Weekend on the Isle of Wight
Vee and I spent a relaxing and congenial weekend on the Isle of Wight visiting our good friends Trev and Tess Jessop whom we befriended originally on our trip to Indochina.
They live in an amazing place called Span Lodge which was built in 1805 as a home for the gatekeeper of the southern gate of a stately home called Appuldurcombe House. They have built a wonderful conservatory and an extension (where we slept) and the whole house is full of Trev’s paintings. They have even created a new copse filled with 15 different varieties of trees, numbering some 1,000 in all.
Vee & Roger relaxing in Trev & Tess’s conservatory
Appuldurcombe House itself is an 18th century Palladian house which, as a result of a bomb that fell nearby during the war, had its windows blown out and roof destroyed. It has been partially restored and is now open to the public. The impressive grounds were designed by Capability Brown.
The weather was poor for mid August, each day starting grey and gloomy but brightening up a lot by mid morning. In the course of our stay on the island – a travel back in time around two decades – we visited an art exhibition in Newport, walked to Steephill Cove in Ventnor, and looked around the craft shops of Godshill.