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Follow the B3327 for a couple of miles inland from Ventnor, over St Boniface Down, through arable farmland and past market gardens, to Wroxall, where a track leads left for half a mile to the ruins of Appuldurcombe House (daily: May-Sept 10am-6pm; Oct to mid-Dec & Jan-April 10am-4pm; GBP2; EH), the island's grandest pre-Victorian house. The present mansion was built in the late eighteenth century in the Palladian style, with gardens landscaped by Capability Brown. Semi-abandoned in the early twentieth century, Appuldurcombe has been preserved in a picturesque state of decay, a partially roofed but intact shell with a stately eastern facade, a spring-fed fountain and an impressive outlook over a fold in the downs. The western Undercliff begins to recede at the village of Niton, where a footpath continues to the most southerly tip of the island, St Catherine's Point . The prominent landmark on the downs behind it is St Catherine's Oratory , known locally as the "Pepper Pot", and originally a lighthouse, reputedly built in 1325 as an act of expiation by Walter de Goditon, who had attempted to pilfer a cargo of wine owned by a monastic community. A short distance west, Blackgang Chine (daily: end March to June & early Sept to Oct 10am-5.30pm; July to early Sept 10am-10pm; GBP6.50) opened as a landscaped garden in 1843, gradually evolved into a theme park - possibly the world's first - and now offers a half-dozen exhibits from Cowboy Town to Jungleland.
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