HF Houses - Freshwater Bay.
There is something about traveling by ferry to start the holiday.
Freshwater Bay House is on the coast and it is one of the larger HF houses with 43 rooms. It was a purpose-built hotel and it has had various name changes over the years such as The George Inn and Plumley’s Post House. It has been extended over the years and had a 3rd floor added. It had many famous guests such as George Bernard Shaw, Lewis Carroll, Anthony Trollope, and Lord Tennyson. HF aquired it in 1956.
A few rooms face the sea but most face inland or over an inner courtyard.
Getting to Freshwater Bay by Public Transport
| For more detail about getting To Freshwater Bay by Public Transport I have put more detail on the page here. |
There are ferry's, catamarans and hovercraft to Yarmouth, Cowes, East Cowes, Fishbourne and Ryde.
The Wightlink Lymington to Yarmouth ferry is the most convenient for Freshwater Bay as it involves less traveling on the island.
HF Holidays member discount: If you’re a member, you can get 20% off foot travel with Wightlink Ferry. However you can also buy ferry tickets as part of you rail ticket and this may be cheaper, especially if you have a railcard. If you do get a train ticket for Yarmouth make sure its Yarmouth, Isle of Wight and not Great Yarmouth, Norfolk which one person on my holiday did.
Even if your rail ticket includes the ferry on certain sailings, they restrict the number of customers who are able to travel on some sailings. On these sailings foot passengers must register in advance (Check restricted sailings) if you don't get a boarding pass specific to these sailings you may not be allowed on.
To get to Lymington Pier get the train to Brockenhurst:
then get the branch line to Lymington Pier. This is the last stop on the line after Lymington Town. Walk directly from Lymington Pier to the ferry. This picture is taken from the ferry (the ferry in the background must be out of service).
Annoyingly they only let foot passengers on after all the cars have driven on.
At Yarmouth, as you leave the ferry, the buses are just outside.
The island buses are operated by Southern Vectis. Newport is the hub for the islands bus routes, if you want to go between the east and west of the island you will need to change at Newport. Generally on the east of the island the buses are very frequent, on the west of the island (where Freshwater Bay is) the buses are not so frequent.
Route 7 takes you from Yarmouth to Freshwater, you can then get route 12 from Freshwater to Freshwater Bay. Bus 12 is not very frequent so you may find it quicker to walk from Freshwater.
In summer there are open top buses called Needles Breezer, if they are running this is a direct route from Yarmouth to Freshwater Bay and so is much quicker (they are classed as tourist buses so your free bus pass wont work on the Needles Breezer).
If you arrive too early at Freshwater Bay House then there is a nice cafe at the nearby Dimbola Museum which has lots of early photograph taken by pioneer photographer Julia Margaret Cameron.
| For more detail about getting To Freshwater Bay by Public Transport I have put more detail on the page here. |
The House and Gardens
Freshwater Bay is on the coast and it is one of the larger HF houses. A few rooms face the sea but most face inland. Some rooms lookout on an inner courtyard above the kitchens.
For more about the house and gardens see the page here.
Gathering in the morning for a led walk. This was once a Dandelion Cafe more about this here.
There is a lot of coastal erosion on the island. I don't think you can walk back to the house this way now. I think you have to go up to the golf course.
One time I stayed there I got a room with this view. This was before HF had the concept of premium rooms and Tony allocated the rooms himself.
The lifeboat returning.
On this holiday I had a view facing inland toward Dimbola Museum.
One time I visited the house was floodlit in the evening.
Fort Redoubt is near Freshwater Bay House. I don't know the history of these tunnels under the Fort Redoubt.
Walks from Freshwater Bay House without Car
Here are some walks from the house or walks using local busses. There was plenty of nice walks for a 7-night self-guided stay. Here is some information about a few that I have done:
- Alum Bay, The Needles and Tennyson Down
- Carisbrooke to Freshwater Bay ( Tennyson Trail)
- Robert Hooke Trail
- Shorwell - Brighstone - Freshwater Bay via coast
- Carisbrooke Castle
- Osborne House
- Mottistone Manor
- Farringford
Tennyson Down and the Needles
Behind Freshwater Bay House is Tennyson Down. If you want to avoid the ascent you can go on a path to the right of it but that gets extremely muddy in winter.
Tennyson Monument:
| Beyond that are the Needles and the Old Battery: |  |
Alum Bay with its multi-coloured sand cliffs:
I have put my pictures from this walk on the page here.
Totland
Former Yarmouth railway station.
To the east of Yarmouth is Bouldnor Copse.
Fort Victoria
Between Colwell Bay and Yarmouth is Fort Victoria.
Carisbrooke Castle
You can get bus 12 from Freshwater Bay to Carisbrooke Castle and on to Newport.
From Carisbrooke Castle you can walk back to the house over the downs,
Walk back from Shorwell
I got bus 12 from Freshwater Bay to Shorwell. I then walked past Wolverton Manor to the coast.
There are supposed to be dinosaur footprints along the coast. I think the tide was too high when I went.
Then along the coast, there is a lot of erosion:
If the path is blocked you may have to go back to the Military Road to get past the blockage.
Military Road:
To get back to Freshwater Bay House you have to climb up this:
Across the military road and up to the golf course.
Other Pictures
Other Documents on this site
Click on the following for more information
| Former HF Houses | |
|---|---|
| Conwy (1914- 2011) |  |
| Newlands (1914- 1987) |  |
| Swanage (1947- 1995) |  |
| Isle of Arran (1925- ) |  |
| Scarborough (1954- 1998) |  |
| Lulworth |  |
| Beddgelert |  |
| New Inns |  |
| Penrith |  |
About This SiteHere is some information I have gathered together about getting to and walking from HF houses when leaving the car at home. On these pages I have also put some history about former HF houses I have visited. The information here is based on my visits to HF houses over the years. It may be out of date so don't rely on anything here without checking. If you find any errors why not let others know by putting a post on the HF Holiday Fans ( unofficial) Facebook forum. I will try to quote such posts here so they don't get lost. This is information I have discovered over the years which would have been useful to know before. Unfortunately the travel information on the HF website, for getting to houses by public transport, is poor. I think it would be better if the information on this page were on the HF website. |
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