Beautiful Newtown harbour is on the Isle of Wight roughly half way between Cowes and Yarmouth. It’s managed by the National Trust and is a stunning natural harbour and nature reserve. It’s one of Tom’s favourite anchorages and he has visions of being the only boat moored in the harbour. This is never the case, though if you arrive mid-week it’s usually quieter. It’s beauty, shelter and beaches make it a popular spot; even on […]
Food is plentiful in Cowes. You won’t get much by way of fine dining but you will get good atmosphere and something to cater for everyone’s tastes. There are a wide variety of restaurants along the Cowes High Street. Walk out from the marina and turn either left or right and within a few hundred yards there will be a pub or a restaurant or a yacht club that’s able to take you and your […]
We needed to get the hydraulics fixed on Trouper. That meant a visit to Hamble Yacht Services as they know the boat and had originally installed the hydraulics. We decided to make a long weekend out of the chore. Friday morning we set off on the early falling tide. Getting up before you’ve gone to bed, as they say in Monty Python, is not much fun but we were rewarded with a calm, warm day […]
Restaurants, pubs and takeaways are plentiful in Lymington. Over the years we’ve been visiting some have come and gone. There was a great restaurant off the High Street that was in a converted methodist hall and had a piano installed half way up a double-height wall… sadly that’s gone. Last season we went to the following… Stanwell House Hotel This fine hotel has a great fish restaurant in the front of their building. It’s pricey […]
The dining options are limited in the Beaulieu area. There’s the Master Builder’s pub and then in Beaulieu village there’s Monty’s and The Terrace at the Montagu Arms. The latter is their michelin starred restaurant. We’ve eaten at both the Master Builder and Monty’s this year. Monty’s was an excellent experience. Monty’s Some friends of ours met us at Beaulieu on mid-Summer’s day to help celebrate the longest day. This meant we were chauffeured to Monty’s […]
Yarmouth punches above its weight where food is concerned. I counted six pubs, two bakers, four cafes, two general stores and at least three ice-cream shops. This is in a town of three streets! The Isle of Wight is developing a reputation for gastronomy and so it wasn’t a surprise to me that there’d be excellent food – cooked and ready to prepare – available. We visited The George Hotel The hotel is under new […]
Mylor. The last stop on our Summer Cruise of Devon and Cornwall. Our first challenge, finding the channel to enter the marina. This was marked but depth of tide meant that we could only enter +/- 3hours around high tide due to a shallow area in the channel. We found the entrance due to a larger boat ahead of us. They’d slowed down. Presumably they were waiting for more tide to allow them over the shallow […]
London was pouring with rain, a thunder storm had taken out a signal box on the train line, there were no trains and it was the start of our Summer holiday. Luckily we managed to squeeze our way onto the 6:00pm train to Plymouth and only arrived one hour later than planned. Plymouth was still steaming hot. They were still enjoying the last days of the heat wave that had come crashing to a halt […]
Salcombe has a reputation for good food. I was keen to just get some fresh bread and meat as our last shop had been at a cut-price supermarket in Plymouth. Whilst they had done a good line in fruit and veg I wasn’t so keen on their meat, fish and dairy. Over the course of three nights we visited a fair range of foodie places ranging from coffee shops through to fine dining. Here’s the […]
Fowey is a good place for food as there is a wide range of restaurants and food shops. We tried a few during our stay, some old favourites and discovered some new. Sam’s We started at Sam’s a seafood brasserie and bar on the high street. Back in the good old days, in the late 1990s, you used to be able to get Lobster and Chips for less than £20. This time they were sold out and […]
On Land 