Location: Sandown
Top Things to do in Sandown
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10 Things to do in Sandown That You Shouldn't Miss
Sandown is a seaside resort town and civil parish on the southeast coast of the Isle of Wight, England, which neighbours the town of Shanklin to the south, with the village of Lake in between the two settlements. Sandown Bay is the name of the bay off the English Channel which both towns share, and it is notable for its long stretch of easily accessible golden sandy beach. It is the site of the lost Sandown Castle. Whilst undergoing construction, this was attacked by a French force which had fought its way over Culver Down from Whitecliff Bay, resulting in the French being repulsed. It was built too far into the sea and constantly suffered erosion, until now reduced to a pile of rocks. Later forts in the town include the Diamond Fort (named after its plan), built inshore to replace the castle and which fought off a minor attack from privateers (probably French) in 1788, and the present "Granite Fort" at Yaverland, which is now the zoo. Together with Shanklin, Sandown forms a built up area of 21,374 inhabitants.
Restaurants in Sandown
1. Steve's Beach
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 175 reviews
Reviewed By 643ellier
What a fantastic day we had today on the beach in one of Steve’s beach huts!! After enquiring about a hut yesterday Steve couldn’t have been more helpful letting us leave all the children’s toys, buckets, spades & paddling pools in the hut to save us bringing it all down today which with two small children & a buggy really helped!! He also let our little boy use buckets & spades which Steve provided & offered tea & coffee for our beach hut also, such a lovely man we really enjoyed our day thank you will be back next year!!!
2. Ager Farm Nursery
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 20 reviews
Reviewed By mrsmuffinmon - Bembridge, United Kingdom
We are very keen gardeners and absolutely love this nursery. It's a bit of a drive from our place but always worth the journey. The plants are beautifully laid out, always very healthy and the prices are incredibly reasonable. The staff are helpful and knowledgeable with their suggestions for planting and advice on the care of your purchases. If we ever had a nursery of our own, we'd want it to be exactly like this one.
3. North 2 south emporium
4. Yaverland Beach
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 254 reviews
Reviewed By iandD2328HO - Bedford, United Kingdom
A stunning beach. Unlike those further west in Sandown and Shanklin, Yaverland is backed by cliffs rather than hotels, crazy golf and cafes. A large car park has toilets, outdoor taps (for cleaning off sandy feet) and baby changing facilities. There is a cafe that offers both sit down and take always, plus beach paraphernalia like sand shoes and buckets and spades. Check tide times as the beach is at its best at low tide - especially when they are Springs. The sand goes on forever and the beach shelves really gently, so super safe for children. Predictably, the first 200 yards from the car park gets very busy but the beach is a mile long - so worth tracking further to find your own space. Take real care under the red cliffs which are prone to regular rock falls and give them a wide berth. It’s dog friendly throughout the year and locals walk there every day of the year. The far end, beyond the red cliffs, is naturist friendly and on a hot day, there may be 20 or so getting an all over tan or swimming in the buff. At high tide, this section of the beach gets cut off for several hours, giving even more privacy. Also worth checking the forecast - if a strong breeze is blowing, a walk in to wind gets you well and truly sand blasted!
5. Alverstone Mead Nature Reserve
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 39 reviews
Reviewed By PVilly
I was staying with friends who live right opposite the entrance to Sandown Meadows reserve and we went for an early morning bird watching walk. It turns out that there are actually three nature reserves right next to each other - Sandown Meadows, Sandown Community Orchard and Alverstone Mead - so we decided to visit all three! You can do this via a figure of eight route which means you can alternate between the old railway track path and muddier paths across fields. The bird hide at Alverstone was definitely the highlight, especially with the birdfeeder which was covered with blue tits and great tits. We didn't see any kingfishers and red squirrels - so an excuse to go there again!
6. Wildheart Animal Sanctuary, Isle of Wight
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 2,859 reviews
At the Wildheart Animal Sanctuary we look forward to welcoming you to meet our wonderful animals for an immersive and stimulating visit. You will meet some of the most exciting, yet threatened animals on our planet, including Tigers, Lions, Meerkats, Lynx, Reptiles and much more. The Sanctuary rescues many of its inhabitants from poor and inhumane conditions around Europe. There are daily talks from our Animal Carers and also animal encounters to help you have the opportunity to get up close and hands-on with our animal residents. You will discover and learn about the journeys of how the animals came to the Sanctuary and their vital role in championing the cause for their species in the wild overseas. There is a large animal playground to tire the little ones out. Enjoy delicious, fresh and local food and drink from our Wildheart Café overlooking Sandown Bay. Or you can picnic in the company of our Capuchin and Spider monkeys!
Reviewed By KAL1667
My partner and I visited Sandown zoo yesterday for the ‘big cat’ experience ...............there are no words to describe how incredible it was. Kerrie was a brilliant guide, extremely knowledgable and so passionate about the beautiful tigers and lions & they were so responsive to her - it was incredible to see these beautiful animals up close, they all look amazing and are clearly very spoilt which is no more than they deserve. If you get the chance to go to the zoo, I would absolutely recommend it; the whole place is clean and so well looked after, the animals are adored by the staff and I felt so privileged to be able to be that close to these amazing cats. Huge thanks to Kerrie for making it a wonderful day and a massive thanks to Charlotte and all her team for giving their love and lives to the zoo.
7. Amazon World Zoo Park
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 1,484 reviews
This all-weather recreation of the Amazon rainforest houses over 200 species of animals and birds.
Reviewed By 527josied
Fantastic place, so many lovely unusual animals to see, they have armadillos, badgers, sloths, wallaby that you can walk up to and feed, turtles and tortoises, wild birds and parrots, meerkats and many more. It was an amazing experience as its not animals you see everyday. We enjoyed sitting and having some lunch at the cafe there and had fun looking around the shop at the end. I would highly recommend amazon World.
8. Dinosaur Isle
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 955 reviews
In a spectacular pterosaur shaped building watching over Sandown’s blue flag beach is Britain’s first purpose built dinosaur museum. Walk back through fossilised time to the period of the dinosaurs where you will find amongst the fossils many interactive displays. On a recreated landscape enhanced by sights, smells and sounds you will meet life sized dinosaurs including our animatronic Neovenator. Guided fossil hunts (which must be pre-booked) have proved to be a popular addition to a visit.
Reviewed By KalieM
This was our 2nd visit to Dinosaur Isle and this year we also went on a guided fossil walk with them. So interesting, found some amazing stuff and learnt loads even with a 4 year old in tow!! The museum itself is small but packed full of great stuff, lots of hands on stuff for the kids and some great exhibits. When we visited last year the conservancy was opened up and we got to handle some amazing bones and had a great conversation with the guys there. The staff are all really helpful and friendly and would highly recommend a visit!!
9. Oldeworlde Antiques Centre
10. Sandown Pier
Overall Ratings
3.5 based on 1,431 reviews
Reviewed By Debslovestravel
We visit this beautiful Pier every year without fail while down visiting family, as per usual the place was as lovely as always great rides for kids and plenty of machines for the adults too endless fun, crazy golf was as suggested crazy it’s amazing how they fit such a large course into such a small space on it stretches many levels and is always good fun. Stopped to have fresh hot donuts on the end and look out to sea weather was beautiful and so were the donuts, cafe has been refurbished and looks wonderful, we were delighted to find out it’s still run by the same family after 35 years!! (Great photo of owner back in 1984 on the wall) Lovely mother and daughter working told us all the good places to visit on the island and had plenty of time to chat to us even tho the cafe was busy. Rides at the end of the pier were also great for our children they loved the teacups.The men working on the end were also cheerful, Great to find out you can also fish from the end of the pier too!!
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