Eco-friendly Isle of Wight casts off sandy image
May 1 2009 by Edward Stephens, Birmingham Post
Taking an eco-step in a green direction proved easier for Chris Higham than she expected on a break under canvas
Wight casts off sandy image
First it was the Hollywood ‘A’ list, then David Cameron and now the Isle of Wight seems to have gone green. Perhaps it always was and it’s just that the familiar golden sandy beaches overshadowed the green and pleasant land of the Island interior.
Or maybe I wasn’t looking in the right place – quite some feat when you consider that over half of the Island is categorised as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty for a diverse landscape that includes high downs, river estuaries, forests, copses and ancient meadow.
But now a green guide from the cross-Solent ferry operator Wightlink and the promise of a Green Getaway in something called a ‘bell tent’ got me thinking that it was high time to explore the Wight countryside on a short break.
A Wighter Shade of Green is a fashionably green booklet, packed with eco-advice on how to enjoy a visit to one of the United Kingdom’s most environmentally-conscious regions.
It suggests that the important thing is to take one eco-step at a time and helpfully provides four cartoon characters so that readers can identify themselves. Checking these out, I decided that I was no eco-warrior, nor one of the five per cent of ‘Grubs’ for whom global warming is a complete mystery. The ‘Jack & Jill Green’ mould suited best – well -meaning, environmentally conscious but not very clued up on going green.
So in best backpacking mode, ‘Jack’ and I loaded up the car with our (very old) bikes and set off for West Wight, reputedly one of the Island’s most scenic parts and easily reached by ferry from Lymington in the New Forest.
The ferry docks in Yarmouth, one of the Isle of Wight’s prettiest towns. The harbour is packed with fishing boats and posh yachts of all shapes and sizes while the quaint cobbled streets are lined with art and craft galleries, gift and antique shops. From here, there’s easy access to several of the ‘top eco-sites’ featured in the green guide and to our overnight base in an orchard at Afton Park Gardens.
Yes, we were camping – but not in the sense you expect. Our bell tent came complete with a bed, ethnic-style furniture, sheepskin throws and cushions. It even had a carpet! Outside, the environment was about as green as you can get. We were surrounded by apple trees covered in fruit. It was very tempting – but we had some serious cycling to do before we could think of food.
Afton is close to the Western Yar Estuary, a scenic marshland area leading from Yarmouth to Freshwater Causeway and since it benefited from a traffic-free cycle route running alongside the water, it seemed a good place to start exploring. Like many of the eco-sites profiled in the green guide, this is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
To the layman, this means that it is extremely beautiful and a fascinating ride past mudflats, reed beds and saltmarsh. On a half-hour waterside ride, we saw wading birds and waterfowl and looked hard for the red squirrels that are known to hide in the trees there. We had no luck on this score but, taking a breather at Freshwater Causeway, we basked in the fresh air, checked out the local gastro-pub, the Red Lion, then got on our bikes for the short ride back to Afton Park Gardens.
Afton is a Green Island Tourism gold-award winner, an initiative that applauds eco-friendly Wight establishments – and this is due in part to the garden’s Apple Tree Café, where organic produce grown in its grounds is used to create mouth watering meals. That evening, we tested the Carrot and Coriander Soup and Butternut Squash, one of the tastiest ‘steps’ recommended in the green guide!
Next day, we set out for another Isle of Wight gold- award winner, Calbourne Water Mill, a 17th-century working water mill where there’s a renewable energy centre and much more besides. We took the woodland walk and punted on the mill stream that runs through the mill’s idyllic 10-acre setting.
Next eco-site on the itinerary was Newtown Estuary, an easy ride from Calbourne. This National Nature Reserve on the north coast is an important habitat for bird and wildlife who are attracted to this wild ancient landscape of mud-flats, salt marshes, ancient woodlands and meadows.
No wonder, because it was unbelievably peaceful. Headen Warren, the final eco-site on our schedule, was a sharp contrast to the flat Newtown landscape.
Now a rarity in the South of England, this is a glorious heathland, covered in summer by rich purple heather. Climbing to the 120-metre high summit of this National Trust heathland, which tumbles into the sea in the far south-west of the Island at Totland Bay, there are spectacular views of Wight’s most famous landmark – The Needles.
Pedalling back furiously to our bell tent, we were just in time to load the bikes into the car and catch the ferry back to Lymington, elated to have taken so many green steps forward in a couple of days – and with not a single beach in sight!
