Beautiful Britain - Steephill Cove, Isle of Wight

Hi there everyone

I've had a few weeks break from my Isle of Wight posts but it was a real treat re-living the delights of our visit to Steephill Cove as I wrote this one.

Having exhausted the programmes on the Sky planner recently and waiting for something decent to watch we were surfing the programme guide and came across 'Penelope Keith's Coastal Villages'. What really caught our eye was the fact that one of the areas being explored was the Isle of Wight.

Having had a wonderful fortnight's holiday on the island last year we were quite excited to see where she would go.

Well, she was exploring the southern part of the island and, as soon as she said that some of the villages became harder to find, we knew where she would be going.

We discovered the delights of Steephill Cove after we'd paid a visit to Ventnor Botanical Gardens, which is worthy of a post of its own ... so you can expect to find out more over the coming weeks.

When exploring the Botanical Gardens we ended up going out onto the coastal path, hoping for a fabulous view of the coast. It was a glorious day and after a short wander we spotted a beautiful looking village tucked in under the cliff right alongside the coast.

We knew we really wanted to visit and, after we left the Botanical Gardens, we set out in search. We drove the road from the Botanical Gardens, right into Ventnor and couldn't see quite how we could get to the cove we'd spotted and we couldn't see any sign of it from the end of the prom in Ventnor looking back the other way.

We could only presume that it was tucked around the cliff, somewhere between where we were and where we'd been.

A quick look on the OS map soon cleared things up. It was Steephill Cove that we'd spotted and there was no access for vehicles.

We really wanted to see it up close, it had looked so lovely from the coastal path. There was only one thing for it ... we would have to walk. Now not being that fit, with plenty of creaking joints and exercise being a bit of a distant memory, this was quite a daunting thought.

There was only one way it could be and we headed out, thinking we'd just walk to the point that we could see and if we couldn't see the cove we would come back.
The views looking back at Ventnor were pretty decent, even from just leaving the car park.

I think now is a good time to apologise up front for the photo overload about to come, it was just so lovely, all of it, in both directions, and the weather was so good, I just couldn't stop taking pictures ... it was a good excuse for a breather!! I have tried to slim them down, but really wanted to do both the walk and the cove justice.

Quite early on we met some people coming back who told us it was definitely worth the walk and not that far ... well, the definition of 'not that far' is clearly open to interpretation.

We made it to the point and still couldn't see the cove, but it was a lovely day and the views were beautiful so we carried on.

We ended up going down plenty of wooden steps, definitely thinking about how they would feel on the return journey and starting to wonder if we'd put enough time on the car parking ticket.

Whilst there were still great views looking back to Ventnor, there was still no sign of the cove, but surely we'd come too far now to go back.
Finally ... we could just see the top of the lighthouse building that we'd seen earlier on and knew we didn't have that far to go.

Well, once we turned that final corner, it really did take our breath away, it was just beautiful, you could have been anywhere in the World.

And just in case we were in any doubt as to whether we were in the right spot ...

It is only a tiny place, but so, so pretty ...
We were heading for The Beach Shack, at the far end of the cove ...
... where we had to stop for a quick drink and just take in the views looking back across the cove. Seriously ... we could have been sat in a Greek taverna looking out at The Med, it was one of the loveliest places that either of us have come across.
Whilst I was more than happy with a piece of cake in The Beach Shack, being a serious lover of all things crab, there was no way Martin was leaving without trying one of the local delicacies, which Penelope Keith had also seem to be impressed with ...

As we had only given ourselves 2 hours on the car park, we couldn't hang around for too long and it was soon time to head back to Ventnor.
We were a bit daunted by the thought of the walk back, we knew that once we'd done the short walk along the sea front it was pretty much uphill all the way.

But we took it steady, with plenty of photo stops ...

... and lovely views to spur us on ...

We were pretty much at a snail's pace by the time we reached the steps ...

... and were in need of a definite pitstop before starting our climb ...

... and again, half way up ...

Once at the top of the steps the rest of the walk was a bit easier going ...

... and it wasn't too long before we were back where we started ...

... and just in time. We'd put two hours on the car park and we got back with just a few minutes to spare ...

Whilst for a lot of people this would probably be a fairly easy walk, for us, it was a bit tough ... but we wouldn't have missed it for the World.

Steephill Cove is literally one of the most beautiful places we have come across and the weather on our visit meant we got to see it at its glorious best.

Whilst it was tough, we were both quite proud of ourselves for having done it and it can't have been that bad, as we both said that if we came back, we would definitely do it again. Though we would definitely buy a longer parking ticket. Whilst two hours did allow us to get there and back, with a quick stop, we could easily have spent far longer just whiling away the afternoon.

Well done, if you've made it this far. I know there were lots of pictures, but, as I said at the beginning, it was just soooooooo lovely. If you get chance to go, then do, it's definitely worth the effort 😀