From The Sublime To The Ridiculous!!

As much as I loved my clifftop campsite on the Isle of Wight, I decided to move on and find somewhere warmer away from the sea breezes. I ended up at the wackiest campsite I’ve ever seen! I suppose it’s really a glamping site, but there are spaces for both tents and campervans, as well as having a couple of their own classic vans to rent out! The helicopter in the collage is really a place to sleep, yes! As well as numerous other shacks, shepherds huts and even hobbit-like houses.

This site became well known when it was recently featured on a Channel 5 programme called ‘Celebrity 5 Go Camping’. The owner said he woke up to over 200 emails the next day! Interestingly, I found out that the owner is the brother to the man who runs the cliff-top campsite I’ve been staying at! And - they’re both from Reading, though they’ve been on the island for over 30 years. There’s also a Twyford connection - I’ve been having weird ‘small-world’ conversations all week!

In addition to the varied sleeping spots, there is a communal eating area with BBQ, pizza oven, potato oven and firepit. A shepherd’s hut houses a 24-hour ‘supermarket’ with payment into an antique till/cash register on the honour system. A double decker bus provides a long galley kitchen downstairs and a dining area upstairs. The grain silo (or is it a space shuttle??) is a cinema inside with a large selection of DVDs.

There’s a ‘traditional’ shower and toilet block (if you can call a shepherds hut style building ‘traditional), but there’s also a unique ‘Disco Shower’ in a smaller shack with music playing and all the normal disco lights!

The three-wheeler car? That contains the laundry facilities of course!

This collage doesn’t really do it justice! I could have filled numerous collages with a variety of pictures. You’ll have to check out their website. I think staying here for a couple of nights will be great fun! It wasn’t busy right now, but it’s usually booked full in peak season. The helicopter is fully booked for the WHOLE season.

Extra photo collage:
In between leaving one campsite and arriving at the new one, I spent several hours at the beautiful Mottistone Gardens, owned by the National Trust. There was lots to see both in the garden and in the wood. There were only a few bluebells left to see as I made my way up a steep hill through the wood. When I made it to the top I was rewarded by a Neolithic standing stone, along with amazing panoramic views at the top. I could see Tennyson Down looking west and Brighstone with my clifftop campsite almost below me. A beautiful outing!