Experience the best of Isle of Wight

The Isle of Wight lies in the English Channel, separated from Hampshire by the Solent, a diamond-shaped island some 37 kilometres across at its widest. A chalk ridge runs along its spine and ends in the Needles, sharp chalk stacks at the western tip, with a lighthouse at their foot, and the nearby Alum Bay shows cliffs in bands of coloured sand. Ferries and a hovercraft from the mainland cross the Solent.

Osborne House, Queen Victoria's seaside home, stands near East Cowes, and she died there in 1901. Carisbrooke Castle, a Norman fortress, held Charles I as a prisoner in 1647 and 1648. Cowes hosts the sailing regatta Cowes Week each August, Ventnor Botanic Garden grows exotic plants in the sheltered Undercliff, and the south-west coast is rich in dinosaur fossils. The island is a UNESCO biosphere reserve.

Crab and lobster from the island's boats, tomatoes and garlic from its farms and cream teas in every village make up the table. The island is one of the sunniest places in Britain, and the Tennyson Down cliff walk above Freshwater Bay is a fine way to see it.