STAYCATION
Photos: UPLOAD Photographers
STAYCATION
Joanna Kelly - Wallaby Sighting
Pauline Guest - 1st tram of 2021 season
Nick Shimmin - Port Soderick, Stargazing
Jill Pugh - Fish & Chips in the car
THE ‘STAYCATION’ PHENOMENON: A BRIGHT SIDE OF LOCKDOWN Words By: Annabel Wheeler
This June will mark one year since the Isle of Man was set free from its cage of the first COVID-19 lockdown. It is historic that we, as a tiny crown dependency, became the first in the British Isles to live sans lockdown and, since then, the island has erupted with staycation holidays. Islanders flocked to local hotels, country cottages and B&Bs in lieu of their usual summer holiday plans. This presented an opportunity for us to explore areas of our home that had previously gone unvisited; regrettably, for many this seemed to include large swathes of the island. Fortunately, this also provided opportunities for local businesses to begin their post-lockdown recovery - with which we were all too eager to help. For me, one such undiscovered gem was the picturesque beauty of the Tynwald National Park and Arboretum. First opened to the public in 1979 to commemorate the millennium of Tynwald, the park envelops areas in the west of the island, framing the shopping complex of Tynwald Mills and providing an immense backdrop for the ancient parliament itself. Astonishingly, the area covers 25 acres of land and encompasses thousands of trees, dating from its original greenery of the 1970s, to recently-planted saplings, preparing to dazzle future generations of visitors. The park attracts an eclectic mix of people, be it young families on a day out, couples going for romantic picnics, or individuals looking to quietly immerse themselves in nature for a few hours. The fantastic scenery is the perfect setting for amatuer photographers to practice their skills and for wannabe
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influencers to achieve a wonderfully ‘instagrammable’ shot. A short climb reveals a specially constructed picnic area with spectacular panoramic views of the surrounding hillsides; on a warm summer’s day, the sun beats down on this area allowing for an entire afternoon of basking in its heat. The large pond at the centre of the park is home to a number of ducks who relish the adoration from the children who visit them, along with a number of resident hens and chicks that like to use the grove of trees as shelter from the Manx weather. Children are able to follow the path that snakes through the park, learning about different species of trees and plants as they go from the plaques that adorn them, as well as several local charities who have donated trees, flowers and benches throughout the decades. The learning opportunity is not reserved for children. Adults who visit the park are enthralled by its beauty and are consumed with an environmentalist desire to accelerate the planting of trees around the world. In terms of preserving the natural world, planting an abundance of trees is certainly lacking in drawbacks. In a year that has hit the hospitality industry like a hammer, the Manx food and drink industry has, by no means, been left untouched. For the six blissful months in which we experienced almost total normality as an island, Manx hospitality was provided with a unique opportunity to begin to recover from a lockdown that the rest of the British Isles was still in the midst of. No staycation would be complete without a food-centric
Cath Denton - Port Erin
Visit IoM - Tynwald National Park
jaunt. Our island boasts an array of cafés, restaurants, pubs and bars that provide customers with options for brunch, lunch and dinner. The local pub to Tynwald National Park is Tynwald Inn, and this is just one of the many establishments to eat within a stone’s throw of the arboretum. Many of us, over the past 18 months, have spent three lockdowns perfecting the art of day-drinking; the glorious glug of the gin bottle after a late lunch on a Wednesday afternoon was music to my ears during the long, hot days of the ‘lockdown one’ heatwave. With so many gorgeous spots opening up across the Isle of Man - Fynoderee, Foraging Vintners, Seven Kingdoms - it would be criminal for Manx residents to not fill them to capacity over the summer. Not only this, it would be insensitive of islanders to take this privilege for granted after UK residents, until recently, have been denied a pint in their local boozer since Christmas. A year ago, as locals whisked themselves away on cross-island staycations and students flocked home for a summer of freedom after the anticlimax of their end of term university celebrations, the pubs and restaurants filled with punters. Eventually, as ever, this novelty quickly wore off and our local taverns were left to flounder. Now, as summer 2021 begins, these local establishments remain quiet, save for a rush of groups on Friday and Saturday nights. We mustn’t take for granted all that our little Isle has to offer. As the reopening of our borders becomes imminent and Manxies can jet off on foreign holidays once more, we mustn’t forget the beauty and culture on our doorstep. The COVID-19 Pandemic of 2020/1 will go down in the history books, but it is our responsibility to ensure that, as a society, we learn from it embrace the Manx landscape, spend time in the Manx air and support local Manx business. ISLE OF MAN PREMIER MAGAZINE
