Ventnor Botanics

Not a bad day today, though it got windy later.

We then drove to the west end of the island, to Freshwater, scene of several holidays in the 1960s, then across to the east via Carisbrooke and Arreton Down. Visited a vineyard and came back to Ventnor where I was dropped off at the Botanic Garden. I had a good look round. I was disappointed to find that the garden was rather scruffier than I remember and bumping into a member of staff, who turned out to be the director, I told him. He was surprised to hear me say such a thing and confirmed that they were not particularly short of staff or money, but that they 'wound down a bit' at the end of summer. I apologised and said that I was probably over fussy, and he said that he was too! I wished that I could have spent a couple of weeks there with his staff, but was far too polite to say so!

I walked back to Ventnor along the cliff path, passing through Steephill Cove where we enjoyed holidays as children.  A lot of cliff erosion and path realignment since those days.

Back to London in the morning.