November/December 2024


www.nitravelnews.com


in the large bronze memorial placed by her children at the head of the bed, and a photograph and painting of the deceased queen draped in her billowing wedding veil. Macabre yet mesmerising in equal measure.


The Royal estate’s Swiss Cottage and Museum were Prince Albert’s


way


transporting us seamlessly from the top of the cliff to the pebble beach with birds’ eye views of those famous rocks. Boat rides take you even closer to The Needles as they rise an imposing 30 metres from the sea. The Needles duly ticked, it was time to take the short journey back to Tapnell Farm Park and make the most of our rural base. There’s plenty to do on-site, including archery, axe throwing, football golf and clay pigeon shooting. Our two teens negotiated the Aqua Park’s inflatable obstacle course before drying off and joining us parents to ooh and aah over the adorable wallabies and meerkats and watch teeny tiny mice scuttling around their glass enclosures. Like a cross between Northern Ireland’s Streamvale Farm and Let’s Go Hydro, Tapnell Farm Park really is an exceptional family destination.


After all that al fresco exertion, we chowed down on delicious burgers and cooled off with cocktails and shakes at The Cow Restaurant & Bar, a giant converted barn brimming with fellow happy holidaymakers. Then it was time to head back to our Geodome and admire yet


of both


showcasing his German origins and passing on his love of education to his children. The former


is a three-quarter scale Alpine chalet in which they would play and learn, and the latter is a mind-boggling collection of global artefacts gifted to the family, including a sample of handspun linen yarn from Gilford, Co. Down.


A stroll to the private beach reveals


Queen Victoria’s famous bathing machine in which she was discretely wheeled to the shore for bracing Solent swims. For us, it was a chance to enjoy an ice cream and laze on deckchairs as we looked back on yet another fabulous day on this fascinating island. After a final night in our fab Geodome, it was time to take the short ferry hop in the blistering sun from Yarmouth to Lymington, with one last view of The Needles and fond memories of a bucket list trip that exceeded all my expectations. Next stop, Salisbury Cathedral and the magical Cotswolds via the enchanting New Forest. Rain or shine it’s never a dull day on our England Carcation.


By Nigel Heath


THREE spitfires evoking vivid. memories of WW2 when Great Britain stood alone soared and dived through sombre grey skies over the Sussex countryside. Below and some sixty minutes later the evocative sound of their Rolls-Royce Merlin engines would have been blown away by the ear-splitting roar of vintage racing cars chasing around a circuit at speeds of over 100 mph an hour while the faint smell of fumes drifted in on the morning air.


Above and in the surrounding stadiums hundreds of enthusiastic spectators virtually all dressed in period costume from all walks of yesteryear life from the 1940s to the 1960s watched on. WW2 RAF officers


rubbed shoulders with engine mechanics, land army girls and ladies all dress up for a wartime dance in town or village hall, while gents in smart suits, mingled with the crowds. There were not many children around, but my wife Jenny even spotted a baby in a vintage pram!


For this was the world-famous three-


day Goodwood Revival Festival attend by motor racing enthusiasts from right across the country and overseas milling and flowing in good natured crowds around dozens of tented stalls, bars, and eateries below the towering stadiums.


While yesteryear cars including Jaguars, Ferraris,


Maseratis,


Coopers, and many other iconic makes competed in a day long series of races, old tractors driven by men and women in brown capes towed


hundreds


of spectators around the outer perimeter of the 2.4 miles circuit


in


covered metal trailers so allowing access to all the surrounding grandstands. And it was while Jenny


another Insta-worthy sunset. I could get used to this island life.


While husband Ray loves a cathedral, all the family can get on board with an historic house. Yes, even the teens can appreciate the finer things in life, and having already enjoyed a trip to Blenheim Palace, birthplace of Winston Churchill, it was time to visit Osborne House where Queen Victoria passed away.


The Needles may be the Isle of Wight’s natural wonder, but honey-hued Osborne House is undoubtedly its most historic manmade attraction. Built by Prince Albert for his wife and nine children, the Royal Palace by the Sea provided a perfect escape for this regal family. The sprawling grounds are dominated by the main house built in an Italian Renaissance palazzo style with the astounding Durbar Room reflecting Queen Victoria’s love of India, a country she never visited but of which she was Empress. Roam through room after room of the Royal Apartments and view the very bed where Victoria died in 1901 aged 82. Her era’s fascination with death is reflected


and I and her motor racing enthusiast family were bumping along to the accompaniment of ear-splitting sounds from the circuit that I suddenly spotted a long neglected red brick pillbox complete with its gun slits. For of course Goodwood was the site of a


For more information on any of the locations featured, please visit : (Winchester Royal Hotel) www. winchesterroyal- hotel.com/ (Winchester Cathedral) www.winchester-cathedral. org.uk/


(Marwell Zoo) https://www.marwell.org.uk/ (Wightlink) https://www.wightlink.co.uk/ (Tapnell Farm) https://tapnellfarm.com/ (The Needles) https://www.theneedles.co.uk/


WW2 airfield and it was the present Duke of Richmond’s grandfather and motor racing enthusiast Freddy March who created today’s circuit from its pillbox defended perimeter road. On its opening in September 1948, Freddy sped around the circuit in a Bristol 400 to the delight of fifteen hundred spectators who had come to see Britain’s first professionally organised post-war motor racing event. Across the way from the main grandstand and tented village of stalls I came upon a workshop set up by The Heritage Skills Academy, a truly inspirational trust. Managing Director John Pitchforth (pictured)told how companies around the UK working in the Classic Vehicles Restoration Industry were failing to recruit young engineering apprentices because the current qualifications were not relevant to their business.


“It very much looked as if our industry would fade away with no youngsters to carry on the tradition so that is why we launched the Heritage Skills Academy back


in 2017 with eight apprentices from Rolls- Royce, P&A Wood and related companies spending twenty-eight weeks over three years training with us at our academy at Bicester Heritage and later also at Brooklands Museum,” he explained. “We started in a small way, but now we have hundred and sixty classic vehicle related companies from across the country signed up to the academy and around two one hundred apprentices participating in our programme,” said John. Among the young apprentices manning the exhibition I chatted to Jacob Willis who works for Wildae Restorations in North Devon and Oliver Sideways who is with Singer Cars in Northamptonshire with


along Lewis.


Close by dozens of racegoers were gathered in a canopied Champagne Bar where luckily we spotted a couple just preparing to leave and managed to weaved our way over to it before others had the same idea.


Sitting close by and dressed in their


1950s vintage finery I could not resist taking a picture of Maisi Crespo and her husband, Jeff Harvey-Wells from Chigwell, Essex, and their friends Danielle and Ross Mackenzie. Jeff who has been a member of Goodwood for ten years is pictured left with Maisi on his right.


Then there was a snap moment when a lady called Nazarine from nearby Hampshire spotted Jenny wearing a similar jacket to the one she had just purchased from a stall selling vintage clothing.


A highlight of the


festival was a daily tribute and celebration of the life of famous racing icon John Surtees. It was on


the 19th of March 1960 that as a 26-year- old driver he entered his first car race at Goodwood. Then with only four years of driving experience he did the unthinkable, winning the Formula 1 Drivers World Championship with Ferrari later becoming the


only person ever to win world


championships on two wheels and four. Sunday and the final day of the three- day festival marked the 80th anniversary of the D Day landings and again brought to mind the part Goodwood had played in the invasion.


This was the celebrated circuit’s largest ever parade gathering of around one hundred and eighty WW2 tanks, jeeps, trucks,


half-track weapon carriers and amphibious vehicles.


Goodwood House was also to play its part being transformed into a hospital at the outbreak of war complete with wards and an operating theatre.


And back to the present it was interesting to hear the commentators announce that the 2024 Goodwood Revival was the world’s first historic motorsport event to be run on sustainable fuel with all competitors required to use a fuel with a minimum seventy per cent advanced sustainable components.


their Development Coach Rob


GOODWOOD REVIVAL FESTIVAL | 71


NIGEL HEATH SPENDS A FASCINATING DAY IN THE YESTERYEAR WORLD OF MOTORSPORT


CALIFORNIA’S SAN DIEGO | 71


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