Over the past few years, we have enjoyed a UK half term holiday and it has always been a mini heatwave. This year was no exception with a week of hot, sunny weather, perfect for our caravan holiday. We were blown away by the quality and setting of our caravan, a beautiful 3 bedroom van with decking looking out to luscious fields.

We decided on the Isle of Wight as despite seeing it every day from our seaside home, the children had never visited it. The Isle of Wight is a bit of an iconic landmark for us, particularly for weather forecasting. If you can’t see the island from the beach then it is a very bad weather day as it is only 18 miles away. However, our journey to our caravan park was nearly 70 miles on road, including en route the ferry from Lymington to Yarmouth and onto Shanklin. I loved the ferry journey, its short and the sea was so smooth that we sat outside for both journeys, breathing in the sea salt spray and feeling the gentle breeze on your face.

Our children are now a little old for the park’s organised children’s activities so we had more off site trips. However they loved the sports courts and many an hour was spent playing football and hanging out with new friends.

We enjoyed lots of trips around the island. Our first activity was cycling the Red Squirrel Trail, which was a fantastic trip, cycling along the beaches and then onto a disused railway track in the heart of the countryside. The scenery was breathtaking and it was my favourite activity of the week, we also discovered the most picture perfect cycling cafe on the track perfect for a much needed drink in the warm sunshine.

Without a doubt, the children’s favourite activity was the Aqua park, it was so good we returned for a second trip later in the week. It is set in Tapnell park and having visited three aqua parks around the country it was exceptional for its organisation, safety, facilities and inflatables. Tapnell park is a beautiful venue, it is a farm for younger visitors, hosts a wonderful gastropub and has a stunning farm shop which sold refreshments for those watching and lots of Isle of Wight goodies which were great thank you gifts for our foodie neighbours. The children loved the inflatables, they were fun, with such a variety of challenges. We have so many videos and snaps of the sessions as the viewing area is so close to the action. It did help that we had two visits in stunning weather but tit really was a happy place for participants and spectators alike.

Another fun activity was a roller skating disco in Newport, the music was a great mix of modern and disco classics and the kitsch decor was perfect at creating a cool vibe.

As the Isle of Wight is such a small island, it was easy to travel around the island and we visited most of the popular towns. I enjoyed our day in Ryde where we discovered a community owned open air swimming pool and had a great session there, it had such a lovely vibe. It felt quite retro to watch that hovercraft whizzing over to Portsmouth from Ryde. We had been at the Spinnaker Tower in April and to look across and see it at a different angle was a nice reconnection to the great weekend. We stayed at Shanklin and I liked the old fashioned feel of the town, especially the old part which is picture perfect with thatched cottages and Chine.

It’s a little random for a holiday post but I must mention my holiday read, Alan Rickman’s diaries, they are brilliant, a real mix of cultural and political commentaries. The book is nearly 500 pages long and I had my Kindle with me at all times to nip into the book at any opportunity. I felt quite bereft when I finished the book. especially as I knew the very sad ending. There are some deaths which shock you and his, David Bowie and Victoria Wood within a few weeks of each other did make me sad, three leading lights in their fields.

I thought the Isle of Wight was perfect for a family holiday, it is a beautiful island with lots to see and do. It is very much a family rather than a party island but it fitted our brief superbly and we will have very fond memories of our sunny half term holiday.