DIAMOND ISLE
The Isle of Wight and Dimbola Lodge
or Osborne House

Adults: £18.50  Seniors: £18.50
Availability: All year, Tuesday to Sunday Coach miles: 60
Walking: Gentle
Wheelchair access: Good

www.britainonview.com

Just a 55 minute ferry ride from the mainland lies the diamond-shaped Isle of Wight with its own special character and a wealth of surprises. Our guide will be waiting for you at 9.30a.m. in Southampton to catch the 10a.m. ferry. Our coach tour reveals a land of contrasts — gently rolling green fields, lush woodland, barren downs, towering chalk cliffs and picturesque towns and villages. Many writers lived here including Dickens, Keats, Longfellow and Tennyson. We stop for lunch in delightful Old Shanklin which has thatched cottages by the sea. In the afternoon we drive to Dimbola Lodge, the home of 19th century photographer Julia Margaret Cameron. Her friends included the great and the good of the day

and she photographed many of them. The lodge is now a fascinating museum with her photographs of well-known figures such as Charles Darwin, Robert Browning and Ellen Terry, and we stop here for a visit. Then we drive to Yarmouth and Carisbrooke Castle before returning to East Cowes to catch the 5.30p.m. ferry.

Or if you prefer you can visit Queen Victoria's beloved Osborne House instead of Dimbola Lodge for the following price:

Adults £23.70 Seniors: £21.65
Availability: April to September, Sunday to Friday October to March, Monday to Thursday Coach miles: 40
Walking: Gentle
Wheelchair access: Please call Town and Around

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