We’re often asked about the latest food trends on the Island. To be described, like one place, as ‘a bit of Shoreditch in Ventnor’, is high praise. With restaurants, as with other businesses, we crave the novel, the maverick, and the disruptor. But for every Uber and Tesla making... Read more
Living as we do on the edge of the Solent, we often gawp at the vast liners as they head east through the Solent on their way to exotic climes. And, last week, we were among the passengers aboard the P & O Ventura, on its way to Normandy... Read more
As residents of Ryde, the Spinnaker Tower is a familiar landmark on the other side of the Solent. If we can see it from the Isle of Wight, imagine the view of the Island from the tower’s top! We popped over to Pompey, courtesy of Wightlink, and took a... Read more
Have you ever worked for a big organisation? Not a rapidly-expanding kick-started hipster laser razor company, but one of those ancient creaky institutions, like the government or Royal Family. Where, over the decades, layers of policy, ceremony and administration have been added like skin round an onion, until nobody... Read more
There was a time when each cafe sold us the same thing, and we had to put up with it. Brutally potent tea, camp coffee, dry sandwiches and an ashtray on every table were universally understood and expected. But oh, how things have changed. On the Island a few... Read more
Pompey girl Cat has always had a place in her heart for Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. This relentless innovator, with his over-compensating stovepipe hat and ginormous cigars, cut a formidable dash in that famous pin-up photo of him in front of the chains of the SS Great Western.... Read more
You’ll have heard us harp on about how Ryde is the international cuisine capital of the Island with its varied world food offerings. But what’s this? Is sleepy Carisbrooke snapping at its heels? The village is already home to one of our favourite English pub roasts, plus what must... Read more
At the outer edge of England lies the Isle of Wight; at the Island’s southerly perimeter is Ventnor – and clinging to its shoreline is Seapot. We approached the cafe from the Bonchurch end, pausing to read about how, when Victorian celebrity Tennyson popped into the village, local girls... Read more
These days denying yourself is the new hedonism. Where we used to brag about how much our houses were worth and chunter on about our exotic foreign holidays, now it’s all about staycationing and the hair-shirtism of Dry January. Around the world people are woke to the nightmare of... Read more
With Cat unexpectedly incapacitated, Matt had to find himself an alternative dining-out companion. First in line was barbeque-enthusiast Kieron, an old pal who has many times plied Matt with more perfectly-grilled meat than a normal human should ever eat. The well-matched duo set off towards Ventnor on the hunt... Read more
