IOW 2020 - Day 1: Model Village and Zoo

The summation of today is a busy start exploring the Isle of Wight!

Wanting to make the most our time on the Isle of Wight we decided to stay the Sunday night at the Premier Inn in Ringwood so we only had a short 30 minute drive through the New Forest to Lymington to catch our 0845 Wightlink ferry to Yarmouth. Unfortunately our bribe to the kids for the early start of a Costa breakfast once at Lymington backfired as one, the Costa is no longer a Costa at the port, and two, regardless of the brand it didn’t open until 0830, exactly the time our ferry was due to board! So a hot chocolate and cookies, from the onboard café, as we made the blustery sailing across the Solent had to suffice.

Hot chocolate and cookies on the ferry.

Back in September, once we had our ferries and accommodation booked, we went about planning our itinerary for the trip and quite quickly discovered that most things are closed on the Isle of Wight on a Monday, even during the halfterm week! So our plans for today were made for us with only the Model Village in Godshill and the Zoo in Sandown the major attractions that break the trend.

It didn’t take long to make the drive to Godshill, so then after signing in using the NHS Covid-19 App and a quick briefing on the social distancing measures in place, we started to explore. Living close to Bekonscot we always end up comparing model villages with the one that we know best and what was immediately apparent was the difference in scale with Godshill model being considerably larger than that at Bekonscot. The model of the local church was particularly impressive, as was the way they have a model of the model village within the model village (itself including a model of the model village, within the model village)!

A model village, within a model village, within a model village, within a model village!

The site is quite large and with plenty of greenery keeping each section well-hidden until you reached it, there was always an element of surprise in what was coming next. A nice touch and something that certainly helped to add extra excitement for the kids, was a hunt for small squirrels placed on some of the models across the site.

The Godshill Model Village.

Not quite as expansive as the Bekonscot model railway, but the animal and dinosaur trains kept the kids entertained.

The social distancing measures were well applied with a set route around the model village and markings on the path to ensure that only one group were in each section. This did have a downside however in that you had to keep moving on to keep the flow and there was also only the opportunity to walk around once, so I’m sure that there are many things that we missed, but that is the situation we are in at this time.

It was now almost lunchtime so after the short drive to Sandown we had our picnic in a shelter overlooking the English Channel before heading to the Isle of Wight Zoo. Unlike the majority of zoos that are based around breading programmes for endangered species, a large part of the ethos of the IOW Zoo is to provide a sanctuary for animals that have had less than perfect lives, such as lions and tigers from a travelling circus in Spain.

Up close with one of the rescued male lions.

The wallabies enjoying some lunch.

The zoo was a little tired in places, but all of the enclosures looked well maintained, if a little on the small side for some of the animals. This did allow for some close up encounters and the animals were all very public and not hiding away in their shelters. There were also a few species not that common at other zoos, such as the spider monkeys that were fun to watch. To finish our visit, the kids enjoyed the play area that was clearly bespoke built with a zoo theme.

Three monkeys!

The zoo was a little smaller than we expected and after walking around most parts twice we still had a little time to spare before we could arrive at our holiday accommodation, so we decided to partake in a little crazy golf at Dino Island. I won’t go into too much detail, but Paloma approached golf as if it was hockey by constantly pushing the ball, Forrest tried to play left handed or backwards and myself and Amber got increasingly frustrated by their lack of listening (or total disregard if they did hear us), so we were quite pleased once we’d finished the 18th hole!

Ready for some Dino Island crazy golf.

A rare occasion where Forrest appears to be listening to some advice!

Back to left-handed golf!

Walking back to the car as the sun starts to set on Day 1 along the Sandown sea wall.

All that was left was the drive back across the island to the village of Brightstone, that will be our base for the next four nights. We are staying in an annexe to a large properly and initial impressions seem good. Hopefully the kids (and us) will sleep well after the early start and busy first day on the Isle of Wight.

Blogged by Matt.