The Needles Park At Alum Bay, Isle Of Wight > Reviews (5)

For our first full day on the Isle of Wight, we decided to do a lap of the Island to see what was out there and to basically have a look around as well. We had a few leaflets that we took with us from the Premier Travel Inn to ensure that we knew where we were heading and what we would see. The one thing that my other half and I did agree on was that we should definitely visit The Needles Park.

This place has one big selling point; it is located at the furthest point on the West side of the Isle of Wight at Alum Bay. This not only gives spectacular views of the Needles and the Lighthouse but also some picturesque views of the Dorsetcoast as far away as Swanage. So if you are a photographer you will have some great opportunities to take some good shots as well as spend the day walking the area, something that I will touch upon later.

We were one of the first to arrive at the Park at about 10.15am, to park a car here it costs just £4. This is not an hour, this is for all day! We walked from the Car Park into the Park proper, which only takes a few minutes as it is adjacent to the Park itself. Taking a step up on the Observation Deck to take our first proper look at the Needles before we went into the Park itself, breathtaking is the only way to describe it. Now I love the fact that if you get somewhere early then the chances are high that it will be empty. It was the same here as attendants were at all the rides ready for the customers to go on them... except there weren't any people around! It is free to enter the Park, as you pay for each ride individually or purchase vouchers that give quite a sizeable discount of 25%.

As the day went on the Park got busy quite quickly, and to my horror the school kids that were on the Ferry turned up, needless to say that shortly after this it was also very noisy as well. They turned up by coach; parking for coaches is totally separate from cars in a separate area closer to the main entrance. This is also where the BusService stops and starts with a regular service from Yarmouth to the Park.

For a smallish size attraction I was impressed with what there was to go on, an old fashioned Merry-Go-Round, Tea Cup rides, Crazy Golf with a Dinosaur theme and electric cars for the younger children. Naturally these are aimed at the younger child; however there are plenty for the adults to go on as well. What is nice was there was a penny arcade that the older visitors seemed more attracted to then the younger ones, I went in here and was fascinated by the mechanical level of some of the games that were also wall mounted. There is also a modern type amusement arcade as well, that was busy with a number of jump in rides placed outside the arcade.

The thing that interested me the most was the Chairlift that takes you down to the Beach, from here you can look at the multi coloured cliffs, take a 20 minute boat ride out to the Needles or casually walk along the Beach itself. It is a basic ski-lift that takes you from the middle of the Park across the treetops and straight down the cliff face to the Beach, at £4 per person to ride which I thought it was okay as this was a return ticket.

The ride didn't go in a flash and was at a reasonable speed that meant you could savour the journey and take everything in, although the ride down the cliff face was a bit frightening seeing as it felt that it was nigh on a sheer drop! It was £3 to go just one way if you decided to use the stairs to get back up to the top.

At the bottom is the Pier to board the boat for the tour of the Needles, if you go this will cost £5 per person and last for approximately 20 minutes. We walked along the Beach for about half a mile or so and took in the colours of the cliffs that are called The Sands of Time, basically these are the rocks of the cliffs in all kind of different colours from Pinks and Blues to Magenta and Red. This was vaguely reminiscent of a jar of Space Dust from the 1970's and is absolutely fascinating to look at. One thing you need to be aware of is that the cliff face itself is always changing and it looked like there had been a recent rock fall as this area was cordoned off, you can also see that the path and stairs down to the beach have had to be reconfigured because of this as well.

Back up top after the ride up and we took in a Coffee, prices are good at £2.20 for a Latte. The quality of the Coffee is also surprisingly good as I though that this would be where the catering lets itself down, however the cups were a decent size and the drink of good quality. If you fancied a more sizeable meal then there are Restaurants that will cater for this, and both were busy with families with young children sitting outside eating. The lavatories were clean and were checked regularly as was the Park itself. All litter is collected from the bins on a regular basis and staff were walking around collecting the odd piece of rubbish off the floor with a long-handled pan and brush. This impressed me as the foliage was tidy and overall was very clean and well presented with all pathways well maintained and most importantly with an even surface.

Obviously with a place like this there is always going to be the obligatory Gift Shop, here is where the Park excels at something I haven't seen before. They have their own sand shop where you buy the glass holder and fill it with the different colours of sand, the school kids were getting right into this as by now a whole plethora of kids had turned up! It was quite funny as some were attempting to haggle with the staff to get a glass holder that cost £6.99 down to £2, which in turn seemed to wind up the shop staff until the Teacher intervened. The shop was split into two with the other half selling items related to the Isle of Wight such as Island shaped jars already full of sand or Dinosaur fossils that were found inn this region of the island itself.

The glass jars for the sand are made on site and the making of these can be viewed with the Glasshouse by the main entrance, it was far too busy with the hoards of school kids at the time, so we didn't visit here. It would have cost £1 per person to enter to view the glass being made.

There are also a handful of other gift shops that stock gifts "for all the family" from the memory cards for digital cameras to Jack DanielsGlasses and novelty key rings with your name on. I felt this was a basic seaside shop that didn't really fit in as these types of items can be bought anywhere you go; it wasn't busy in there at all which kind of backed up my feelings as I didn't feel any connection between what was being sold and the Park itself. Although my other half did find the Jewellery shop interesting as well as the Victorian Arcade that sells items from that era.

As I said earlier, if you are a rambler at heart you can walk literally for miles through the country without actually straying too fat from the Park itself. We saw plenty of people with Trekking Poles started their ascent of the nearby hills and to be honest I wished that I had done this as well at the time, but unfortunately the weather was changing from one moment to the next as it was a case of showers and sun.

Overall I never expected something like Chessington or Thorpe Park with rollercoaster's and water rides; however what you do get is something that is down to earth, lively and something the kids will enjoy for the rides as much as the adults will enjoy for the views and sights that can be seen from both in and around the Park itself. In the end we spent just over four hours here and felt that we had done everything we wanted to do. The tranquillity of the beach to the busyness of the main area of the Park is something that is easily noticeable and is a strong indication of where the focus is as the beach was empty compared to the Park above, although I suspect that bookings for the boat were made for later in the day.

This is definitely a place I would recommend to visit if you go to the Isle of Wight as it is something that allows you to closer than usual with the landscape itself, the history that this place has is something that can be easily noticed and seen with regards to the fossils and although it is a tourist attraction you still have the freedom to leave and go for a walk without worrying about the car or anything. If you don't go for the Park then taking a stroll around the area is the next best thing to do and something that we intend to do next time we visit. One thing we will do is check the Website for this place as there are evening events such as Firework displays, as well as to see what special offers they are currently offering.

The next attraction we went for was going to be a toss up between the Steam Railway or The Garlic Farm!