Just ½ mile away is a stone and pebble beach, with sand dunes and great views out over the Solent

If you ever want to leave the houseboat there are some wonderful things to do close by. Many of the attractions wider afield are well covered by the VIOW website. However our favourites that may not be on there are below.

Walks

There are various ordnance survey maps onboard. Please feel free to borrow and return.

Around the harbour, this is a walk around the harbour that takes in marshland, a causeway, an old golf course and if you’re lucky an open cafe.

If you turn right out of the boat and go along the pavement, on the second big bend with houseboats still on your right there is a public footpath opposite you. Be careful crossing the road on the blind bend and then take the footpath and turn right after c.20 yards. That takes you parallel to the road with lovely marshland either side. A great spot for bird watching if you are keen. Keep following the path and you’ll come back to Embankment road (B3395) which you should cross and take the first right across a gravel car park with the harbour on your right. Cross the small bridge and go on to the cul de sac road turning right. Then at the end follow the path (keeping the harbour) close and you’ll come to the causeway that crosses the harbour. That will take you to the sand dunes of what was one of the first and most important golf courses in the UK. From there you can head straight to the beach and Baywatch cafe (note it’s often closed in the winter) or turn right and go to the harbour office which has a gallery and a cafe that is more often open. From there enquire in the Harbour Office and between April and September you can get a water taxi back to near the houseboat (or ring 01983 872 828, extension 2).

You can walk to the beach easily by turning left out of the houseboat and following the road. You’ll come to the Harbour View Cafe (great breakfasts!) and you’re at the beach. At low tide you can walk for miles along the beach including to the Bembridge lifeboat station and at high tide it’s worth looking again as it looks so different – an ever changing beauty!

You can walk to the Bembridge windmill which is the only surviving windmill on the island and is c.300 years old. You can drive to near it and park in layby and from there follow the ordinance survey map in the boat for lovely walking.

Place to eat and shop

There are lots of places to eat, shop and buy food. Bembridge village has an independent baker, butcher, fishmonger, grocer and a Co-op supermarket as well as a refill shop (Sea Room) for refilling eco products and a number of other independent shops for gifts.

If you’d like to eat out there are plenty of options in Bembridge. Our particular favourites are Fox’s café in the village and the Best Dressed Crab.

Whilst the Isle of Wight is home to some of the UK’s most acclaimed beaches, the nearest one is no more than five minutes away. And outstanding local seafood can be found even closer – we have a great crab shack selling the fresh morning catch just two minutes walk from our front door.

Elsewhere, the list of great things to do is endless and suited to all tastes and ages. Here is just a small selection of possibilities to whet the appetite:

Sailing, sea fishing, sea kayaking, kite surfing, surfing, rock pooling, horse riding on beaches, walking in Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, golf, cycling (the IoW has over 200 miles of cycle routes), Bestival, the Isle of Wight Festival, Cowes Week, stargazing (with our own on-board telescope), planetarium, birdwatching (the RSPB’s Brading Marshes lie just behind the boat), zoos, wildlife parks, aquariums, donkey sanctuary, botanic gardens, garlic farm, vineyards, falconry, steam railway, Bembridge Windmill, castles, Queen Victoria’s Osborne House, museums, fossil hunts and wonderful gastronomy are all within easy reach.