Isle of Wight, United Kingdom

The Terrace Rooms & Wine

Price per night from$343.25

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (inclusive of taxes and fees) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (GBP260.00), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

The Terrace Rooms & Wine Photos

Style

Boutique corker

Setting

Bon vivant Ventnor

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An Italianate villa turned boutique stay in Ventnor, The Terrace Rooms & Wine is a bottle shop with bed and breakfast, set up by wine-loving hosts who also run a restaurant in Yarmouth. A sun terrace, every-afternoon wine tastings and a daytime bar serving casual bites are its game-upping extras. And its harbour-spying perch sets you up for beach forays and coast-path hikes, plus drinking and dining only steps from your well-dressed lodgings. 

Smith Extra

Get this when you book through us:

A glass of sparkling wine each and a plate of charcuterie

Facilities

Photos The Terrace Rooms & Wine facilities

Need to know

Rooms

Six.

Check–Out

11am, and check-in is at 3pm. Both are flexible, on request and subject to availability.

More details

Rates include a four-course set-menu breakfast that can be modified to meet your dietary requirements.

Also

Unfortunately, this historic Italianate villa, which has a winding spiral staircase and split-level rooms and corridors, is not suitable if you have limited mobility.

Please note

The Terrace Rooms & Wine is not staffed after 7pm.  

At the hotel

Sun terrace, lounge, wine room and free WiFi throughout. In rooms: TV, radio, wine fridge with fresh milk, still and sparkling water, Nespresso coffee machine, tea-making kit, beach towels and organic bath products.

Our favourite rooms

Each of the six rooms at The Terrace Rooms & Wine is dressed individually and has a unique layout, so finding a favourite will come down to taste. You could plump for Room 3 because of its in-room window-side bath tub, or perhaps in-the-eaves Room 1 will steal your heart with its Victorian arched windows and wet-room shower. Rose-hued Room 4 is the hotel’s smallest but perhaps also its cosiest. With a child or dog in tow, Room 6 is your go-to.

Spa

There’s no spa at The Terrace Rooms, but its sun terrace, lined with loungers that are just low enough to protect your privacy while still affording sea views, is a wellness-boosting addition in the right weather.

Packing tips

A curiosity for winemaking and provenance, plus an oenophile’s nose, will help you to make the most of the hotel’s daily tastings, held in the thousand-bottle-strong wine room at 5pm.

Also

A Blue Plaque at the hotel entrance is Russian writer and political thinker Alexander Herzen’s entry in the visitors’ book for 1855: he was a pioneer of peasant populism (Russia’s route into socialism) — and a big fan, apparently, of unoaked chardonnay…

Pet‐friendly

Your dog can join you for free in Room 6 at The Terrace Rooms & Wine and a bed, bowls, treats and bags are provided. Your pup is allowed in the pergola dining area, but you must bring them in through the garden rather than the house. See more pet-friendly hotels in Isle of Wight.

Children

Room 6 in the annex of The Terrace Rooms has a sofa-bed suitable for one child, but with wine front and centre at this boutique hotel, plus no children allowed to stay in the main house, little Smiths are better off at home.

Sustainability efforts

As you might expect from an island escape, community is at the heart of The Terrace Rooms & Wine. Local suppliers are championed wherever possible, for the kitchen, bar, suggested activities and dining and drinking spots. And beach clean-ups are a regular fixture on the island’s calendar, calling on all who work in hospitality to do their bit. A light environmental touch is the north star for all housekeeping and bathrooms products, and the hotel operates a waste management programme. Even fly-by guests are considered, with gardens planted with native species chosen for their value to pollinators.

Food and Drink

Photos The Terrace Rooms & Wine food and drink

Top Table

By the fire in winter, basking in the conservatory in summer.

Dress Code

Casual is fine, although your palest threads may not fare well with red wine.

Hotel restaurant

There’s no restaurant at The Terrace Rooms and Wine, but a four-course set breakfast is included with your stay. In the ‘pergola’ (conservatory), you can pair wines by the glass with plates of cheese or charcuterie, almonds and olives. 

Hotel bar

The Terrace Rooms’ bar is open to guests and locals from noon until 5pm daily, serving wine by the bottle or glass (the latter changing regularly and always freshly uncorked) alongside its modest menu of small plates and nibbles. The space feels laidback and homely in set-up with nooks counterside and armchairs in the main bar, extending to conservatory tables overlooking the harbour. After 7pm, there's an honesty bar for self-serve tipples. 

Last orders

Breakfast is served, 9am until 10am. Wine-accompanying plates are served between noon and 7pm daily. The bottle shop opens 11am until 5pm. The hotel’s guided tastings are held in the wine room at 5pm.

Room service

None, but the set-up downstairs means you won’t go hungry or thirsty.

Location

Photos The Terrace Rooms & Wine location
Address
The Terrace Rooms & Wine
Saint Augustine Villa Esplanade Ventnor
Isle of Wight
PO38 1TA
United Kingdom

The Terrace Rooms & Wine overlooks the Cascade Gardens and harbour at Ventnor, on the Isle of Wight’s south coast.

Planes

Southampton International is your nearest runway; from there you’ll need either a taxi, hire car or train and shuttle bus to take you to the port for ferry connections to the Isle of Wight. From London Heathrow, Southampton’s ferry terminal or Portsmouth Harbour are each 90 minutes’ drive — which is also the journey time from London Gatwick to Portsmouth.

Trains

Portsmouth Harbour, Southampton Central or Lymington train stations are well placed for rail-to-ferry arrivals. From all island ports, it’s an onward 35- to 40-minute car journey to the hotel.

Automobiles

Your base in Ventnor gives you access to the town’s shopping, drinking and dining spots, plus nearby beaches, but depending on your length of stay, a car may prove useful. The hotel has a free carpark on-site with limited spots (let staff know in advance if you’ll be needing a space).

Other

There are three mainland ferry departure points to take you to the island: foot passengers and vehicles can cross the Solent from Portsmouth, Southampton or Lymington; in addition, there’s a passenger-only hovercraft service from Southsea. The Terrace Rooms & Wine has a dedicated ferry agent who can arrange all your crossings, and you’ll be given their details once you’ve made your room booking.

Worth getting out of bed for

From your base at The Terrace Rooms & Wine, the shore-lapping soundtrack of the Solent is your cue to book a guided boat trip or private fishing charter. Ventnor Beach is a mix of shingle and sand, and safe for swimming; or you could stroll half an hour along the coast to Steephill Cove, a popular spot for sunbathing and dips that has a sweet beach-shack café. If the Cascade Gardens below the hotel pique your penchant for plants, Ventnor is also home to a Botanic Garden — bonus points for red-squirrel sightings. Queen Victoria’s Osborne is an ornate stately home on a coastal estate with grounds that are equally jewelled.

Local restaurants

Ventnor is a strong choice for dining spots you can walk to: on the high street, True Food Kitchen has a globetrotting menu that celebrates surf and turf, featuring Isle of Wight lamb and Thai-spiced tempura catch of the day; sake and Japanese-inspired cocktails keep the Asian riffs flowing. A casual restaurant for Mediterranean plates, Stripped Brasserie dishes anything from pizza to kleftico, with a wine list just as well placed to flex. Ventnor’s Smoking Lobster is chef Giancarlo Giancovich’s original pan-Asian eatery, starring glazed yellowfin-tuna tacos and ebi prawns; omakase for the table and Sunday roasts are also in the mix. 

Local cafés

Pots of tea, bacon sandwiches and cooked breakfasts are the hearty line-up at Two Cooks on Pier Street.  For a coffee or smoothie alfresco on the esplanade, try Blakes Tea Hut.  

Local bars

Real ales and live music entice at The Spyglass Inn all year round, but in summer its sea-gazing terrace is the main draw.

Reviews

Photos The Terrace Rooms & Wine reviews

Anonymous review

By Mr & Mrs Smith

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this wine lovers’ hotel in Ventnor and unpacked their cellar picks, a full account of their island break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside The Terrace Rooms & Wine on the Isle of Wight… 

There’s a charm to a quintessentially English bed and breakfast that The Terrace Rooms & Wine captures with finesse: individually dressed bedrooms that allow you to pick a favourite; a homey atmosphere with space to lounge; and an owner-run set-up reflected in thoughtful details and service.  

‘B&b’ here could easily mean bed and bottles: when owners Tom and Ashley (whose prowess for hosting begins with The Terrace restaurant in Yarmouth) snapped up St Augustine Villa in Ventnor in 2020, they installed a wine shop. Today’s cellar has around 1,000 bottles, some of which are uncorked for daily guided tastings at 5pm; others of which are available by the glass in the laidback bar.  

Takeaway and dining recommendations come with suggested wine pairings (approved by Tom, a former restaurant inspector), and the wine shop and bar welcome locals as well as guests. Community too is at the heart of this boutique stay.  

Book now

Price per night from $343.25