We are always on the look out for toddler friendly holidays; it is amazing how hard it is to find something that is reasonably priced, which caters for small children and babies. So I was rather surprised when I received details of a special offer at Gurnard Pines, in the Isle of Wight: 3 nights in a 3 bedroom lodge for only £119.
With a crèche, soft play area, indoor and outdoor pools, and claiming to be family friendly it seemed to tick all the boxes and it would cost less for 3 nights than some of the family friendly hotels cost for one night. I was sold. I booked the holiday there and then, on a moment of impulse, which is not very me at all.
A couple of weeks later, we set off down to Southampton on a beautiful Friday morning, with M, my two year old daughter, chattering in the back of the car about going on a big boat. No traffic jams, no tantrums, the sun shining in the sky, we were definitely off to a good start. The ferry crossing was smooth and M loved being on the top deck getting blown about by the wind.
Cowes - Isle of Wight
We arrived at Cowes and went straight to Gurnard Pines. The lodges looked quite pretty, ours was one of a few set around a little pond. It was quite big inside, with a nice lounge area and a small kitchen, with everything you need for a short break. I am not sure how old they are, but it was a bit tired inside, certainly not to the standard of Centre Parcs say, but then it was about a third of the price. All in all, it was certainly toddler friendly and good value for money! We unpacked our stuff and went off to explore Cowes.
Cowes is such a pretty place, famous for Cowes Week of course, with lots of nice shops and pubs and bars. After a pleasant afternoon, we went back to our little lodge and had fish and chips and talked about what we would do for the next couple of days. The tourist information centre hadn’t been open, so we would just have to wing it. We had a map and knew where everything was, from childhood holidays many moons ago, so we were sure we would be fine.
We were up bright and early, we had been blessed with another lovely day, so we set off on our Isle of Wight adventure. First stop was the Robin Hill Park, it doesn’t take very long to get anywhere on the island so we were soon arriving at the long drive, only to discover it was shut for the Winter Season. We were a bit disappointed but we still had other places in mind, so we set off for Black Gang Chine, to see the dinosaurs – and it was shut. Colemans Farm Park – shut. We finally found something called Amazon World, it wasn’t shut, but as we find out after about 15 mins, instead it was just sh*t.
It was soon apparent that the Isle of Wight was in effect was closed for the winter. Now I am someone who usually plans everything to the nth degree, but this last minute holiday had been so last minute and the truth was we had come unprepared. Trying not to be too disheartened we went on to our last destination – the needles, Alum Bay, where I had particularly fond childhood memories filling little glass ornaments with coloured sands. I had told M all about this and she was really looking forward to it. Unfortunately, this too was shut!
Pebbles on the Beach
At least the beach was open! Now although it was a bright sunny day, it was a bright sunny day in February, so it was still pretty cold. Undeterred, in true British style, we wrapped our coats around us, sat on the pebbles and had our lunch. We showed M the beautifully coloured sands and looked out at the needles and played ’skimsies’ with the flat pebbles scattered about the beach. It turned out to be a fantastic afternoon, not exactly what we had planned (or failed to plan for that matter), but still a beautiful family day out.
