Back from the Isle of Wight

Vee and I spent Saturday and Sunday on the Isle of Wight visiting our good friends Trev and Tess Jessop. It was a time for friendship and food rather than sightseeing.
They live in an amazing place called Span Lodge which was bulit 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 are now adding an extension 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.
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 privately owned but open to the public. The impressive grounds were designed by Capability Brown. We had some walks around the Lodge and the House and also through the village of Bonchurch and the town of Ventnor.