Reg and Bob go to dog friendly Isle of Wight

Reg and Bob always visibly stress when they witness any form of packing up for fear of being left behind. But this is the year of holidaying in the time of Coronavirus and fast changing traffic lights, so it made sense to visit somewhere nearer to home. Nothing could have pleased Reg and Bob more than packing them up in the car and heading for the Isle of Wight.

Our dog accessory business Reg&Bob have lovely Instagram followers living on the island and their shared images always look enticing - I definitely wanted to go. And calling ahead to find out where dogs were allowed I was told in no uncertain terms “we love dogs on the Isle and Wight” and after 6 days on the island I can confirm they really do.

We were super lucky to find somewhere to stay at such short notice , thanks to our friend Kate from Dotty4Paws . She connected us with HB Holiday Lettings a small independent lettings agency that deal specifically with characterful houses on the Isle of Wight. Our house was being sold and the sale delayed hence its availability but it was perfect. HB Holidays Lettings have over 40 dog friendly houses on the island - their straight forward, no nonsense professionalism made everything easy but do book well in advance - we were lucky!

I can safely say we barely scratched the surface of this lovely island during our short stay but with two teenagers who operate on a totally different time zones, here’s what we managed within the hours available.

We stayed at St Helen’s Duver a short walk from Bembridge harbour on the East of the Island. With views over the lagoon and the causeway which leads to a sandy spit of land known as the Duver - its an area rich in wildlife and history. The Baywatch beach cafe situated on the beach offers a really good beach lunch. The beach is mainly sandy and not too busy for August. The teens enjoyed a late afternoon swim, a couple of beers and an atmospheric walk back along the causeway in the early evening. The main beach is dog friendly all year round.

Up at the village of St Helen’s which claim the UK’s largest village greens there’s a good selection of small restaurants and a pub. The gorgeous family run restaurant Ganders really delivered one evening (not always an easy task) and again were more than happy to welcome dogs.

One of the delights of Instagram is getting to know (virtually of course) some of your followers. And so it was very special to take the boys to meet one our Norfolk terrier loving followers in the flesh. And of course we got to go to a beach that we probably wouldn’t have found on our own. Brook Beach in the village of Brook on the west of the island is the most perfect find. A NT car park in Military Road leads to this stunning beach. What a lovely morning walk we had made especially enjoyable as apart from the one crab snack, the boys managed to maintain their Instagram perfect (?) reputation and hopefully not disappoint our lovely new Isle of Wight friend.

We usually steer clear of the busier tourist locations but the three chalk stacks in the sea on the western extremity of the island known as The Needles shouldn’t be missed. We chose to walk from the main Alum Bay car park along the cliff road - about 40 minutes to the headland where you can view the Needles from the gun batteries. The teens chose the chair lift accessed from the Needles pleasure park. Whilst not suitable for dogs they enjoyed the trip down to the beach with its multi coloured sands and a good view of the Needles. Here you can also access a boat trip.

And the teens couldn’t resist the crazy golf while in the pleasure park - I say teens but at 20 and 17 they weren’t too old to enjoy as we watched on. Whilst we wouldn’t spend a day here, I loved reminiscing their childhoods watching the fiercely fought golf competition whilst Onward Christian Soldiers blared out from the merry- go -round.

Good food is always high on our list of holiday priorities and the island has some great restaurants. The uber popular Hut at Colwell was fully booked and so our second choice The Smoking Lobster at Ventnor was much anticipated and again super accommodating both inside and out for Reg and Bob. The outside tables are right on the esplanade (I would call it a pavement) at Ventnor - a busy more touristy beach side town. If you don’t want everyone walking right past your table - sit inside the white airy restaurant. The food was fabulous and well worth the taxi ride. There’s another site at Cowes Marina which is definitely worth visiting too. Don’t get there too late - we had a 2.15 table so the kitchen was closed by the time we wanted pudding!

Another excursion to the North west coast of the island (all 14 miles on this occasion) was a trip to Newtown. Without our inside intel I would have avoided any place with New and Town in the name, so never found this most beautiful medieval hamlet with a National Trust nature reserve. Our trip was rather hastily made but definitely deserves a full day and with a picnic too. It’s dogs on lead for much of the walking due to the bird reserve but the NT carpark has excellent maps, helpful staff and loos! There’s a beautiful quietness in this picture perfect hamlet with its gorgeous houses, old town hall and stunning views over the natural harbour. We definitely needed more time in Newtown to fully appreciate everything it has to offer and make the final selection of my dream house!

So where else to eat? The highly recommended Best Dressed Crab in Bembridge were out of crab and lobster due to the fishing shortage throughout the island. With a teen who doesn’t like prawns we moved on to another great find The Harbour View Cafe . One of my favourites styles of eateries is a basic unflashy premises with super food and stunning views - and this place really delivers. Super friendly service and an encouragingly limited menu of prawn and crab salads or baguettes (no lobster) and lightly battered fish and chips provided the perfect lunch. It’s a short stroll onto the sandy beach for some post lunch relaxation and we spied the harbour master running a boat commute back to St Helen’s which avoided the hot walk back for Reg and Bob. It’s a cash only service so once we wrestled the only £10 note out of one of the teens we were delivered back to our holiday house - in time for a cup of tea and some serious card playing.

And as quickly as we got here, it was time to go home. The returning ferry from East Cowes allowed us to a quick trip to Sea View for a walk on another dog friendly beach and an equally quick trip to Queen Victoria’s holiday home -Osborne House. Rather rushed but the husband was mistaken for a coach driver and offered a free sandwich lunch in the cafe - and that has provided family entertainment for months to come - the gilet will have to go!

I will definitely be coming back to the Isle of Wight - it has so much to offer. It’s super easy to get to and there’s still so much to see and eat. And I can safely say they really do love dogs on the Isle of Wight!

Dog friendly, Dog venues, Dog friendly holidaysSarah BlythmanAugust 29, 2021Isle of Wight, Dog friendly holidays, Dogs come too, Dog friendly, Beach dogs, Dogs who blog, Reg and Bob2 Comments

Reg and Bob go to dog friendly Isle of Wight

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