Rockstone Cottage in charcoal

Rockstone Cottage  Guest House Relaxing bed & breakfast for adults only

We are a four star guest house

Tel: 01983 753723
Please call between 10 am & 9 pm
Cyclists Welcome
Walkers Welcome
Free Internet Access
We take debit & credit cards
Rockstone Cottage Colwell Chine Road Freshwater
Isle of Wight
PO40 9NR

© Rockstone Cottage 2007 - 2010

 

Site map

Walking

We are offer free walking routes and maps.  If you bring your own GPS and cable and we can also upload routes free of charge.  With the Coastal Path on our doorstep, why not come and unwind for a short break and explore the island. With around 500 miles of footpaths, the Isle of Wight is a great place for a walking holiday.  The annual Walking Festival in May has a wide range of walks.

The Freshwater area has some lovely circular walks, or you can walk along the Coastal Path and catch the bus back.  Come and discover or rediscover, this beautiful part of the island.  We will even dry your clothes and boots should they get wet!  As members of the Walkers and cyclists Welcome scheme we provide clothes drying, boot washing facilities or trays for muddy footwear and cycle storage.
Freshwater Bay, is a good place to stop on a spectacular circular walk from Rockstone Cottage at Colwell Bay, taking in Headon Warren, the Needles Battery, Tennyson Down and the Afton nature reserve.

Three favourite circular walks - maps & routes are available to our guests

Round the Needles - the best views of lovely West Wight

From Rockstone Cottage Guest House stroll down the road to Colwell Bay and along to Totland Bay, past the Waterfront Restaurant and the old boathouse and up onto Headon Warren (take left hand path) with the spectacular far reaching views before dropping down to the Needles Park and out to the Needles Battery.  We can recommend a diversion to Warren Farm tea rooms for one of the best cream teas.

A close up view of the Needles from the Needles Old Battery, Tennyson Down. A super walk in lovely West Wight.

It is well worth stopping at the Needles Battery and visiting this National Trust property and the New Battery where there is an exhibition on the secret rock testing site.  The tea room up in the old observation tower has great views and home made cake!  Don’t miss out on the spiral stair case and the tunnel to the WWII observation point overlooking the Needles.  From here the walk takes you across the magnificent Tennyson Down to Freshwater Bay where we can recommend another diversion to Dimbola Lodge a photographic museum and gallery with another great tea rooms – they do an excellent Sunday lunch!  From Freshwater Bay you can make your way through the Afton Marsh nature reserve and back through Freshwater to Rockstone Cottage for a well earned rest and maybe relaxing for a while in our delightful garden.

Round the Yar

From Rockstone Cottage Guest House stroll down to the sea at Colwell Bay and turn right towards Fort Albert, walk along the beach to the slipway and then following the footpath up through the holiday camp and out onto Monks Lane before the foot path drops down through the woods to Fort Victoria.  Here you will find a tea room and a number of attractions, walk along the beach towards Yarmouth past the Boat House café and then join the road over the bridge to Yarmouth harbour.  You can take an optional stroll around the town, visit Yarmouth Castle, the pier and Gossips Café before crossing back onto the other side of the main road and take the foot path from the car park past the old mill.  This wide level path is the old railway line – look up into the trees and you may see red squirrels.  At the causeway you can take a diversion by crossing over the road and following the path to the End of the Line café before retracing your foot steps to the route again at the causeway. 
The Mill on the Yar at Yarmouth. The walk takes the track of the old railway line here, before returning back up the other side across fields and through woods.
View near the causeway, cross the bridge here and head towards the church. You might like to stop off at the Red Lion before continuing your walk.

Turn up the road towards the church and you will see the path continues down the side of the church, but we can recommend the Red Lion as a place to stop for lunch. The Kings Meadow Farm shop and café is another diversion very close to the path as it follows a route along a lane before crossing fields and styles through the woods as it makes it way back to Yarmouth. Take the path to the right for Freshwater & Norton, turning left at the main road and then right to Fort Victoria before turning left into Linstone Drive and then taking the wide grassy path on the bend that takes you back across the fields to Monks Lane.  You can then retrace your path back along the beach if the tide allows, stopping for a cup of tea at the Captain’s Cabin by the beach perhaps.  At high tide you can follow the lane to the main road and turn right down the hill following the road until you come to the turning for Colwell Chine Road where Rockstone Cottage Guest House is situated and your comfortable room awaits.

Woods and Coast – Mottistone, Brook and Hulverstone

This is a 7.5 mile walk, but there ample opportunities to shorten the walk (don’t forget to take the route map with you).  Start at the car park in Strawberry Lane (or catch the number 7 bus from Colwell to Mottistone.  From the car park follow the footpath up through the woods climbing steadily towards Chessell Down.  On top of the Down at the tumuli you can shorten the walk by turning left along the Tennyson Trail, otherwise continue on the path crossing the main road (turn right for a short diversion if a comfort stop is needed to the Chessell Pottery café) before descending the hill towards Dunsbury farm. Then follow the path to Brook, crossing the road in the village and making your way across the fields to Hulverstone home to the very good Sun Inn.  Cross the road and climb up the hill back into Mottistone woods before rejoining the path you took earlier and then turning off to the right to drop down into Mottistone.

A stop can be made to admire the lovely gardens at the National Trust property Mottistone Manor before cross the road and following the lane past the Old Parsonage before crossing the road back to Strawberry Lane and the car park.  You might like to stop at Compton bay and have an ice cream, at low tide fossils have been found and dinosaur foot prints can be seen in the rocks. From here it is a short, but spectacular drive back to Freshwater Bay and then on to Rockstone Cottage Guest House at Colwell Bay.
Compton Bay at sunset. A huge beach popular with surfers and fossil hunters. There is often an ice cream van in the National Trust owned car park and there also toilets here.