We spent last weekend in the Isle of Wight and yesterday I shared our wonderful accommodation with you, Chale Bay Farm. Today I wanted to share with you a little more about what we got up to when we were over there.
We travelled over on Wightlink Ferries and it was so nice to have a quick and quiet crossing. We arrived at 11am, a little early to check in, so we headed to Cowes to the esplanade and for a wander round the town, before we headed for a bite of lunch. Baby adored the telescopes along the seafront!
After checking in at Chale Bay Farm we headed a short distance down the road to check out the beach. It was so stunning.
Baby was itching to get down onto the sand.
I swear that girl would live on the beach if she could. We spend hours just messing about, playing frisbee, throwing stones and just larking about.
Oh and obviously we had to make about a thousand sand castles, just so she could stamp on them!
I just love watching Mr Hubby and Baby play together, there is something so magical about a dad and his child.
Baby had us in stitches, she would throw a stone, then shout ‘yes’ while doing the ‘get in’ hand gesture! No idea where she has got that from, super funny though.
One of Baby’s new favourite games was getting daddy to be her horsey! Hula hooping him then making him trot round the beach!
The beaches on the Isle of Wight are totally breathtaking.
After a while it was time to head back to Chale Bay Farm and get cleaned up for Dinner. Just over the road from Chale Bay was the Wight Mouse Inn so we decided to eat there, that way we wouldn’t waste time travelling as Baby was shattered and would need to head back to bed pretty sharpish! Baby could barely stay awake, so didn’t manage much of hers, but our food was lovely.
The next day we headed to Dinosaur Isle in Sandown. A museum wouldn’t normally be our first choice of activity with Baby, but we were willing to give it a try. There were some really great exhibits and some activities that got the children involved. Baby loved uncovering the dinosaur bones.
Dinosaur noises were played through he sound system and unfortunately this scared Baby and she wanted to leave. She had another play with a couple of the activities, but in the end we had to take her out. This was no reflection on the museum, Baby is just a little bit too young.
Baby did have a lovely time in the shop and was beyond thrilled with her star mood ring.
Next stop was the House of Chilli, mainly for Mr Hubby who loves a bit of spice. Some of the chilli was scary even in the bottles. I personally think you should avoid anything with a skull on the bottle, but each to their own!
It was time for tea and we spotted this fabulous cafe in a converted bus. I resisted the amazing cake (go me!) and settled on a pot of tea instead.
Refreshed we decided to head to the Island Donkey Sanctuary, only a few miles away.
Baby making a wish
Baby had a ball meeting all the donkeys. The centre runs on donations, Mr Hubby decided to adopt a donkey for Baby as his donation. ‘Snowy’ will be writing directly to Baby to keep her up to date, I know she will love getting mail personally addressed.
We decided to finish off our day (on Baby’s request) with another trip to the beach and the obligatory ice-cream.
That evening we went back to the Wight Mouse Inn as it was so handy and really good value, this time Baby managed to stay awake to eat some of her dinner.
On Sunday, after a brief trip round the Isle of Wight zoo, we headed to Sundown beach just to soak up as much of the beach as we could before we had to head to the port to catch our ferry home.
We collected lots of shells to bring home and threw yet more stones into the sea. Reluctantly we headed to Fishbourne and the lovely people at Wightlink got us on an earlier ferry as we arrived a little too early.
We had such a lovely weekend on the island. If you and your family have never been, we would highly recommend you consider it for your next family break.
Disclosure: We received a complimentary stay at Chale Bay Farm and entrance to Dinosaur Isle in return for an honest review.