All posts by Richard North

RIVER HAMBLE CRUISE REPORT, 25^th June 2025

We enjoyed our Visit using a Gosport Ferry cruise to Solent Forts last August and so we were looking forward to a different and much longer cruise. The Solent Forts cruise lasted two and a half hours but this one would be twice the duration.

We started taking bookings for this very late because we had originally planned to go to Oxford this June. Unfortunately that was not to be. We sold only 8 tickets for this cruise before the deadline when we had to hand the unsold tickets back to the ferry operators. However, 6 other people got tickets direct from the Gosport Ferry later, so 14 of us (a number which included one grandchild) made the trip.

For once, all the bus connections worked like a dream and we arrived at Gosport ahead of schedule. It was a cool and cloudy morning and some of us started the cruise in jackets, or added layers as the ferry pulled into the cool breezes of the Solent.

It started to feel warmer as we moved into the Hamble. I think many of us were amazed at just how many boats are moored in the river, and also how luxurious many of them looked.

The ferry turned tightly at The Jolly Sailor, and returned to the Solent. We sailed close to the Isle of Wight shore and returned to Portsmouth having enjoyed views of Cowes, Osborne House and Ryde.  Bythis time, the sun had burned through the clouds and we started to bask in the sunshine.

We finished with a run round Portsmouth Harbour, with just one aircraft carrier on view this time.

HEVER CASTLE VISIT REPORT, 19^th March 2025

We were so lucky that our visit to Hever Castle coincided with the first really warm day of Spring.

38 of us joined the coach and set off up the A3. There were a few traffic delays on the way and we reached the car park (next to the King Henry VIII pub) for Hever just before 11 a.m., giving us four and a half hours to look round.

We soon saw the first crowds of daffodils – the gardener estimated that they have a quarter of a million of them. Some of us joined a walk around the park to be shown and instructed on the blooms by knowledgeable staff.

Hever Castle is famous in history as the ancestral home of Anne Boleyn – hence the King Henry connection. The castle was renovated in 1903 by William Waldorf Astor, and the ground floor retains an Edwardian splendour. The first floor, however, has been decorated as far as possible to look as it would have done in Anne’s day.

There was plenty more to see, with vistas across the lake, and the castle forming part of many of the views. The rose garden looks lovely though of course it was much too early for roses – maybe another time?

The last wet day of this very wet September saw 24 brave souls join the coach to Wakehurst.

Because we realised in August that we would not be able to fill our usual 57-seater coach, we ordered a 29-seater coach from Starline in Chichester. Mark, our driver, soon proved that he knew his way round Hayling and looked after us well.

We arrived at Wakehurst just before 11 a.m. with the rain – which had been forecast to stop at 10.30 – still falling. Most of us lingered in the coffee shop at the entrance and (with the rain still falling), many of us then ventured outside just long enough to reach fresh shelter in the Millennium Seed Bank.

The rain finally stopped after one o’clock, and we were then able to walk outside in more comfort, and admire the mature trees and horticultural displays in the Wakehurst grounds. However, the sun failed to appear and a gusty wind got up, making the indoor delights of lunch, afternoon tea and shopping for plants and gardening implements appear a more attractive proposition for many of us.

The Visits team is now looking forward to planning for 2025, with the next excursion pencilled in for March/April 2025.

Visits team

Sue Vincent has agreed to join the existing team of Catherine Britton and Jan and Richard North. We will meet next in November 2024, to start work on a schedule for 2025. If there is a venue you would like us to visit, do let us know!

The day before the Solent Forts Cruise, the organisers received this message from one of the passengers:-

“Having sailed a lot on the Solent waters, I am keeping an eye on the weather for tomorrow, if I don't appear at the right time I will have opted out, don't worry about my payment.”

The words evoked a distant memory of a famous poem:-

It is an ancient mariner
And he stoppeth one of three….
He holds him with his skinny hand,
"There was a ship," quoth he…

The day of the visit dawned fair and 45 of us (but not the previous day’s correspondent) met up at Portsmouth Hard to take the short crossing to Gosport where we boarded a spare ferry for the trip. We followed a Brittany Ferries vessel out into the Solent and observed some of the old buildings on the Gosport shore as far as Fort Gilicker before heading for No Mans Land Fort. The captain circled it twice, once clockwise and once anti-clockwise, so everybody on board got a good view. This proved to be the biggest of the three forts we visited, and quite the commercial enterprise by all accounts.

We then moved on to visit the forts of Horse Sand and Spitbank before returning to Portsmouth Harbour viewing the Southsea shore and Spice Island.

We still had an hour left before the advertised landing time and we wondered how the time would be spent. The answer was that we were taken on a very enjoyable tour of Portsmouth Harbour. Both aircraft carriers were in port and a close view of both vessels was the highlight of the day for many of us.

We docked at Gosport on schedule, caught the next ferry back to Portsmouth and dispersed, having been careful to not endanger any passing seabird!

We had a record number of cancellations, mainly due to illness unfortunately, from this visit.

Nevertheless, 41 of us were met by Phil, our regular driver, and embarked on a coach trip to Arundel.

Some of us had decided to join a guided tour and others opted for a walk through Arundel Park, so the coach wound its way through Arundel to park first by the Cathedral, where over half of us got out. The rest of us drove down to a crowded coach park and headed for the Castle Gardens.

Unfortunately the Tulip Festival has ended early this year, but there were still plenty of tulips on show, along with a fine display of camassias and emerging alliums. There was also a good array of fruits and vegetables for those of us who, like Napoleon’s armies, garden on our stomachs. A few of us took the opportunity, on a day with little brightness and a keen northerly wind, to spend some time examining the treasures in the castle. Shopping also featured in many visitors’ day and we rejoined the coach clutching bags with plants and other treasures from the Craft Market and other outlets.

Restarting the coach gave the signal for the rain, which had threatened all afternoon, to descend so we were all grateful it had held off till we were safely in the dry.

The day started with a minor crisis. The coach company had had a breakdown and our coach would be delayed as a result! In the end Phil arrived on time, and we were only 15 minutes late leaving Hayling.

We got out of the coach at the King Alfred statue into light rain and some of us were immediately distracted by the regular street market. When we eventually crossed the Cathedral green to reach the Christmas market, there were plenty of stalls to tempt the jaded Christmas shopper. Peanut butter flavoured with sea salt and black pepper – who knew?

There was also a variety of temptations for snacks, lunch and liquid refreshment, both at the Christmas market and back in the city centre.

Some of us took the opportunity to swerve the crowds, and find peace inside the Cathedral.

The rain finally stopped in early afternoon, but the weather was still a long way from the bright but cold conditions which the forecasters had originally promised.

We all managed to get our bags of shopping back to the coach by 4 p.m.as it was getting dark, and were back in Hayling by 5 p.m.

Swanage Visit Thursday 7 September

The weather over the schools’ summer holidays this year was distinctly average, with quite a lot of rain and middling temperatures.

Mediterranean temperatures of course descended just as the children returned to school, and just in time for our visit to Swanage. The coach was nicely air-conditioned, and temperatures of 26 degrees greeted us as 54 members got off the coach at Swanage station around 11 a.m.

The more determined took the steam train to Corfe Castle to admire its iconic skyline and sample its teashops. The rest of us stayed by the seaside engaging in traditional pursuits such as taking a boat trip, walking on the pier and enjoying a lunch of fish and chips. The town centre was close to the station and some of us spent a happy hour or more browsing in Swanage’s independent shops.

Phil varied the route a little on our return home, and we drove past a Purbeck stone quarry and diverted through the centre of historic Wareham. We were buzzed by a swarm of mororbikes in the queue back onto the island, which is apparently a regular Thursday evening treat for Hayling’s motorists.

11th May 2023 visit to Exbury

Exbury Gardens is a magnificent 200-acre woodland garden located just above the Solent in the New Forest National Park. The land was bought over 100 years ago by Lionel Nathan de Rothschild, a British banker and horticulturist, and he subsequently created the garden which is famous for its stunning collection of rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias, hydrangeas, iris and other plants from around the world.

Yet again in this damp spring, the day started with warnings of heavy showers, and we set off for Exbury with some trepidation.

In the end there were only a few spots of rain, and we were able to enjoy the gardens at their best.

We were all entranced by the displays of rhododendrons and azaleas in all colours. There was also an opportunity for some to walk to the far edge of the gardens by the Beaulieu River, or to take in a delightful art exhibition.

There was the added bonus of a trip around the secluded northern end of the gardens on the steam railway.

Back in the coach, our route home passed through the New Forest, and our driver entertained us with tales of its history.

This was Catherine Britton’s last trip as organiser, and we are all very grateful for her work in organising our visits. Yet again it was a very successful trip, which sold out over 1 month in advance.

My wife Jan and I have now taken over from Catherine, and hope you will enjoy the visits we arrange in the future.

Richard North