Oleander at Mottistone

Two trips today…first we went to ‘The Needles’ at the western end of the Isle of Wight . We went down to the beach using the chair lift, where you can see the coloured cliffs, and also on a shirt boat trip out to the lighthouse. It is all very commercial as the area at the top of the chair lift is privately owned and has lots of ‘amusements’ , and it’s expensive if you let children go on lots or into all the shops….we didn’t! However when going to the IOW you really need to do the Needles at least once. The twins enjoyed the chairlift…a first for them, and the boat trip on the sea.  Much cooler so we actually needed jumpers until about 11am today but then the sun came out.
We got to the Needles by 10am so not really a queue but there certainly was when we left and the car park was full…one out, one in. 

We then went to a NT property Mottistone Gardens. What a contrast! It was not busy and very quiet, a different sort of clientele I think! Although there is a house as seen in the photo it is not yet open to the public but there is a second hand bookshop in a couple of the ground floor rooms.

It was interesting to note that one part of the garden has been re planted quite a few years ago with plants that survive well in drought and they seemed to be OK, in contrast to the grass in between the beds.
I really like the bright pink Oleander tree and on our drive back I noticed quite a few in peoples gardens so they obviously like the climate/soil here. 
There was a little cafe and a few activities which children can do so I think the grandchildren will go there on a non-beach day.