DESTINATION
The town proper is as eclectic as the majority of high streets are ubiquitous. You’re hard pressed to find a chain store here – well, Hursts of course but what Island town can do without its Hurst? From the main car park your first view is of shops by enthusiasts for enthusiasts. These set the tone for the whole town.
The Old Clock Shop on the corner looks so established it’s hard to believe it’s only been there for a couple of weeks. Friends Paul Harman and Dave Morley began as clock enthusiasts who became repairers. Now retired they’ve got their first shop – and not a moment too soon. “I collected hundreds of clocks. We needed a shop so we could get round the house, and Dave was the same!” says Paul, who used to be a painting contractor. Now he finds himself in great demand, by antique dealers and individuals, but is sensitive to the current ‘vintage’ vogue. “Some people like them as found, not polished up. I always check.”
The gorgeous Victorian-style laced boots in the window of One Step Beyond are like something from the Elves and the Shoemaker, and inside shoemaker Kevin Garlick, cutting out shapes from soft leather, is probably wishing he had a couple of elves to help him out. “The BBC’s just rung me,” he says, somewhat unexpectedly, “asking for boots for an 1870s costume drama. They’re filming next week.”
Kevin has frequently made shoes for Madame Tussaud’s wax models, and for opera companies. “I’ve been here for 11 years but nobody really looked in until I started doing the ‘swing jive’ shoes.” These beautiful two-tone, leather soled shoes are in the window and have prompted much
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interest. But for the next few days, and nights, Kevin will be back in the 1870s making boots to star on TV.
A few paces along and you’re struck by the pub which isn’t. Gary the Baker makes all his own bread here, and behind the ‘bar’ is Isabella from Holland serving filled rolls, coffee and cakes. It’s a cafe, but not as we know it.
‘The BBC’s just rung me’ he says, somewhat unexpectedly, ‘asking for boots for an 1870s costume drama’
Sitting passing the time of day with Milly of Ultramarine, a quirky ‘you’ll find something here’ place was Anike Cullinane, who took me to Workshop 97. Just as well, because I wouldn’t have wanted to miss this wonderful collaboration between four arts and crafts women. The window display, crafted by Penny who makes beautiful (and very good value) textile gifts, speaks volumes, a heavenly mix of textiles, artwork and driftwood. Anike creates landscapes from felt, Jane is responsible for wonderful driftwood creations and Therasa makes dolls and puppets but with a certain edge to them.
The shop isn’t open every day but you’ll know when it is. There’s a ladder outside hung with all sorts of created stuff. All very arty.
Just as much a picture is Five A Day – yes, you’ve guessed it, a fruit and veg shop. But so fresh and plump and vibrant are its produce, and so imaginatively arranged, that you can’t help but stop and stare. “As much
as possible is from the Island.” They’ve only been there a year but have a remarkably loyal customer base. “Lots of them say they won’t go to the supermarket for fruit and veg now – even if we haven’t got what they want, they’ll wait till we do, bless ‘em,” says Jade.
Across the road is Purple Moon Beads. “We’ve served belly dancers and fisherman – they use the beads for bait – and model railway collectors who like our little rubber bits for, er, something!,” says Geoff Martin. “And there was that man who was building a solar system and wanted beads to the right scale to be the sun and the planets,” recalls his wife Pauline.
While feeling crafty it would be silly not to follow the road round and visit Rainbow in Pier Street. Packed as it is to the roof with rolls of fabric – including American themed designs for patchwork – the longer you stay the more you see. Spray glue, craft glue, tacky glue – anything at all for quilting, craft or knitting. A huge range of craft books is stocked. Buy “Knitted Icons” and you can knit Marilyn Monroe, Madonna, or, the most unlikely because being knitted is SO not macho, Che Guevara.
While trying to work out how the concept of knitting revolutionaries came about, I’ve wandered to the top of the swooping vista of the bay. No wonder Ventnor has been such a draw for so many over the years. The famous Russian author Ivan Turgenev dreamt up his epic novel Fathers and Sons while he was bathing in the sea, and poet John Betjeman, struck by the verdant growth under the undercliff said: “I suddenly find myself in the Amazon!”
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