Yesterday, we were in Oxford and Bath. I spent the night at my friend’s house in Portsmouth. The next day , we had buffet breakfast at the restaurant in Travelodge, attended the mass, and drove to South Hampton to take the ferry to our next destination: The Isle of Wight.
We boarded the car ferry of Red Funnel, which took us to Isle of Wight within an hour. From the port, we drove for 5 minutes for the Osborne House.
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| Boarding time! |
Built between 1845 and 1851, the Osborne House was the holiday home of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and was redesigned by Prince Albert himself. Said to be the one of the Queen’s favorite home, it is also where she died.
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| Entrance to the Osborne House. |
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| The Osborne House and the Terrace Garden |
What I particularly liked about the house is that it was more of a home, and not a palace- except for its size, it has a more “normal” feel, specially the nursery rooms, family rooms and private rooms (it was said that the personal possessions in Prince Albert’s private room are as they are when he was still alive). Of course, the place is still royal and it has many mementos on display in the rooms and along the corridors, including gifts from other European royal families. There is also the Queen’s Dining Room, the Drawing Room, Queen’s Sitting Room and Queen’s Bedroom (where she died).
I was surprised to find many Indian decorations, and paintings of Indian persons and scenes. I found later that Queen Victoria also had the title of Empress of India back then. There is also the Durbar room, with the most ornate ceiling I have ever laid eyes on (the ceiling was said to be designed by the father of Rudyard Kipling, a famous author).Durbar came from the Hindi word which means court , and the Durbar room was built for state functions.
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| The South Asian-ish Durbar Room |
The house sits on a big estate and is a lovely place for family picnic, which are allowed on grass anywhere in the grounds. My friends kids had fun climbing trees and running around the area.
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| Where to go? |
One of my favorite areas would be the Terrace Garden, which gives a good view of the Solent.
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| Terrace Garden |
20 minutes walk from the house would take you to The Swiss Cottage, which was built by Prince Albert as play area for their 9 children. Infront of the cottage are the royal children’s garden plots, with each of them given a patch of garden to grow vegetables. A few steps further is their mini fort and barracks, which I suppose was also meant as play area. A small museum can be found, also close to The Swiss Cottage.
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| The royal play house :) |
On another route, also 20 minutes walk from the house would be the Queen Victoria’s private beach and her wooden bathing machine.
How to get there:
We booked the car ferry and the entrance to Osborne through RedFunnel, which operates 24 hours a day, through this link.
Ticket prices and opening time:
Click here.
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