Autumn Farm Walk (Isle of Wight) Weekend Write-up
FRIDAY (23 OCTOBER 2015): The Spring Farm Walk in Oxford was always going to be a hard act to follow but we gave it our best by settling on the Isle of Wight as our location for the October event. The weekend saw a group of 24 meet at Wollops Wood Farm, near Southampton, where we were able to leave excess cars for the weekend (by kind permission of Andrew and Kathryn Graham), before descending on the Isle of Wight by ferry. Our hosts were very grateful of a set of Farmers Club glass tumblers, a small gift to show our appreciation for secure parking. We particularly noted Andrew Graham saying; 'Katherine gave loads of these over the years to hosts of our visits on Under 30s weekends, but we’ve never had our own set!' We headed straight for The Royal Hotel in Ventnor which was to be our base for 2 nights. Thomas Wheatley-Hubbard (current Master of the Worshipful Company of Farmers) had recently informed me that The Royal was the islands' version of The Farmers Club – and he wasn’t wrong! The food and rooms were excellent and the service across the weekend was unfaultable.
On the Friday evening we ventured out in to Ventnor for a relaxed meal and welcome drink over which old friends could be re-acquainted and new faces introduced.
Alec Williamson; "I very much enjoyed heading out to the restaurant and then for a drink in the local pub" – all will agree it was great opportunity for the group to gel and relax at the start of the weekend.