Isle of Wight
It's a good sign when customers can just sit down and play the pub's piano and guitars – a convivial atmosphere that's enhanced by a log-burner, ships' flags and quality homemade grub (think local crab salad, and slow-cooked lamb shank).
The spick-and-span bedrooms (doubles from £90) are attractively nautically themed.
27.15 MILES
One of southern England's most awe-inspiring buildings, 11th-century Winchester Cathedral boasts a fine Gothic facade, one of the longest medieval naves…
7.31 MILES
Portsmouth's blockbuster draw sees you gazing at the evocative hulk of Henry VIII's flagship, the Mary Rose, and jumping aboard Nelson's Battle of…
7.54 MILES
The raising of the 16th-century warship the Mary Rose in 1982 was an extraordinary feat of marine archaeology. The £35-million, boat-shaped museum that's…
7.5 MILES
As resplendent as she is venerable, HMS Victory was Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar (1805) and the site of his famous dying words 'Kiss…
27 MILES
Winchester College delivers a rare chance to nosey around a prestigious English school. It was set up by William Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, in 1393,…
8.76 MILES
Lemon-frosted and Italianate, Osborne House is pure Victorian pomp. Built in the 1840s at the behest of Queen Victoria, the monarch grieved here for many…
21.72 MILES
The Victorian fort complex at Wight's western tip is home to two gun emplacements where engrossing displays reveal how the site was established in 1862,…
27 MILES
The fantastical, crumbling remains of early-12th-century Wolvesey Castle huddle in the protective embrace of the city's walls. Completed by Henry de Blois…
0.51 MILES
At this idyllic sand-and-shingle spit bordering the mouth of the River Yar, trails snake past swathes of sea pink, marram grass and rare clovers. It's…
2. Isle of Wight Steam Railway
3.05 MILES
Regularly chugs the one-hour journey from Smallbrook Junction to Wootton Common.
3.07 MILES
The exquisitely preserved mosaics here (including a famous cockerel-headed man) make this one of the finest Romano-British sites in the UK. Wooden…
5.95 MILES
Portsmouth played a key role in the assault mounted by Allied D-Day forces in 1944. A £5 million revamp means this exhibit now combines audio-visual…
5. HMS Alliance at the Submarine Museum
6.64 MILES
Taking a trip deep into the bowels of the WWII-era sub HMS Alliance is compelling, thanks to the lights, sounds and even smells used to create a sense…
6.79 MILES
The Point's characterful cobbled streets are dotted with higgledy-piggledy houses and salty sea-dog pubs, their terraces prime places to watch streams of…
7.08 MILES
The Spinnaker Tower soars 170m above Gunwharf Quays, its two sweeping white arcs resembling a billowing sail from some angles, and a skeletal ribcage from…
7.26 MILES
The magnificent warship HMS Warrior was at the cutting edge of technology when she was built in 1860, riding the transition from wood to iron and sail to…