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Linked to Lymington in the New Forest by car ferry, the pleasant town of YARMOUTH , on the northern coast of the Isle of Wight, makes an appealing arrival or departure point, and is also the best base for exploring the western end of the island. Although razed by the French in 1377 on their way to Newtown and Carisbrooke, the port prospered after Yarmouth Castle (April-Sept daily 10am-6pm; Oct 10am-5pm; GBP2.20; EH), tucked between the quay and the pier, was built on the command of Henry VIII. The top attractions hereabouts, however, lie four miles west of Yarmouth, around the isle's western tip. From the multichrome cliffs at Alum Bay , a chair lift (GBP3 return) runs down to ochre-hued sands, which were used as pigments by local landscape painters in the Victorian era. From here, it's a twenty-minute walk to the lookout on top of the headland known as The Needles , three tall chalk stacks whose grandeur is best appreciated on a boat trip from Alum Bay (tel 01983/754477; 25min; GBP3). Between the Needles and Freshwater Bay, the breezy four-mile ridge of Tennyson Down is one of the island's most satisfying walks, with vistas onto rolling downs and vales. There's a monument here to the poet and local resident from whom it's named - one of the many reminders of some of the venerable Victorians who were drawn to the area. On the coastal road at Freshwater Bay, Dimbola Lodge (Tues-Sun 10am-5pm; GBP3; ) was the home of pioneer photographer Julia Margaret Cameron who, after visiting Tennyson in 1860, immediately bought adjacent land on the nearby coast, joining two cottages to make a substantial home for herself and her family. The building now houses a gallery of her work, and also features regular exhibitions. Yarmouth's tourist office is on the Quay (Easter-Oct Mon-Sat 9am-5.30pm, Sun 9am-5pm; Nov-Easter daily 10am-4pm; tel 01983/760015). Accommodation in town includes Jireh House in St James's Square (tel 01983/760513; GBP50-60), a pretty seventeenth-century stone guest house and tea room, and the cosy Bugle Hotel , opposite (tel 01983/760272; GBP50-60). If you're on the Tennyson trail, book into the swish Farringford Hotel , on Bedbury Lane, Freshwater (tel 01983/752500, ; GBP90-110), Tennyson's former home, where the facilities now include a pool, putting green and tennis courts. There's a youth hostel a short walk northeast from the Needles, at Totland Bay (tel 01983/752165). The Bugle also holds one of the town's many good pubs and has a more sophisticated restaurant , Poacher's . Alternatively, Jireh House serves evening meals in summer, or try Fender's Bistro in Bridge Road.
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