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By Tim Saunders

“It’s such a peaceful part of the world,” says my wife Caroline as we stand and watch the pigs and their little piglets at Quarr Abbey at Ryde on the Isle of Wight. I glance at a bench in memory of a Father who also used to enjoy visiting this 900 year old monastery. A full day can be spent here alone but we only have time to visit the abbey itself and the shop.

“We’ve got a little surprise for you,” Caroline and I tell the children and they have been trying to guess what it is ever since our ferry crossing with Wightlink from Portsmouth to Fishbourne. Caroline has been dropping little hints about puffing and tracks. Anyway, the rascals guess that we’re off to the Isle of Wight Steam Railway at Haven Street. There’s an Easter Egg trail, which focuses their minds because they need to get it right in order to win a chocolatey treat… They’re all of the age now where they can really savour the whole experience of going back in time and travelling in style with all the sounds and smells that go with it. And there are guards in proper uniforms. It all seems to put today’s public transport to shame. These trains run on time too. “But we’re in Third Class,” moans Henry.

“Yes son,” I reply.

“What not even Second or First….”

“No.”

Even Third Class is better than travelling on contemporary standard cattle class. First of all you get a private compartment with really comfortable seats and then there’s a window that can be pulled up and down. The quality of the interior design is splendid. There’s solid wood that has been lovingly varnished and old advertisements for tours of the island in 1951 or a trip to Devon. There’s also a mirror and a luggage rack. We notice that beading has been fitted around the door as an effective draft excluder, which has got us thinking about this as a solution for our slightly drafty wooden front door. “It’s all very Agatha Christie,” sighs Harriett (14). Absolutely.

There are three stops along the way and we all enjoy it so much that when Henry insists on going on it again, we don’t resist. It’s a very relaxing way to pass the time. We enjoy savouring the lush green countryside and the new born gambolling lambs.  

In between trips we visit the museum and see carriages being beautifully restored by volunteers. The children even get a chance to be engine drivers and Henry really gets stuck in. If it wasn’t for places like this, history would simply be lost. It’s such a valuable experience for us all.

But of course the critical thing for the children is to get all their clues to complete the Easter Egg trail. Once done they present their completed sheets to a volunteer in the craft tent and you should see their faces when they’re each given a Mini Eggs Easter Egg.

After our picnic lunch we're treated to a magic show with Greg Chapman and this really makes the children’s day. Greg has such a wonderful way with them. He asks Heidi (12) to pick one of four cards. “You could have picked that one…” he smiles, repeating this for each of the remaining cards and turning them over to reveal MINE MINE MINE…. “But you didn’t, you picked this one.” He turns it over to read YOURS. Clever. He then asks Henry to write his name on a card and proceeds to run circles round him, which is very amusing. Greg then has both his hands tied but somehow gets out of this predicament.

From here we head for Yarmouth to see Henry VIII’s fort but frustratingly we just can’t find it. Instead, we go for a lovely evening stroll where we see ducks and a swan and then find a play area and enjoy a game of football.

We travel on Wightlink’s Victoria of Wight, which claims to be the first hybrid ferry in England. Inside there’s a panoramic viewing area, which provides comfy seats for looking out over the water in the warmth. Or there’s the deck for the more hardy seafarers. We indulge ourselves but not for too long and return inside. The whole experience of boarding and disembarking is smooth on both the outward and the return journeys. And it only takes half an hour or so to cross the water.