Botanical Gardens
After breakfast, the three of us went for a walk in the gardens across the road. The gardens were quite extensive with many sections with plants from different parts of the world. There were even eucalyptus trees around and a section that was filled with Australian plants. In the gardens, we saw many red squirrels, and I was even able to take some photos of them. We walked to the coastal side of the garden and then along the coastal cliffs to complete a loop back to Amanda and Brad’s home.
Osbourne House
Later, Amanda took me to Osbourne’s house. On the way we passed by Carisbrooke Castle, which was unfortunately closed today, but I was able to photograph the castle from the outside car park.
When we arrived at Osbourne we booked in a tour and proceeded to walk around the surrounding gardens for a while as we waited for our tour to begin. The surrounding gardens were quite extensive and impressive, almost like a smaller version of Versailles. I purchased a book about English history at the gift store and we tasted some of the local gin which had a nice limoncello taste.
When it was time for our tour, we were let inside the house that had many original furnishings from when Queen Victoria had raised her family there. Our guide who was dressed as a Victorian housekeeper, showed us through many luxuriously decorated rooms. In places like this, I always find myself questioning how the royals were able to build things like this without the people rebelling. There were many paintings and statues in the house, as well as a large billiard table and grand piano. There was one room in particular that had very impressive plaster walls and a room that was textured and decorated in a fancy unique way. According to our guide, it took 40 people to several years to build that one room.
After the tour, we looked around the gardens some more and looked out to the coast taking many more photos along the way.
On the way back from Osbourne, we stopped at a dairy farm café for some coffee and cake. I had a Guinness chocolate cake which was nice.
The Spyglass Pub
Later in the evening, I went to the Spyglass Pub with Brad. I had some local craft beer there, and a nice curry for dinner. The pub had some great live music, and I noted at the pub how everyone there seemed to know each other. Brad and I had an interesting conversation for a few hours about travel.
Cooper, did you see the quaint cricket ground located near Laura and Brad’s home near the coastal cliff top. I played cricket there when we visited Laura a few years ago.
I sure did. Mandy was telling me about that.