes the new Airbus A330s and A310s. Air Transat travels to 90 destinations in 25 countries around the world. We flew club/business class which is available on most routes. Visit: www.airtransat.com.
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