We have enjoyed several trips in the UK and Europe by train and they seemed too good to keep to ourselves. These are all real reports of our own experiences and none is sponsored by any of the businesses mentioned in them; all views are my own. Do feel free to comment and ask questions! #flygskam #trainbragging
As I mentioned in A Couple of Nights Away, we received a really good offer for a two-night stay at the Knoll House Hotel on Studland Bay in Dorset, quickly snapped up along with reduced-price rail tickets during the "Rail Sale". Last time we stayed there it was more of an adventure than we bargained-for when the heathland between the ferry and the hotel caught fire and our return from a day out took a lot longer than planned owing to a road closure to avoid the fire. This time we just had the adventure we had planned, and weather which was better than we had dared to hope.
The weather did not start well, with light drizzle as we packed our cases, and steady rain by the time we left for Stamford rail station. Umbrellas raised we arrived at the station and caught our 09:56 Cross Country train, a few minutes late this time, to Peterborough where we popped round to Waitrose to buy a packed lunch before catching the connecting LNER train to London at 10:50. We were travelling with First Class tickets to London and complimentary coffee and brunch were served on the way. From Kings Cross we took the Victoria Line to Oxford Circus and the Bakerloo Line thence to Waterloo - all using our through train tickets booked from Peterborough to Bournemouth: nothing extra to pay for the Underground. At Waterloo we browsed Foyles bookshop while awaiting our train - not a cheap option as we bought three books between us that we had known we needed until we happened to see them in the bookshop!
The train from Waterloo to Bournemouth was comfortable, smooth and quite fast but there is no longer any catering on board South Western Railway trains, which is why we had brought a packed lunch with us. By the time we had boarded the train at Waterloo it was lunchtime and so we set our table and enjoyed a lunch of prepared salad, fruit salad and chilled peach tea. Super, and probably much like we'd have bought on the train had there been a trolley or a buffet. First Class on Southwestern Railway is not like First Class on LNER, but it was comfortable and it got us to Bournemouth in time to get our bus onward to the hotel.
The bus ride to Studland on the number 50 "Purbeck Breezer" is what makes this journey an adventure: it is normally operated with open-top buses and although in summer these sometimes have just a windscreen at the front of the top deck, in winter they tend to use the versions with the first few rows of seats under cover, and we arrived at Bournemouth in nice time to stroll over and board one of these, taking our seats just a few rows back to get the best views while remaining remaining sheltered from the wind. By now the sun was beginning to break through and the rain had completely stopped. The bus wound its way through Bournemouth town centre and the western districts of the town and the leafy pine woods of Canford Cliffs then along the southern edge of Poole Harbour and the most expensive residential land in the UK at Sandbanks before waiting for the ferry across to Studland. We had to wait for a ship to leave the harbour before our ferry could arrive from the other side but were entertained by a Royal Navy Chinook helicopter practising with the Special Boat Service off The Foreland while we waited and the sun gradually showed more of itself through the thinning cloud cover. From the urban townscapes and arcadia of Bournemouth and Poole we were now into the carefully maintained (by the National Trust) semi-wilderness of Studland Heath and very soon we were stopping the bus outside the Knoll House Hotel.
The stunning view from our room, through the hotel grounds to Studland Bay
After checking in we unpacked the smarter clothes we had brought for evenings at the hotel so that the creases would drop out by dinner time, donned our walking boots and set off for a walk down to the beach and along it. The walk down through the hotel grounds and through the woods onto the beach was something we had many times - in summer! It was different this time and our progress was halted by water too deep to wade through in just walking gear, so we had to make a bit of a detour but got there just a few moments later. By now it was past tea time and the National Trust café and shop at Knoll Beach had just closed for the night and Trust staff were busy with their conservation work. We just walked along the beach in glorious sunshine and back again in drizzle! Shower, change and dinner. Dinner was included in our package but we did avail ourselves of the cocktail bar in preparation for dinner, and this was definitely not included. We found ourselves chatting to a local couple who were there simply having an after-work drink - what a lovely place for that! They recommended a whisky bar in Bath which we shall have to try next time we are there.
After a good night's sleep we awoke to a gorgeous sunny day and after breakfast set off for a day out, beginning with a bus to Swanage, too early for our senior citizens' concessionary passes so we had to pay our fares. We had a little stroll around Swanage for old times' sake and then boarded a bus to Wareham which we had only briefly visited, by car, in the past. There we explored, had coffee in a place once apparently frequented by Lawrence of Arabia, and discovered a really ancient St Martin's Church, the same dedication as our church at home in Stamford but very, very different.
It remained sunny all day with very little wind, and temperatures were good for February (up to around 10 degrees C), and in the sun it was quite warm when walking and we removed our coats and gloves very early on. When we caught the bus back to Swanage I also removed my jumper, for the top deck was like a greenhouse! From Swanage we travelled as far as Studland village and then went down to the beach there and walked along to Knoll Beach for a snack lunch at the National Trust café. Sitting there in the sun it was just like the summer (except for the number of people in coats) - indeed it was better weather than we had in the summer of 2020 when we came here with all our family.
We strolled along the beach in the direction of Poole Harbour - with no intention of going that far, of course - and along part of the naturist beach where, not surprisingly in February, I suppose, everyone seemed to be wearing clothes. A few horses, a few dogs (they're allowed here from 1st October to 1st March, and then forbidden for the sake of the wildlife for the rest of the year).
It was time to walk back now, time to rest and recover from what had been quite an energetic day for us. Bath and change (and a brief unintentional sleep!) and ready for dinner again. No cocktail this time but we did have Prosecco with our meal, and pudding. We were hungry after such a day, and we slept even better than the night before.
Our last day was a Friday and we packed and paid our bill and checked out straight after breakfast, leaving our luggage at the hotel to set of, suitably booted, to walk to the Old Harry Rocks. These rocks (see heading photograph), vertical chalk stacks at the end of a headland, are a constant sight and landmark along this section of the coast and have been a distant companion on many of our holidays and especially of our walks along the beaches but we have never before visited them and seen them at close quarters. It was a walk of about a mile and a half from Studland village and rather than walk along the road we took a route out of the back of the hotel grounds and over the heath - which took us through more mud than we really wanted to encounter - the last time we went this way was in summer and there had been some mud but not so much. We returned along the road from the village! The walk between the village and the rocks was all good off-road walking and all very easy. On the way back we had coffee at a beach café at Studland Middle Beach before returning to the hotel, recovering our luggage and taking the Breezer bus one last time back to Bournemouth. This time it was a closed-top bus, which is fine in winter, but we always travel on the top deck here for the views of Studland Heath, of the ferry crossing, of the trees of Canford Cliffs. In Bournemouth we had lunch at a town centre café and then walked down to the seafront to "say goodbye" to the sea before taking the next bus to the railway station and await our train home.
It had been a short break but I think we had made the most of every moment.
We boarded our train at Bournemouth and had a smooth and pleasant ride to London Waterloo, then easy interchange to Kings Cross via the Underground. At Kings Cross it all began to fall apart. Our train, on which we had reservations in Coach L, turned out only to have five coaches owing to trains being out of place following earlier disruption due to a fire somewhere else. It was jam-packed in Standard Class and overfull in First. We did not have seats until someone took pity on a couple of pensioners and gave us a seat; refreshments could not be brought through on the usual trolley but we could visit the galley and pick up our sandwiches and drinks. Then it unravelled even further when the train stopped at Stevenage owing to problems further along the line. It eventually transpired that it would be held for some time and our kind train manager suggested that those heading to Peterborough might like to get off and take the next train to Cambridge, which would soon stop at the adjacent platform, where we could get a connection to Peterborough. For us, of course, that would provide us with a connection home, albeit two hours late but we were already missing the planned connection and were by no means sure that we might make the next at Peterborough. So we baled out of the overcrowded train, beer cans in hand along with our luggage, and caught a Thameslink train to Cambridge. Once there we made our way across to the platform where a Cross Country unit was waiting to form the next departure for Birmingham which would take us home. To my surprise it was a newly-painted refurbished class 170 Turbostar. I think they only had one, possibly two, in the fleet at that time, so it was a bit of a silver lining to have the chance to travel on one. New seats with slightly more legroom and bigger seat-back table which comfortably took my large MacBook Pro (on which I am writing this article now).
The lovely day then unravelled further still when a very disruptive passenger boarded and racially abused a couple of other passengers, threatening one of them and generally causing mayhem. We could all have done without that and some of us texted British Transport Police as we are always being urged to "say it" when we "see it" so that it can be "sorted". He was leaving the train at Peterborough anyway and was taken care of by the BTP, but as time went on it became clear that he was ill rather than criminal and I think he was well known by the police as someone in need of support.
And so into Stamford and the usual walk home across the meadows and through the town, two hours later than planned but I understand from LNER that the train we had abandoned at Stevenage did not reach Peterborough until very much later. We await our Delay Repay compensation, but I have to say that none of this disruption really affected our enjoyment of a really great couple of days away. We had packed in so much and so many new things, and we were still home before our usual bedtime. The train staff coped brilliantly and the thinking-on-their-feet action of the LNER train manager who suggested the detour via Cambridge certainly saved the day for us - and for those left on the stranded train there were now more seats available, vacated by those like us who had taken the alternative.
Arrival at Stamford on the newly-refurbished Cross Country Turbostar, with brighter paintwork and much smarter interior. We love arriving at Stamford station on our way home and being welcomed by all the church towers as we cross The Meadows.
Each winter holiday some friends come and stay with us for a few of the twelve days of Christmas, arriving soon after Boxing Day and returning on or soon after New Year's Day. The last couple of years we have all travelled together to a relative's home in Helpston, a village between Peterborough and our home in Stamford. (The Helpston which was the home of the poet John Clare, very popular in these parts.)
We go for lunch which is a drawn out affair with plenty of fun ... and no-one wants to be "Des," the designated driver, but that is fine because there happens to be a bus service between Stamford and Peterborough which serves Helpston, and, indeed, stops very close to the end of the road where our relative lives (not so close to our house, but that is not a problem because we do need exercise with all the feasting that happens at that time of the year). Indeed, I have long maintained that one of the big advantages of using public transport is the incidental exercise you get compared with the "door-to-door" service expected of car travel: I do not need to spend time and money on gym membership!
This year our local bus company, Delaine Buses, has slightly improved its Saturday timetable by adding one more service at the end of the day to match the weekday service, which made a difference to us because on those days between Christmas and New Year the Saturday timetable was being used every day on our route and so we were able to return home an hour later than we have done in previous years. As I have often remarked concerning service changes: if a bus or train runs we shall use it; if it doesn't we can't! Our bus out to Helpston was pretty busy (well, five of us helped!), and the last bus back was fairly well loaded, too. This is a popular route linking several villages to Peterborough and to Stamford, and a pleasant ride, too, during daylight. (I am sure it could stand an even better service, with later buses and peak-time frequency enhancements, but this is something that Delaine do not seem to do.)
We had a great time and we returned home happy and content - with no-one concerned about their driving and without having to cram five of us into the confines of our car. Four of us travelled free of charge on passes of various kinds, too, which was a bonus.
Four stories about holidays by rail, ferry and bus
Our annual visit to the south coast is now planned, hotels and restaurants, anyway; the train tickets will have to wait for a bit. We shall visit Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, again this year before moving on to Chichester. I thought readers might be interested in our four previous visits to the Isle of Wight, as this really is a great place to go car-free. Indeed, I'd say that the Isle of Wight is actually better without the car, which is a bit of a rave to get onto the island in the first place and can be a bit of an encumbrance when you are there (we took two cars one year, some time ago, when there were six of us); the ferry queues are not much fun.
So here are the four visits we have done in the past, all great:
Book the accommodation in advance (and restaurant the first night - we always regretted when we didn't do this)
Allow plenty of time for the journey to make it relaxing, no rushing across London
Think carefully about packing and try to keep it to one modest suitcase and a small backpack each
Book train tickets early and go First Class; book through to the Isle of Wight destination so that the ferry is included in the ticket - that makes it both simpler and much cheaper
Download in advance the Southern Vectis bus map and install their app on your smartphone, and use their day rover tickets
Southern Vectis buses will take you all over the east or west sides of the Island without a change of bus, and to go from one side to the other involves a simple change at Newport bus station. We also do a lot of walking, and bicycles can be hired if you like cycling. We love the buses; almost all of them are double deckers and the views from the top deck are wonderful. Even from the bottom deck the views are better than from a car.
Red London buses seen through the trees looking west from the Marble Arch Mound
A Few Days in London by Train
With the general easing of coronavirus restrictions we and the rest of our family had begun to travel again a bit more, and we were offered the use once again of our son's family's home in London while they were on holiday elsewhere in the UK. There were a couple of exhibitions we wanted to see (nothing very intellectual, I'm afraid!), and this gave us the opportunity to see them in a leisurely manner and to fit in a few other bits and pieces while we were there. Rail tickets and exhibition tickets were duly booked and a very simple itinerary typed out and filed with the ticket print-outs ready for the day. By the time the trip was to take place all the fuss over the Marble Arch Mound had blown up and we thought we really needed to see this, so I booked tickets for that, too; by then there was no cost but tickets were still required for crowd control. So, armed with all this paper we packed our bags and set off. We travelled very light for this trip: no suitcases, just a modest-sized backpack each and no camera bag for me because I decided to use this short trip as a trial of using just my iPhone camera, which has higher resolution than my Olympus DSLR, although less control over the image.
For this sort of trip, and for the holiday a couple of weeks ago for which we travelled via London, the 10:57 departure from our local station in Stamford, Lincs, is ideal. It makes an easy connection with an 11:29 LNER train to London at Peterborough, allowing enough time for moderate late running (which has not happened yet) but not involving a great long wait. Our coffee break is spent on the train to London with the complimentary coffee and biscuits or cake in LNER First Class ... normally, but on this occasion the steward came toting cold drinks (including wine) and crisps and biscuits only, apologising profusely for not having any hot drinks and explaining that he had no kitchen on this train, although not saying why. I took an apple juice, crisps and biscuits but really wanted coffee, so at Kings Cross we bought it from the Caffè Nero kiosk and repaired to the First Class Lounge to enjoy it!
On our way to our temporary London home we visited the aforementioned "mound" at Marble Arch, travelling there by bus from Kings Cross, having bought a picnic lunch from the Little Waitrose there. We ate our lunch beside Marble Arch and although surrounded by watching pigeons we were not bothered by them, nor by the occasional spots of drizzle. We were slightly early for our booked slot at the Mound but it was not a problem: the welcoming staff at the entrance told us we did not need tickets and they did not look at them, inviting us to go straight in: I was not sure how they were expecting to prevent overcrowding, but it turned out not to be a problem and we just walked up, looked around and took photographs (being careful not to lose iPhone over the precipice!) and walked back down again.
What did I think of this addition to London's tourist attractions? Well, I am glad to have been and I enjoyed seeing the views from the top, although in summer most of what you see is trees (not a bad thing in itself, of course), and the planting on the mound itself was quite interesting (it is NOT fake grass as some have said, but alpines and other small plants). But we did not pay anything: it is free in August. I cannot say what I'd have thought if I had paid because I understand that when people are paying they will come down by a different route through the interior of the Mound where there will be other attractions, a gift shop etc., whereas we come down the way we went up and all these things were closed. I must say I cannot see why it cost the reputed six million pounds; I am not an expert but I'd have thought that one or two million would have been plenty for a fairly small project like this. Yes, it was good fun, but I am not sure it was worth what the council tax payers of Westminster will have paid, nor what the visitors will be paying - but you'll have to judge for yourselves. If you've been, do let me know your views in the comments.
The Regent's Park, Tuesday
We continued our journey on foot from Marble Arch across the northern edge of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, stopping for tea at the little café by the Italian Gardens, and then soon after we joined the street pavement we caught a bus which took us close to our son's road in Shepherd's Bush. After unpacking we walked to the Westfield Shopping Centre where we had a few little jobs to do, including buying food for our dinner! After dinner I was able to join the online meeting of the Market Deeping Model Railway Club just as if I were at home - something only made possible by the pandemic which has forced us to have virtual clubnights. We slept very well after all the walking we had done, although there was much more to come ...
On Tuesday morning we set off by bus back the way we had come, but instead of walking to Marble Arch after morning coffee at the same café where we had taken afternoon tea the day before we turned north and made our way towards Paddington station, from where we walked through to Paddington Basin and Little Venice then turned east to follow the Regent's Canal. We were taking a scenic walk to our next engagement: Paddington, the Story of a Bear, and the British Library. The route took us a way I have been before and a little further, and where the canal turns left towards Camden we turned right and southwards along the Broad Walk of The Regent's Park to Marylebone Road and into Euston Road to the British Library, a total of well over two miles. We arrived at the British Library in good time and made our way to the small but interesting exhibition about Michael Bond's creation of the Paddington Bear stories and the various interpretations of the character in pictures and on TV and film.
La Fromagerie, Marylebone
We bought a snack lunch from M&S at St Pancras station across the road and ate it there while watching people arriving on one of the very few international trains currently operating into London before setting off on another stage of our canalside walk, towards Camden Lock. The stretch from Kings Cross to Camden is totally different from that around Little Venice and The Regent's Park, but just as interesting, and when we emerged into the world of Camden Market we were amazed at how many people were around, quite a lot crowding unmasked into a relatively tight, although largely outdoor space in a viral pandemic. Given that many of them were quite young, the proportion fully-vaccinated will have been very small, and the whole place felt quite unsafe. Back on the canal towpath we were in a very thinly-populated space with more fresh air and walked on until we came to the place where we had left the canal in the morning. There we climbed up to the street once more and followed much the same path as we had in the morning, stopping for tea at a café in The Regent's Park, just before its early closing time - the opening hours are very much shorter than usual this year. Instead of bearing eastwards towards the British Library, this time we continued south and then turned west along Marylebone Road to Marylebone High Street, a very pleasant street to walk and with much more interesting, although much smaller, shops than the famous streets like Oxford Street, to which it leads and where we needed to be for our bus home. In a small side street we found an amazing cheese shop and bought some lovely Swiss cheese for supper on that and the following evenings.
On Wednesday we spent much of the day at Kensington Palace, which has been developed a little since we last visited, and we were particularly interested in the current exhibition Royal Style in the Making which describes the design and making up of the clothes of the royal family, including some well-known outfits which are on display there. The tickets to the Palace includes the exhibition, and timed ticketing ensures that there is little crowding. Our tickets gave us a half-hour "window" in which to arive, but amazingly there were people queueing for half an hour for the start of the half-hour slot: we explored the gardens then arrived twenty minutes into the window and walked straight in with no queue ... Funny old world. We repaired to Côte Bistro just off Kensington High Street for a proper lunch with a view to needing only a snack (finishing up the Swiss cheese!) in the evening. Good move: for a chain Côte does remarkably good French cooking, and sitting on the pavement quaffing chilled wine in a London side street is a brilliant way to pass a summer afternoon - even this summer, which is not exactly a hot one.
We walked back the mile-and-a-half or so to our temporary home via a number of quiet residential street just a block or two away from Kensington High Street. It is staggering how peaceful and green London can be once you are away from the main thoroughfares.
And so to the journey home: we took the bus to Oxford Circus and walked to Kings Cross through Fitzrovia and Bloomsbury, again through quiet streets, though here more commercial, medical and academic - and right past the tower we still call the Post Office Tower, although it long since ceased to have anything to do with the Post Office. We bought salads from M&S at St Pancras and had them as lunch in the First Class Lounge at Kings Cross before boarding the 14:06 LNER train for Lincoln, on which we travelled to Peterborough, continuing lunch with the "Deli Menu" and a glass of wine. At Peterborough it all unravelled as we learnt that a train had collided with a tractor on a level crossing near March and services on our line home to Stamford were suspended. I am not clear why they could not operate as far as Peterborough from Birmingham, but they didn't and the requested buses did not seem to be available but a very hard-working and kind LNER employee drafted in a fleet of taxis and got us on the move. As our booked connection would have involved a bit of a wait anyway we were not very late getting home, as it happens, just a few minutes. I have to say that on the whole this sort of situation is generally dealt with very well, but there was certainly a lot to sort out at Peterborough that day with several significant destinations affected. Meanwhile, at home there was a lot of watering of the garden to do, although the rain that came later did give me a hand with that!
Last year's intended return to Yarmouth and West Wight had to be postponed because of travel uncertainty, and so we did it this year, followed as usual by a few days in Chichester to visit of friends holidaying at nearby East Wittering. Unlike last year, train services were almost back to normal this summer, with Covid-19 restrictions being lifted following the effective NHS vaccination programme, and it was much easier to book travel, although I booked the hotels way back at the height of the pandemic, ensuring that free cancellation was available, anticipating that demand for UK holidays might be high this summer with foreign travel being difficult. We opted for four nights on the Isle of Wight and three nights in Chichester, our friends having kindly booked theatre tickets for one of those evenings!
It had been a while since I had arranged a trip which included more than one destination and involved several activities, and I have to confess that I was quite nervous about it. This was probably partly because the long gap enforced by the pandemic meant that I was out of practice and the confidence gradually built up by experience had waned somewhat, but possibly more due to the additional complexities wrought by pandemic precautions still being taken by many organisations - the need to book in advance for many more activities than normal, and the reduced capacity of, for example, restaurants, meaning that advance booking was almost essential. As restaurants etc vary in the way they take bookings, an evening was largely taken up in the week before departure with online and telephone bookings to ensure that we should not go hungry during our holiday.
Then there was the weather ... we had had some glorious sunshine and hot, even very hot, weather before we went, but the poorer weather started on the day we left, with the forecast looking even worse for the four days we were due to be on the Isle of Wight, although rather better for Chichester. Packing required layers: I took sandals but wore shoes for travel. I took all short-sleeved shirts but packed a jumper as well. I took shorts but wore jeans, and so on: an unlined, light jacket but also a water and wind-proof jacket with hood. Jumper and both jackets could be used all together if the worst happened temperature-wise, but in August if the sun shines, even if the air temperature is low for the time of year, it still feels hot, so we did not anticipate too bad a time provided that, and it was quite a provision, the rain was not too persistent!
Even for a whole week's holiday we still managed to pack everything in one small case each (the sort that air travellers call "carry-on") together with a small backpack each. I included a fresh shirt for each day as well as spare shoes and sandals. Off we went on a sunny Thursday morning to catch the 10:57 train from Stamford station. As I crossed the meadows I overheard a young child asking her father, "Why does everyone have a suitcase?"! The train, on time, took us to Peterborough where we had just a few moments before the 11:29 to London Kings Cross, on which we travelled in First Class on cheap Advance tickets. We were plied with coffee and with food, so an early lunch was therefore taken.
In London we took a bus to Waterloo for the next stage of the journey. I had allowed lots of time in London in order that there would be no difficulty in the event of travel disruption in case railway staff had to take time off for self-isolation etc, but in fact everything went smoothly and on time at every stage and we therefore had a leisurely journey with plenty of breaks! Bus travel if not the quickest way from Kings Cross to Waterloo, but it did not have to be ... and with the departure point for the service having moved (unknown to us) from St Pancras to Euston we had a longer-than-expected walk to board the bus in the first place - all good for the exercise we needed following the laziness of lockdown.
We sat on the concourse at Waterloo, with takeaway coffee, waiting for our train to be announced, the 14:35 to Poole, and fell into conversation with a lady also travelling to the Isle of Wight for a holiday. Soon the platform was indicated for our train and we boarded the nearest coach and chose our seats. The First Class sections of these trains are less spacious than they used to be but the seats are still very comfortable and there is plenty of legroom, big tables and a decent view from the windows. Luggage space is not as good as one would like for a holiday train, but not too bad and we easily managed with our cases between seat-backs and backpacks overhead. The train was very fast, whisking us through south London without stopping and on though Surrey and Hampshire with just a few brief halts. The stretch through Southampton and the New Forest was the same way we went last year on our way to our family holiday in Dorset, but this time we changed trains at Brockenhurst for the shuttle to Lymington Pier. Another passenger from our part of the train was taking this route for the first time and was asking our advice: she, too, was on her way to the Isle of Wight for her holiday. It all felt very old-fashioned and traditional, although no-one was carrying a bucket and spade. We had only been that way once before ourselves but the connection is very simple, across the platform and wait just a few moments for the four-coach electric train that runs the few miles via Lymington Town to Lymington Pier. Again I had arranged plenty of time before the next ferry departure and we sat and enjoyed a cup of tea at the terminal before boarding.
The rain started just before we boarded the ferry and continued all the way across the Solent, giving the distant view of the Isle of Wight through the ship's windows an oil-painting quality as we approached the terminal at Yarmouth, but as we disembarked the rain stopped and sun shone as if to greet us as we stepped onto the island! We checked in at The George hotel and unpacked in our room on the top floor overlooking the harbour then went for a short stroll around the town. Dinner was booked at the hotel the first evening and was wonderful, with plenty of local produce.
When planning the itinerary with the help of the National Trust and English Heritage iPhone apps I came across one place we had never been and looked like it merited a summertime visit, Mottistone Manor Garden (National Trust), between Freshwater and Newport. It is on bus route 12 which is one of those half-a-dozen services per day bus routes so the visit had to be carefully scheduled, and we went on the Friday, the first full day on the island, taking the regular bus (number 7) to Freshwater and changing there, after a short walk around and our morning coffee break, to the number 12 for Mottistone.
Above: "The Shack," the architects' office and rural retreat of Lord Mottistone, now displayed at Mottistone Manor Gardens
The gardens were stunning and well worth seeing, and the short history of the manor was interesting, too, the 2nd Lord Mottistone having been an architect (responsible for the 20th century restoration and conversion of Eltham Palace for the Courtauld family). We had lunch in the tea garden and enjoyed the views over Freshwater Bay from the higher parts of the gardens then caught the bus back. The bus ride (top deck, of course) there and back were an important part of the enjoyment of the day, with spectacular coastal views - so much so that I'd recommend taking a ride on the number 12 even if you don't visit anywhere.
Left: a small part of the front, lower, garden. This has to be seen to be believed
We rode back to Totland on the bus and then walked down to the beach and walked all the way to Yarmouth along the beach and then the coastal path, pausing for a cup of tea at the Fort Victoria Country Park. It had been a great day so far and we had walked many miles and seen a lot of sea, fairly rough sea for there was a brisk wind but even though temperatures were quite low for the time of year we were kept warm by the fairly constant sunshine.
Friday was the only day for which we had not made a booking for dinner, wanting to be flexible so that we could perhaps go somewhere in Freshwater or Totland ... bad idea in 2021. After washing and changing following the day's exertions we returned to Totland by bus to see if either of the seafront restaurants we had seen there earlier had a table free for dinner. Neither did, so, becoming rather hungry by now, we returned to Yarmouth ... None of this was costing us anything in bus fares because I travel free anyway on my pensioner's pass and my wife was using the Southern Vectis bus company's new "tap in, tap out" system which capped her fare at the Day Rover rate, reached while travelling back from Mottistone earlier in the day. Walking towards the town centre from the bus station, the first restaurant we saw was The Terrace which had some indoor seating (all taken) and a lot of outdoor seating (almost all available) overlooking the harbour at first-floor level, over the ferry terminal building. It would have been an idyllic spot (and probably packed out) were it not for the aforementioned brisk wind, now a very strong wind. We were offered blankets and promised swift service and that they would do their best to make it as good as possible, and they did. We had a great time, paper menu weighted down (just!) by water and beer bottles. It was great fun, and the food and drink were good, too. I don't think I've ever dined out wearing a coat before, not even in Switzerland.
Cocktails at Off The Rails
The weather forecast for Saturday was not good: the wind was expected to be much the same but there was expected to be rather less sun and some rain from time to time. Undaunted we set off for an expedition to Osborne House (English Heritage), for which I had already booked tickets in advance: these were free of charge to us as English Heritage members but required to ensure that there was no bunching of arrivals. We travelled on bus route 7 in the other direction to Newport and changed there for route 5 to Osborne. Many of the island's bus services go to and from Newport bus station, so a change there will reach almost any destination (we could even have come to Mottistone this way but the idea had been to see Freshwater and the coastline). We have been to Osborne several times before and did not need all day there, but it was great to see Queen Victoria's beach again and to take a lengthy walk around the extensive grounds. We visited the house itself briefly and paid special attention to the little exhibition about the way Victoria and Albert celebrated their birthdays at Osborne, which was new to us. We did get caught in some of the expected rain, but we also got caught in more than expected of the sunshine which coincided nicely with our time at the beach. And so back to Yarmouth via Newport to get ready for dinner at Off The Rails, a quirky restaurant in Yarmouth's former railway station. Through the week Off The Rails does not open in the evenings and only offers dinner on Saturdays, so I had booked Saturday dinner there well in advance to ensure that we could eat there: we sat on former railway carriage seats, next to a pile of suitcases and surrounded by vintage and quasi-vintage railway signage. I ordered the "Firebox," which was smoked mackerel with toast and salad (we discovered the Isle of Wight tomato on this holiday - how have I avoided them before?).
Sunday's outing, which had also had to be booked in advance, was to the Isle of Wight Steam Railway which we had last visited about four years previously. Partly because of coronavirus fears and partly because of the current temporary closure of the Network Rail Island Line for track improvements the timetable and ticketing on the Steam Railway have been simplified for this year and based on the assumption that everyone would start from their main station at Havenstreet (to where a shuttle bus operates from Ryde and where there is a car park. But we had to start at Wootton, the only station served by bus, so I had had to make the advance arrangements by telephone in combination with the website - quite a palaver but it worked. Again we left Yarmouth on a bus to Newport and changed there for a Ryde-bound bus as far as Wootton Station. We had left plenty of time in case of delays but there was no hold-up and we had time for a stroll into Wootton before returning to await our train. I had to speak to the guard to be let into a First Class compartment because although our online booking included travel from Wootton to Havenstreet the reserved space on a specific train was for the 14:33 from Havenstreet, for which I had to obtain our tickets at the the Havenstreet ticket office, that at Wootton being closed.
The First Class compartment in the vintage coach was just wonderful, with deep upholstery and splendid moquette, slam doors with droplights held by leather straps. We were taken to Havenstreet in luxury and then I made my way to the ticket office and became a real ticket-holding passenger (!) and then we had our lunch at the station refreshment room before exploring the Train Story museum, right up-to-date with the recently-withdrawn 1938 tube train which had been in service on the Island Line until January this year. These were to be replaced by new trains made from old District Line coaches this spring after some track and platform alterations had been completed but there has been considerable delay in getting the new trains into service and the Island Line remains closed which among other inconveniences has removed the rail connection to the Steam Railway at Smallbrook Junction. We were able to board the 1938 unit no 007, on which we had ridden several times while in service on the island, and watch a video about the new trains which are, eventually, to replace it.
Soon the time came to board our vintage steam train at Havenstreet for the round trip which would get us back to Wootton for the end of our outing. With all the vintage sounds of guard's whistle, slamming doors, locomotive whistle and hissing steam, we set off towards Smallbrook Junction in our beautifully restored First Class compartment. At Smallbrook the locomotive was detached and ran round to rake us in the other direction, non-stop through Havenstreet to Wootton. For most people their round trip would include the ride back to Havenstreet, but we had already done that part and so, after a pleasant ride through the countryside to the traditional steam railway sounds, we left the railway and waited for our bus back to Newport where we explored the town centre for a while before taking the next bus to Yarmouth.
Dinner that night was very special, at a restaurant called "On The Rocks" (not to be confused with Off The Rails). The menu was very simple, a big piece of meat, fish or halloumi served uncooked on a hot stone, with unlimited salad and fries and a wide choice of drinks. The meat, fish or halloumi cooks on the table and is eaten straight from the hot stone and if the salad or fries run out, the staff bring more. A great experience and thoroughly recommended. Very popular and again was booked before we left home. And so to bed on our last night at Yarmouth ready for moving on the following morning for our annual visit to Chichester.
On Monday morning we took the now-familiar bus number 7 to Newport and changed there for the bus to Ryde Esplanade from where we walked to the pier head for our catamaran to Portsmouth. There the usual waiting space and cafeteria were closed and being used simply as queueing space once boarding began: we all had to hang around the concourse with simply a coffee machine for refreshment. It is a good thing that we had not relied on taking lunch here, as we had considered. I did not understand why Wightlink and Costa could not get these facilities back to something like normal, especially as passenger numbers were still not back to normal levels. There was also a short panic when I saw a notice that space on the catamaran had to be reserved in advance, but although I telephoned the number given for this and was sent an email confirmation of our spaces on the next departure, when I showed the train tickets at the barrier the inspector did not ask to see the reservation - we had through Day Anytime rail tickets from Ryde to Chichester which stated on them that we could travel on any service that day; clearly Wightlink did not take through rail passengers into account when devising their policy on reservations.
The crossing went smoothly and on time, and the on-board system for disembarking passengers without undue crowding was very good. We then had about twenty minutes to wait at Portsmouth Harbour for our Southern train to Chichester, which departed a couple of minutes late but encountered no further problems and arrived on time. After checking in (a little early) at the Chichester Harbour Hotel and unpacking we met our friends for a drink at the excellent Park Tavern just around the corner from our hotel. Bath and bed and ready for another day.
On the Tuesday morning we contacted some other friends who now live in Chichester and went to join them at their home for morning coffee, then we went our separate ways until later afternoon. Tuesday evening was the theatre booking, and four of us met for a very early dinner (5.30pm!) at The Bell Inn and then joined two others for the well-reviewed performance of South Pacific at the Chichester Festival Theatre - the fourth time we have been to the summer musical at this superb venue. It was great to be in a theatre again: to my surprise all the seats were taken although mask-wearing was urged and most people complied.
Wednesday was our day at the seaside at East Wittering and we travelled there as usual by the local bus service, and as usual were delayed in the dreadful Chichester traffic but arrived eventually and after coffee and a brief visit to the beach had lunch together before a walk towards Bosham, taking the ferry from Itchenor across a part of the enormous (but scenically and naturally splendid) sprawl of Chichester Harbour. Good exercise and lovely countryside before a pint of local ale at the pub in Itchenor before returning to our hosts' holiday home at East Wittering for an evening together with dinner.
Our train home was booked for Thursday afternoon so after checking out we left our luggage at the hotel and visited the Novium museum to read about Roman Chichester and North Bersted Man, the most elaborate Iron Age warrior burial ever found in Britain. We then bought provisions and sat in the Priory Park for a picnic lunch in the pleasant summer sun before collecting our cases and taking the train home via London after a great week's holiday.
Again we had allowed plenty of time in London before taking our LNER train from Kings Cross, and we crossed London by bus and bought some tea in Fortnum & Mason at St Pancras before going to wait in the First Class Lounge at Kings Cross until our train was announced. The new "Deli" menu, with beer, made a good light supper on the way to Peterborough where we had a little while to wait for the train to Stamford. Having spent the week largely avoiding showers we were disappointed that as we approached Stamford the rain started; by the time we had sheltered under the canopy at the station to put on our jackets and put up the umbrella, though, the rain had stopped and the jackets just made us rather hot as we walked up the hill out of the town centre to our home! It had been a brilliant week, sometimes because of the weather but often in spite of it, and we are already looking forward to the next couple of trips and hoping that the Italian and German ones booked in autumn and winter can take place.
To read the newspapers in Britain at the moment you would think that holidays in the UK were a new idea. Perhaps they are for London-based journalists! But for various good reasons around the pandemic and the travel uncertainty arising from it, there are likely to be many more of us in Britain taking our holidays in Britain this year, and the newspapers are full of "advice" about "staycations" - although how many journalists are qualified to give this advice, considering they feel the need to call them something other than a holiday, I am not sure. So, having taken lots of these holidays in the recent past (and the distant past, too, come to that!), I thought I'd write some advice myself. I hope my readers find it helpful. You can find some ideas for destinations on my page, "UK Holidays".
Traffic
Now at first it is easy to think that the greater number of British people holidaying in Britain will be balanced by the far fewer numbers of foreign visitors holidaying here, but I am not so sure about that. First, a lot of foreign visitors visit London (it is the most popular tourist destination in the world), and I suspect that few of us will take our main holiday there: we shall go the coast or to the lakes or forests, moorlands, etc.. Second, foreigners will tend not to bring their cars (some, from Europe, will, of course, and some will hire them when they get here), whereas most British people will tend to drive. Putting all this together, I predict that roads to the coast and rural resorts will be more than busy: it was already bad enough four years ago for me to declare that we were never going to Devon or Cornwall by car ever again, and if more are heading that way this year then I hope they have a LOT of patience. That is why I would recommend travelling by rail for UK holidays, and the advice I am offering concerns making the arrangements for train travel.
Booking
Cross Country's retro ad a few years ago isnpired me to book a seaside summer holiday by train!
One thing the newspapers have been hot on is the need to book in good time, because everyone else will be doing the same. Anticipating this, I have already booked hotels for our summer breaks, one in England, one in Scotland, so you can't get in front of me how ever soon you book: but you may need to hurry to get in front of each other! Look for hotel and B&B bookings that allow free cancellation so that if circumstances change and you need to back out for a reason not covered by your travel insurance (yes, you do need it for holidays in the UK unless you are happy to take all the risk yourself) your costs will be minimised.
Train Travel
While I have booked accommodation for my summer holidays, I have not yet booked travel, because even in normal times train tickets with seat reservations are not usually available until three months before the travel date, and in the current changing circumstances the train companies can have no idea what trains they will be running by the summer holiday season, so it is not worth even thinking about tickets just yet. But what I have done, and what I recommend for anyone thinking of travelling on holiday by train, is set up on the relevant companies' websites an advance ticket alert which will cause them to send me an email message to tell me when Advance tickets are available for my chosen dates. I could probably book open tickets now but (a) they are relatively expensive, (b) the trains I eventually choose may be too busy for me to get a seat and (c) in the current pandemic-dominated world it is anyone's guess what trains will be running.
One advantage of buying Advance tickets early in their availability is that First Class travel is usually available at a really good price - like London to the Isle of Wight, including ferry, for under £20 First Class one way - and on most lines Advance tickets come with seat reservations so you know you will get on the train you have chosen. They can only be used on a specific train, so some planning is needed, but then if you usually fly abroad you will be used to having to catch a specific flight. But rail travel is much less faff than flying: you don't have to be there ages before departure; you keep your luggage with you so when you arrive you're free to go; you can take food and drink with you and you can see things out of the window all the way!
I have written articles elsewhere on this website about Luggage and about Changing Trains, and if you are not used to rail travel, then please take a look at both of these pages. Which brings me to the question of planning ...
Planning and Preparation
Inverness: hotel next to station
Planning the travel needs to be part of the early planning of the whole holiday. I usually start with an idea of whereabouts I want to go in the country and then look at accommodation and train route together so that I do not end up needing to hire a car or taxi to get from the station to the hotel, as if I were on one of those inconvenient holidays by air! Sometimes we stay right next to the station, usually within reasonable walking distance, and now-and-again we use a bus or a boat (!) to complete the trip - it is all part of the adventure of travel. Take this summer's planned trip to the Isle of Wight: we are booked at a hotel right beside Yarmouth Castle, about a minute walk from the ferry terminal, and our train will take us right to the ferry - it is an official connection and the train tickets will be booked to Yarmouth. We did the same trip two years ago and it worked like a dream. When we went to South Wales a few years ago we soon found that our options were very limited: unlike North Wales, few of the southern resorts are on a railway route, but we did have a great time in Tenby!
View from our bus on board the ferry at Poole
While I would encourage anyone not to be afraid of changing trains to reach their destination (the Tenby trip involved several changes), sometimes it is more convenient to minimise changes at the cost of taking a little longer, especially if changing stations in London can be avoided, no matter how convenient the Underground makes this. From our home in Stamford, Lincolnshire, we often travel via Birmingham (which is on a direct line from Stamford) when travelling to the south-west, or sometimes even to the south coast in Dorset or Hampshire, which takes longer than going via London but just needs the one change at Birmingham New Street, the hub of the inter-city rail network. We did this last year when we went to Studland Bay.
Unless you do go, as we often have, to a resort with the station right there, then the trip will probably be completed by bus or some other means. This used to work when I was a toddler with my parents going to Margate (everyone went on holiday in Britain and by train in those days, unless they were very rich, and even they probably went by train!) and it still works now but needs a tad more planning. The Studland Bay trip last year was brilliant for this, with a bus right from Bournemouth station taking us to the door of the hotel, and it was an open-top tour bus, too, with some wonderful views along the way, including the ferry across Poole Harbour! When we have been to Dartmouth, which we have done twice, the last leg of the trip was by steam train to Kingswear and then ferry across the River Dart. All part of the adventure.
Adventure
I don't buy the "door-to-door convenience" angle of car travel, especially for holidays. Yes, I have a car, and it is a good car and it has its uses (it is questionable whether those uses are frankly a good enough reason to spend all those thousands of pounds buying and maintaining it, but that is a whole other discussion!), but unless one is mobility-impaired there is no need to travel between doors, and for us when we go by train the adventure starts when we walk out of the door and trundle our cases to the station, pockets full of tickets. We know our train times and our meal arrangements and we look forward to what we shall watch going by our windows. We can drink wine and/or beer if we like, the loo is a short walk down the carriage, and if we are held up someone else will sort it out, but hold-ups are rare. We get exercise on our walks to and from the stations, and we do not have to park the car. Some will say the they need the car when they get to their destination, and I know that those who fly abroad often hire one when they get there, but although we are open to hiring a car we have never yet done so, always having found that bus services are more than adequate for our needs - but then for us walking is an important part of our holiday. In the autumn, just before the second UK lockdown, we revisited Studland Bay by car. We parked it at the hotel and never used it again until we left - all our local travel was on foot, boat and bus, and on the way back we were held up by a serious accident on the M1 ... train delays are nothing compared with this.
I think we have great holidays, not in spite of leaving the car at home but partly BECAUSE we leave the car at home. We see, hear and smell our surroundings, we actually LIVE in the places we visit and are not sealed off from them; travelling on the same buses as shoppers and business people in the towns we visit, and walking through the countryside, experiencing nature - people pay for safari holidays in remote places, but with our network of public footpaths you can do your own British safari all on your own - and get the bus back to your hotel.
Don't be misled by the newspapers' put-down of UK holidays as an inferior thing called a "staycation" as if it were not a real holiday. I do have holidays abroad (although usually still by train!) and have two booked for later this year, but they are not superior to the English, Welsh and Scottish ones, they just need a passport as well as a ticket, and different money, and different language. But all are great fun, wherever they are, and I reckon more fun without the car.
Do have a browse through the summer holidays I have blogged on this website: they are all my own experiences, paid for out of my own pocket and completely unfettered by allegiance to any company or product. and do ask questions in the comments, here or on any other page, and I shall try to answer.
A Short Break at Studland Bay by Train and Bus
