October 8th Arreton, Carisbrooke Castle, Cowes etc

The Castle Gatehouse

The main castle hall

The weather today was the best of our days on the Isle of Wight.  It was clear blue sky and sunshine and we decided the main activity would be to visit Carisbrooke Castle which is mainly an outside venue.  So after breakfast we got on our way but first stopped at the craft workshops at Arreton. To be honest these were hardly worth the bother as there was not a lot of local produce on offer and what there was seemed overpriced.  We quickly moved on to Carisbrooke.  We parked, visited the coffee shop and then viewed the very good introductory film.  We made a plan of action: visiting the chapel, Princess Beatrice's garden and walking the castle walls before lunch.  The castle was very much a classic with a rich history including the jailing of King Charles after the royalists were defeated, and being occupied by Queen Victoria's youngest daughter Princess Beatrice after her husband had died.  We enjoyed learning about this as we toured round and then partook of some lunch at the café.  We then visited the motte keep and the wellhouse where donkeys (in our case Jack) are used to pump water from the well with a treadmill.  That part was very entertaining. 

Jack the donkey
 

Warhorse in Princess Beatrice's garden

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The motte keep

 

The main hall

We visited the main hall which is now a museum and then walked round the ramparts with their cannon stations much like Garrison walls on St. Mary's.  This concluded an excellent visit.
 
We then drove north to Cowes, had a look round this small "character" coastal town and then went across the chain ferry to East Cowes.  We then slowly made our way along the east coast until we arrived at Shanklin again.  It had been our best day on the island!