Ventnor to Godshill via Appuldurcombe House walk

A downs walk via a ruined mansion to a picturesque village

History

This is a list of previous times this walk has been done by the club (since Jan 2010). For more recent events (since April 2015), full details are shown.

Date	Option	Post	#	Weather
Sun, 16-Jul-23		Ventnor to Godshill [Isle of Wight weekend]	18	fairly windy and fairly bright

Sun, 16-Jul-23 : Ventnor to Godshill [Isle of Wight weekend] 18

branchline

Length: 12.6 km (7.9 miles).

Toughness: 6 out of 10. Some steep bits but nice views.

Map Walk: There are no written directions for this walk, only a GPS route.

For GPS: t=swc.410

Features

The walk will take us along St Boniface Down and then a climb up the very steep path to Bonchurch Down, across Wroxall Down and past the Radio Station viewpoint. The walk then takes you across Stenbury Down and into the grounds of Appuldurcombe House. After looking around the hollowed-out rooms and possibly picnicking in the grounds we will walk into Godshill village for tea. After that you can return by bus to Ventnor or Shanklin or walk back.

Travel

Start at the Bus Stop by the Central Car Park, High Street, Ventnor at 10.30am.

Return Buses from Godshill Hollies:

No.2 to Shanklin (15 minutes) or Ryde (1 hour). These leave at around xx:06 & xx:36; last bus 18:05 Sun, 18:35 Mon–Sat.
No.3 to Ventnor (20 minutes), Shanklin (40 minutes) or Ryde (1 hour 20 minutes). These leave at around xx:23 & xx:53 to late evening, then hourly.

Eating

Lunch: There is nowhere to buy any food on this route until Godshill village, so please bring a picnic which can be eaten in the grounds and parkland of Appuldurcombe House. Note that there are no toilets in the house or grounds.

Tea: There are plenty of tearooms and pubs in Godshill Village.

Points of Interest

Appuldurcombe House: This early 18^th century house was the seat of the Worsley family, and once the greatest house on the Isle of Wight built in the English Baroque style. Sir Richard Worsley, the 7^th baronet, gained notoriety for a 1782 court case in which his wife, Seymour, admitted to having had 27 lovers. The house is now just a shell, and you can walk through the rooms which have information boards. House and Grounds are free.

Godshill Village: A very picturesque village with a medieval church, thatched-roofed cottages and a winding main street lined with traditional tearooms and pubs. There is also a famous Model Village.

Walker

16-Jul-23

Only four assembled at the appointed time for this walk. Were we losing our enthusiasm? But no, it turned out others were hiding at the other end of the car park. In the end a large group set off - 18 I am I informed by the Whips office.
The weather was fairly windy and fairly bright . That is to say a tad less windy than yesterday but not quite as sunny. The walk was an interesting introduction to the inland part of the Isle of Wight, which one often misses on coastal holidays.
First a walk through a holm oak wood (wayward descendants of trees planted by the Victorians to make Ventnor look more Mediterranean…), then a vertical assault on the south face of the Eiger (aka Bonchurch Down). Then downland scenery with gorgeous views, crossing from one ridge to another and walking along the top to an obelisk, a monument to some aristocrat we were supposed to remember but whom we have forgotten.
One might surmise that the locals are not great ramblers, because some short sections of the path were heavily overgrown (but this would not be such an issue at other seasons of the year). Up on top of the down a long hedgerow sheltered zillions of excitable gatekeeper and meadow brown butterflies - nice to see such abundance.
Two or three may have had off piste pub lunches in Wroxall. The rest of us picnicked by the ruined Apuldurcombe House, whose roofless rooms were interesting to explore. We then carried on to Godshill, where the group splintered. Some got buses to Ryde to go back to London, some probably had tea and some drinks. I ended up with a takeaway tea on a bench by the bus stop. Two got off the bus to visit a donkey sanctuary.
Five of us returned to Ventnor where three of us did what we had been aching to do all weekend: go for a swim in the sea. The waves were no longer mountainous, but candidly this was still not a safe sea. Even going out only about 30 metres the swim back to the shore seemed to take a long time. But the water temperature was gorgeous and it felt good to get a dip in finally, however brief.