Appuldurcombe Gardens Holiday Park, Isle of Wight

Just got back from 5 days in the Isle of Wight - one of my favourite UK holiday destinations. We camped in Appuldurcombe Gardens Holiday Park - very pretty, neat short grass, lovely flower beds, clean showers and toilets, great swimming pool - not at all crowded due to the fact that the schools haven't broken up yet. We were unable to formally book in on arrival due to being asked not to arrive before 1pm - guess what? The reception was only open in the morning to 1pm!Trouble is, the managers seemed to have the opinion that, although it was the first week in July, the season hadn't really started, so it was unnecessary to rush to serve anyone that did appear in the almost empty bar. Although the shop was open it was poorly stocked with very little bread and when I wanted some, early one morning, when I would have assumed they would have had deliveries, they only had the 2 loaves I'd seen there on the previous day!The shop did have lots of cheap kiddy toys though - I suppose they don't go out of date.

It is a shame about this campsite, we won't be going back - it was not exactly cheap at £5.20 per adult per night plus £2.50 per night for electrical hook-up - which for us meant £23.30 per night. I may be expecting too much, but I think that is expensive, especially when we were made to feel that we weren't worth bothering with as it wasn't "high season". A warmer welcome would have ensured that we would have used the site again - despite the price.

However I do love the island and the weather was fairly okay. We had a great time at The Brading Experience (welcoming and pleasant staff) and a great coffee and cake (very reasonably priced and tasty) in their café. The lovely plates of salads, baguettes, filled jacket potatoes etc. wafting past our table made us sorry we didn't have time for lunch! A down side of the experience was our visit to the "designer outlet" at Brading - miserable sales assistant and expensive clothes - some of which were from George at Asda and others were just not "designer" at all . I have to add here that my husband pointed out that every garment is designed by someone - yes, but we don't want to pay through the nose for those that are a lot less "designed" than they could be!

One highlight of our holiday was eating fish and chips on a late sunny afternoon at West Cowes on the seafront, as the ferries whizzed in and out and another was a coffee break (yes, with cake again and yes, very reasonably priced) at Newport in the Quay Arts Centre. There are always plenty of arty crafty things to see and usually an exhibition of paintings as well - all free to go into. The Model Village at Godshill deserves a big round of applause for giving us a family ticket (just for our cheek!) when our two youngsters, at 17 and 18 years, did not really qualify as "children" - and doing it with a smile and a joke! We love the model and its beautiful trees (our third visit) it is well-kept, clean and all newly painted for the season - just great!

Another memorable experience was revisiting the Old Battery at the Needles in the wind, rain and fog! It certainly recreated the unhappy conditions generations of soldiers must have had to endure (and this was July). We caught the bus up to it - £8 for the four of us ( can't be more than a mile) and walked back - by which time the weather was brighter!

So, we are already listing all the visits we didn't have time to make this holiday - Isle of Wight Steam Railway, Ventnor Botanical Gardens, Bembridge Windmill etc. for our next visit, oh, and we'll be searching for another campsite!