Day Two – The Holiday Really Begins

Apparently, sleep is optional on the Isle of Wight; the children really burned the candle at both ends. Late nights, early mornings, this holiday has it all.  That reminds me: the coffee here is delicious and plentiful; Whitwell staff can attest to that!

The breakfast was another delicious banquet.  This time of toast, fried eggs, cereals and jams.  It really set us up for a big day.  We boarded the Party Bus, with some ‘banging tunes’ to our first destination: Osborne House.  It’s a picturesque country estate once belonging to Queen Victoria.  We visited the house, the bedrooms and the gardens.  We even walked to Vicky’s private beach to collect shells and interesting rocks.  It is clear we have some budding geologists.  I’ve certainly learned a thing or two about rocks – whether I wanted to or not…

After a picnic supplied by the guest house, it was off to Amazon World.  We couldn’t see Jeffery Bezos anywhere, but we did see a wide variety of animals from all over the world – from capybaras to macaws.  One of our children even became closely acquainted with a ring-tailed lima!  Luckily, she managed to get the lima off before disaster struck!  I’m not sure how lucky getting pooed on by a lima is, but it's probably not worth testing. 

At closing time, we headed back to the guest house for a three-course meal of: vegetable soup; pasta bolognaise with piles of garlic bread; and a cornetto.  After tea, we made our way down to the beach for games in the sand and a paddle in the sea.  It became clear that we have differing definitions of the term ‘paddle’ when serval children brought goggles with them.  We had a fab time.  After the paddle, some children pretended to be pirates and burry their treasure in the sand.  Turns out, it’s much harder to find the treasure again than the movies would have you believe – even if you think you know where you have buried it.  At least some lucky person will find a nice necklace on the beach in the distant future.    

All in, a fantastic day and hopefully more to come tomorrow!