3 March 2014

Adventuring on the Isle of Wight

Hey m'dears!


I am LOVING your hair today; it's looking shinier than a diamond dipped in glitter. 

I've just realised that I never told you all about my adventures on the Isle of Wight, which happened back in January(!!). Better late than never I suppose... 

At the end of January, Tom and I plus 8 of our besties (four other couples) caught the ferry over to the Isle of Wight for a long weekend of wholesome activities, excessive cheese consumption, and laughing so much that we cried. The photos below were taken by Tom with a new lens I got for his birthday; it selectively blurs photos so you can make them look like miniatures. Tom took thousands of photos over the weekend, in thirty-second bursts, and subsequently made a stop-motion video of our holiday! 

I'd proposed the trip as a way to celebrate four big birthdays in the group during January/early February (a collective 119th birthday) and when I found Brummel Barn I couldn't believe my luck. Dividing the hire between 10 meant it only cost us £70 each for 3 nights in the amazing, self-catering barn conversion, which also had air hockey, table tennis, billiards, darts, a gym, and a heated indoor pool - all of which we could use for free! The barn was spacious, cosy, and full of thoughtful touches - from stacks of boardgames and books to borrow, to cafetieres and maps of the local area. 


We blew up 100 balloons as a surprise for one of the birthday boys.
They kept us amused all weekend.

We had a really fantastic time on the island, and visited a number of local landmarks, including the Needles at Alum Bay, the Garlic Farm, and Dinosaur Isle! Dinosaur Isle was a ridiculous amount of fun. We wore our party hats from that morning's birthday breakfast, and spent a rather competitive hour or so completing the free children's quiz sheets in pairs. 


Getting our quiz on.

The staff at Dinosaur Isle were absolutely brilliant and not only let us play with all the games, jigsaws, colouring sheets and dinosaur onesies in the education centre upstairs (despite being at least 15 years older than their usual visitors), but also marked our quizzes and gave stickers to the winning team!! It totally made our day. 

So, apparently, this is what my face does upon seeing a room full of life-size, mechanical dinosaurs...
Followed by this...
This is my favourite photo OF ALL TIME. BFFs plus dinosaur onesies 4 eva.
I'm 75% sure we weren't actually talking to the stuffed toy dinosaurs....

On our last night we visited the New Inn, which has won the Best Pub Food award on the Isle of Wight for the last 10 years! It was easy to see why, because the food was utterly delicious; and the best part was that the New Inn has a standing offer of £20 for a 3 course dinner on Sunday to Thursday evenings, which is also BOGOF. We really couldn't believe that so much lip-smackingly good food cost us a tenner each!! Madness.


Scoffing our bargain dinner.

I can heartily recommend the Isle of Wight for a day trip or a weekend away; especially Brummel Barn. We're hoping to head back in the summer so the boys can go out on their bikes, as Cheverton Farm is also the island's mountain bike trail centre, whilst us girls head back to the Garlic Farm to scoff more of their dangerously good garlic butter. Mmmm...


Oh yeah, and the Garlic Farm does DINOSAUR SHAPED BISCUITS!

Katie xxx

P.S. This post wasn't in collaboration with anyone - I just really love the Isle of Wight!

17 comments:

  1. Looks like you had a ball ... I want to go there ... !

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  2. How fun!!! I want to stay at Brummel!! We went to the isle of night as our year 6 residential holiday! X

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    1. I went there a couple of times with school and loved it - we stayed at an activity centre which had a homemade version of the Crystal Maze! xxx

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  3. Looks like so much fun! Plus dinosaurs too - what's not to love?!

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  4. I love the Isle of Wight despite the mother in law living there. It's like going abroad without the faff. And without the silly hot temperatures.

    xx

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    1. That's exactly what it's like! We told one of our friends that he needed his passport and special IoW currency :p xxx

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  5. Why thank you my hair is very sparkly today - thanks to Zoe and a pot of glitter...
    I would love to go to the Isle of Wight and will certainly look into Brummel Barn - sounds really good deal. also, DINOSAURS!!
    Anna xxx

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    1. I had glittery hair for most of the 90s- I remember streaking three colours of hair glitter wands through my hair for a school disco when I was 11 :) xxx

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  6. Oh my god! You know you asked if you could bring anything on friday - could it be an A3 poster of you in that amazing dinosaur onsie?! I think the hate is my fave bit!xx

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  7. wow what a fantastic weekend! I completely missed this post last week, so I'm glad you linked to it in the latest post! What fun!

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  8. Looks like a fab time! The effect of that lens on the photos is brilliant and I can't believe what a bargain holiday it was, especially to include all those extras *and* a free indoor pool! :-) xxx

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  9. Well this looks blood amazing!!! Also, how the devil did you fit into CHILDREN'S ONESIES?!!! I reallllly want to replicate everything about this holiday...now just to find 9 other people to come with me...

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    1. The onesies were for adults :) I did attempt to try on one of the kids' ones but it didn't fit over my thighs! Haha. Well, I'm more than happy to do this again - so put me down for one place, please xxx

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  10. Oh this place sounds amazing! And those are some fantastic photos. I love the blur effect.

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