Island Life Magazine Ltd April/May 2014 | Page 113

crab and lobster. If you had
been standing on the seafront
in the early 1800s you were
likely to have been able to have
seen fisherman’s cottages with
thatched roofs and a mill above
the bay on the site that is now
taken by the Winter Gardens.
Indeed, echoes of this earlier age
can still be seen by the stream
that once powered the mill but
which today forms the base of
the famous Cascade.
In common with other towns
like Bath and Harrogate,
Ventnor was marked, in the
mid 1800s as a place that was
suitable for people needing
a mild climate and healthy
environment. And it was as a spa
and health resort that modern
Ventnor came to be established.
Then, as now, the popularity
of this welcoming natural
environment encouraged many
to visit the town.
The quick growth of the
town is marked by the fact
that it has not one but two
churches: Holy Trinity and St.
Catherine’s, which both date
from the mid-Victorian era. The
presence of churches always
indicates a growing and healthy

population. But it is not just to
the sea and to the climate that
those who visit Ventnor must
look; the highest point of the
town, St. Boniface’s Down, rises
high. And there are the most
enjoyable walks to be had by
going up it. And the nearby
villages of St. Lawrence and
Bonchurch are also good places
to visit.
For many, however, it is the
cultural activities that draw
people, with the Isle of Wight’s
Arts Festival and Ventnor Fringe
being but two examples of the
renaissance of such activity
in the area. In much of the
tourist literature about the
town the word ‘traditional’ is
used – Ventnor is a ‘traditional
seaside town’ or ‘Ventnor offers
a traditional bucket and spade
holiday’. I don’t think that that
word, or those descriptions, do
justice to contemporary Ventnor
with its fine eating p