The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest and second-most populous island in England. It is in the English Channel, between two and five miles off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. The island has resorts that have been holiday destinations since Victorian times, and is known for its mild climate, coastal scenery, and verdant landscape of fields, downland and chines. The island is part of the historic county of Hampshire. It is designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
Sandown is a seaside resort and civil parish on the south-east coast of the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom with the resort of Shanklin to the south and the settlement of Lake in between. Together with Shanklin, Sandown forms a built-up area of 21,374 inhabitants.
The ancient 'Kynges Towne' of Brading is the main town of the civil parish of the same name. The ecclesiastical parish of Brading used to cover about a tenth of the Isle of Wight. The civil parish now includes the town itself and Adgestone, Morton, Nunwell and other outlying areas between Ryde, St Helens, Bembridge, Sandown and Arreton. Alverstone was transferred to the Newchurch parish some thirty years ago.
The River Yar on the Isle of Wight, England, rises near the beach at Freshwater Bay, on the south coast, and flows only a few miles north to Yarmouth where it meets the Solent. Most of the river is a tidal estuary. Its headwaters have been truncated by erosion of the south coast.
Newchurch is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. It is located between Sandown and Newport in the southeast of the island. Anthony Dillington, owner of the Knighton Gorges Manor in Newchurch wrote to his son Robert in 1574 that, "This is the very Garden of England, and we be privileged to work in it as Husbandmen......." Newchurch obtained its name from the new church built in 1087 by the Norman monks of Lyra. The Newchurch Parish for many centuries stretched from the north to south coasts of the Island; by the early Nineteenth Century the growing resort towns of Ventnor and Ryde were included within its boundaries. The present day parish includes Newchurch Village, Apse Heath, Winford, Whiteley Bank, Alverstone, Alverstone Garden Village, Queen's Bower, Princelett and Mersley.
Sandown railway station is a railway station serving Sandown on the Isle of Wight, England. It is located on the Island Line from Ryde to Shanklin.
Alverstone Marshes is an 83.8 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest on the Isle of Wight, notified in 1951.
Shide is a small settlement on the Isle of Wight, some of which is considered to be in the Newport conurbation.
Alverstone is a village 2 miles from the east coast of the Isle of Wight, near Sandown. When Richard Webster became Chief Justice of England in 1900, he chose the title Lord Alverstone because it was the title he was permitted to choose which was "closest" to Sandown, one of his favourite locales. Alverstone Manor is located here.
Rew Down is a 23.5-hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest and Local Nature Reserve located on the south-east edge of the Isle of Wight in the hills to the west of Ventnor.
Alverstone railway station, was an intermediate station situated on the edge of Alverstone village on the Isle of Wight, off the south coast of England.
Shide railway station was at Shide, on the southern fringes of Newport, Isle of Wight, off the south coast of England. It was an intermediate station on the line from Newport to Sandown, which was initially operated by the Isle of Wight Railway. Shide station opened in 1875 and closed, along with the line itself, in 1956. Situated near Shide Chalk Pits, it was a sparsely used station whose main purpose was to transport raw materials needed for the Island’s cement industry. It was doomed when production ceased during the Second World War. The station site was built over and is now occupied by a warehouse, and the River Medina has since been diverted to flow along the course of the old railway at this point. The old track to the south of the station site is now a cycle route (NCN23).
Queen's Bower is a hamlet on the Isle of Wight, England that has effectively merged with Winford and Apse Heath to create a village. It is classed as part of Sandown, with the postcode PO36. It is in the civil parish of Newchurch, Isle of Wight. Transport is provided by Southern Vectis bus route 8 to Sandown, which stops at Hairpin Bend on Alverstone Road once every hour throughout the day, which is right on the perimeter of Borthwood Copse.
Alverstone Garden Village is a housing estate built between the 1930s and the 1970s; entirely contained within Youngwoods Copse, and thus almost invisible from the older hamlet of Alverstone. At the 2011 Census the Post Office indicated that the population was included in the civil parish of Newchurch, Isle of Wight.
Farlington Marshes is a 119.7-hectare (296-acre) Local Nature Reserve in Portsmouth in Hampshire. It is owned by Portsmouth City Council and managed by Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust. It is part of Langstone Harbour, which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I. It is also part of Solent Maritime Special Area of Conservation and of Chichester and Langstone Harbours Ramsar site and Special Protection Area.
Lower Test Valley is a 142-hectare (350-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest near Totton in Hampshire. It is part of Solent and Southampton Water Ramsar site and Special Protection Area, and of Solent Maritime Special Area of Conservation. It is a nature reserve managed by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust.
Titchfield Haven is a 134.5-hectare (332-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north-west of Gosport in Hampshire. Most of it is a local nature reserve and a national nature reserve. It is part of Solent and Southampton Water Ramsar site and Special Protection Area.
Boldre Foreshore is a 193.3-hectare (478-acre) Local Nature Reserve east of Lymington in Hampshire. It is owned by New Forest District Council and managed by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust. It is part of Solent and Southampton Water Ramsar site and Special Protection Area, Solent Maritime Special Area of Conservation, Hurst Castle and Lymington River Estuary Site of Special Scientific Interest and Lymington and Keyhaven Marshes, a nature reserve managed by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust.
Lymington and Keyhaven Marshes is a 738-hectare (1,820-acre) nature reserve which stretches from Keyhaven along the south coast across the Lymington River in Hampshire. It is managed by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust. It is part of Solent and Southampton Water Ramsar site and Special Protection Area. Some areas are part of two Special Areas of Conservation, Solent and Isle of Wight Lagoons and Solent Maritime and Solent. It is also part of Hurst Castle and Lymington River Estuary, which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and of North Solent Marshes Nature Conservation Review site, Grade 2. Two areas are Geological Conservation Review sites, and two are Local Nature Reserves, Boldre Foreshore and Lymington-Keyhaven Marshes.
