It’s late March and opening weekend at the Hut on the Isle of Wight. Perhaps optimistically – since this is the Solent and not the Sorrentine Peninsula – we’ve piled into an Axopar in Cowes harbour. Sure enough, we’re soon piling right back out having had to (literally) abandon ship due to the choppy weather. It could’ve been worse – we could’ve been in a RIB*.
* For the non-yachtie crowd (outnumbered in these parts), RIB = rigid inflatable boat.
A taxi comes to the rescue and whisks us west to Yarmouth, where a Hut Truck is waiting. Though the sun does make an appearance during our drive, torrential rain is soon falling on (read: battering) our open-air Defender, but by the time we arrive at the restaurant, the sun has his hat on. Throughout the course of our lunch, there’s more back and forth between rain and shine: welcome to British summertime.
As someone who grew up in Bournemouth, I am well versed in the art of defending my home town. Though the weather doesn’t always play along, the South Coast is probably the closest the UK comes to having a riviera of its own. Costa del Dorset was significantly improved a couple of years ago with the arrival of the Nici, sprucing up an old pensioner favourite (my Grandad – arriving, of course, by coach – would often stay here when he came to town) and adding an outdoor pool lined with cabanas and pastel pink parasols, a brilliant spa with more pastels at its indoor pool and a catwalk-shaped cocktail terrace. I’m not sure what my dear old Grandad would make of it (he preferred a more casual pint and a bag of chips), but it’s given the people of Bournemouth somewhere stylish to stay at last. Close your eyes and you could almost be in Miami.
As for the landmass across the water – shamefully, it took me until I was well over the age of 30 to make it to ‘the Island’, though from the beach where I lived in Southbourne, the famous polar-bear-shaped chalk cliffs were a near-constant sight. I knew Queen Victoria had been a fan, as had Charles Dickens. The former’s Osborne House is open to visitors today. I’d also heard about the decommissioned Tube trains that, in a trainspotter’s dream, still rattle around the island – though the really old carriages, the ones used in London in the Thirties, no longer run, as they’ve recently been replaced with former District line models from the… late Seventies and early Eighties. The place is a delightful time warp. Around half of the island is designated an official Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and it’s full of charming seaside towns such as Ryde, Yarmouth and Cowes.
Today, we’ve come to the Hut restaurant from Foresters Hall, a boutique bolthole just off the high street in Cowes. Unsurprisingly, the menu has a strong seafood lean – we toasted the new season with giant grilled prawns in sizzling garlic and chilli oil (soaking their sourdough base; I’m still salivating), oysters, prawn gyoza, marinated anchovies, and classic lemon sole with caper butter and perfect chips, washed down with the obligatory Hut drinks order: a bottle(s) of rosé. We were perhaps a little early in the season for the party to really kick off but we’ll be back for more when our annual four-day heatwave hits.
Here are two ways to see the island in style…
Route One
Catch the ferry from Southampton to Cowes and it’s a swift walk up the high street and onto the idyllic and dreamily named Sun Hill, which is where you’ll find Foresters Hall, named after its original function as a meeting place for the Ancient Order of Foresters. One of the town’s best-loved restaurants, the Smoking Lobster, has helpfully created a spin-off brasserie for guests of the hotel, open for dinner on certain nights of the week – the pan-roasted scallops with split chicken sauce and Jerusalem artichoke were the uncontested highlight, though the lobster cannelloni, the Cornish pollock and the lemon mille feuille were all delicious, too. Another highlight – and perhaps a surprise awaiting in the 19th-century building’s relatively compact grounds – is the seasonal heated outdoor pool.
It’s definitely worth leaving some time free to spend flicking through the book selection in the library over a glass of red wine from the impressive drinks list; and admiring the artworks on show throughout the hotel, some of which have been known to catch the eye of passing-by super-yacht owners hoping to add to their collection.
After a sunrise stroll along the promenade down to the town of Gurnard the next morning, it’s time for breakfast back at Foresters Hall, which guests pre-order the evening before. Next: lunch. From the harbour in Cowes, Pocket Charters can arrange the weather-appropriate vessel to whisk you over to the Hut. As the receipt supplied at the end of your meal advises, ‘please drive your boat carefully’ – or have a Pocket Charters skipper take care of all that. It’s not uncommon for diners to start dancing on the tables once the rosé has been flowing for a few hours, so be sure to book your return voyage time accordingly.
Route Two
Another ferry crossing from the British mainland to the Isle of Wight runs between Lymington and Yarmouth. Brightening up the high street in the Hampshire port town is Stanwell House, a newly refurbished boutique hotel with a penchant for Colefax & Fowler prints. There’s more joyous wallpaper gracing the bedrooms, alongside Roberts radios, Cornwall-made Land & Water bath products, plump sofas and patterned rugs. There’s an orangery for afternoon tea (a practically mandatory daily activity on any self-respecting staycation); and a cosy pub serving surprisingly good cocktails alongside its tankards of ale and snacks such as beer-battered samphire to graze on before dinner at the brasserie. The menu here goes for a mix of staples such as fish and chips, scallops and chorizo, roasted guinea fowl, and some Asian curveballs. The cinnamon doughnuts for pudding are essential.
The next day, you’ll be able to stroll down to the quayside – allowing ample time to browse the cute boutiques along the cobbled lane – to board a Yarmouth-bound ferry from Lymington Pier. Hut Trucks can then greet you at Yarmouth. It’s also possible to travel over from Lymington to the island by RIB. While on the mainland, you probably should factor in some time to explore the New Forest – it’s easy to get taxis between Stanwell House and nearby hotels such as Lime Wood and the original Pig for dinner.
For more information, visit the Hut and Pocket Charters. To see more of Smith’s selection of beachy British stays, click here.