Ventnor Botanic Gardens

By accident I found out that my favourite place, Ventnor Botanic Gardens, has a small campsite which I never knew about. I managed to book the pitch (there is only one pitch!) last month, so, no matter the weather, we had to go.

Unfortunately it rained a lot, but we still had a good time, and the place is amazing, like prehistoric tropical paradise (but with drizzle).

The camping pitch is located above the gardens, where the behind the scenes plant growing takes place, so just next to our tent (you can just about see it in the photo above) are the greenhouses and poly-tunnels. There is a washing up sink in the potting shed and a shower and a compost toilet (the kids were not a fan of that, mainly from fear of falling down into it).

There are also a few little wooden cabins and a cottage you can stay in if tents are not your thing.

It was the first time squashing all the camping gear into my tiny car, just about made it!

Included in your pitch fee is entrance to the gardens, even during out of hours, so we had a few night time lantern walks which the kids loved.

We saw four glow worms, just a few metres from our tent! There are also a few lizards to be seen too (see the end of this post). The kids said this was the best bit of the whole trip.

In between the rain it was really beautiful. (but I kind of liked the drizzle in a way too, but only for five minutes).

The rocks at Steephill.

(that's not me)

You can also hire the teepee, for an extra £10 a night (I think) but you will have to share it with Mr & Mrs Lizard.