Our Weekend At Rookley Country Park On The Isle Of Wight

A few weekends ago we travelled to the Isle of Wight. We were invited to stay for a couple of nights at Rookley Country Park, part of Island View Holidays. We have not been to the Isle of Wight before (well at least not as a family as I think Nick visited when he was a child). I was very excited to visit because I have heard so many beautiful things about it. 

We decided to travel the night before so we didn’t have to rush to get our ferry the following morning. We stayed in a hotel near the Southampton Terminal. OMG, my girls were so excited about this trip. As soon as we arrived at the hotel they were jumping up and down! Bless them!

RED FUNNEL FERRY

The following morning we had a nice and relaxed breakfast as we didn’t have to rush. We took our time and then we headed to the Red Funnel Ferry Terminal. Our Ferry was at midday but we arrived an hour before this so they let us get an earlier ferry which was lovely.

Lovely Family Photo On the Ferry

I hadn’t been on a ferry before so we were all very excited about it. The girls wanted to go around and explore. The only problem was that it was very windy so we couldn’t be too long outside. But we managed to get a nice family photo together. The views were lovely! I guess it will be even better on a sunny and warmer day.

Inside Ref Funnel Ferry

The journey is about an hour. It was after 11 am but the girls were a little bit hungry so they were ready for a snack so we got something to entertain them while we were on the boat. There was plenty of space to sit down although it was quite busy that day. They also have wifi which is handy if you need to do some work or stay in touch. It was a lovely experience!

SHANKLIN

We arrived to the Isle of Wight at about midday. We were too early to check in at Rookley Country Park so we decided to explore the area a little bit. Rookley Country Park is centrally located so it is very hand for reaching all sides of the island. Close to the ferry and close to many attractions.

Happy Family Photo at Shanklin

We decided to visit Shanklin and had a little walk along the seafront. Not long after we arrived a proper storm started. It was raining a lot! It was unfortunate as we really wanted to explore. Thankfully we were kept ourselves warm and dry with our new Regatta Outdoors clothes. Again we managed to get another family photo together with the lovely sea view just before the rain started to pour down.

There was an indoor play area and arcade so we decided to get inside so the girls can have some fun while we were waiting for the rain to stop.

ROOKLEY COUNTRY PARK

Rookley Country Park Entrance

We stayed for about an hour before making our way towards the resort, which wasn’t far. When we arrived, and despite the modest entrance and reception area (these are yet to be renovated) we discovered our accommodation – the most lovely (and brand new) Lakehouse ever!

OUR ACCOMMODATION: LAKEHOUSE

Our Accommodation: A lovely Lakehouse

The Lakehouses are amazing! We were so excited about it. They look modern and are very well made. The view of the lake is mesmerising. My only concern was that younger kids have to be supervised very closely as you don’t want them to get anywhere near the lake but with my girls, it was all fine as they are old enough to understand that they shouldn’t be near the water.

Outside the Lakehouses

Inside our Lakehouse

Two bedrooms with ensuite bathroom

At the moment there are 10 brand new Lakehouses but they are about to build another 10 so there will be about 20 Lakehouses in total. They all have two bedrooms, two shower rooms, and an open-plan lounge/diner/kitchen which create a light and airy space that maximises the lake views and the island light as well as log burning stoves and lakefront patios. Towels were also supplied.

One room has a double bed and the other room has twins bed. This was perfect for us. You really have everything you need if you wish to have a quiet day. There is a small Co-operative store very close to the resort where you can buy all your basic food and essentials. The nearest supermarket is Asda, in Newport. A welcome tray or basket with some essentials for your first night would be a good idea even if it was a paid option. Nick had to pop to the Co-op to buy some essentials.

Happy Family Photo Inside our Lakehouse

We then changed and got ready for dinner. We walked towards the main building. It was still raining so we couldn’t really explore much but we noticed they had a playground.

We had a lovely dinner! We were pleased with their food overall and the staff were so nice and friendly. It was also great to be able to hear more about their upcoming projects. Apparently they also have cottages and caravans. Their cottages have been newly refurbished too.

SWIMMING POOL

Lovely early swim with the whole family!

The following morning we decided to go for an early swim. They have an indoor and outdoor pool. Only the indoor pool was available when we were there but they were ready to open the outdoor pool not long after our visit.

We were the only ones having a swim at the time so we really enjoyed our time there. We swam for about an hour and had so much fun! It was really lovely!

KIDS ACTIVITIES

After our lovely dip in the pool, we changed and went straight to the kid’s activities room. They have different activities on offer like pebble painting, scavenger hunts, clay play, sand bottles, painting, Rookley rocks, pool volleyball and tie-dye. We booked for a tie-dye session because we knew the girls would love doing something like this.

You need to be with them at the session though. You cannot leave your kids alone but it was mentioned that they were looking into having kids activities where you could leave your children. That would be amazing because sometimes you just want a little break.

EXPLORING THE RESORT

Rookley Country Park boasts some lovely fishing lakes. We decided to go for a stroll along the waterfront. This was really nice. The views are amazing and the weather was better that day. No more rain which made a big difference.

Walking along the waterfront

We decided to stay on site that day because we wanted to enjoy the facilities and have a feel for what Rookley Country Park has to offer to families.

Playground

After our walk, the girls wanted to go to the playground. It is not very big but they had good fun. Because we had bought some essentials the day before, we decided to have lunch at the Lakehouse.

If you don’t want to cook, they have an on-site restaurant serving meals all day too, which is a great option.

DISCO TIME

As part of their kids/family entertainment, there was a Kids Disco from 6 pm to 8 pm. Our girls had a lot of fun. Bella loves singing and dancing so this was right up her street. She was so happy.

We ordered some food for all of us from the restaurant . The girls wanted to stay until the very end!

SUNDAY – BREAKFAST

The following morning (our last day) we were asked to meet for a farewell breakfast. They had a yummy breakfast buffet with all the typical English Breakfast food such as grilled tomatoes, fried mushrooms, bacon, baked beans, sausages, scrambled eggs and best of all, fried potatoes! OMG, I loved them! I think I ate 4, LOL! We all really enjoyed it!

After our tasty breakfast we checked out and decided to explore the Isle of Wight a bit more, so we went to Blackgang Chine. I’ll cover this more in another blog post. There are few interesting attractions in the island such as Carisbrooke Castle, Osborne House, Dinosaur Isle, The Needles, Robin Hill Country Park, Garlic Farm Isle of Wight Zoo, Isle of Wight Steam Railway. We will definitely need to come back and explore more! It felt that the weekend past too quick for us.

On our Ferry having an early dinner

After a lovely day, we went back to the terminal to get our Ferry home. We had a really good time on the Isle of Wight. We just want to say thank you so much to Rookley Country Park for inviting us to spend such a lovely family weekend.

Have you visited the Isle of Wight before? Where did you go? Have you heard of Rookley Country Park before? What do you think of it?

*Disclosure: We were invited to Rookley Country Park to try their brand new accommodation. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks for stopping by,

Love you all ❤️

Franca  💋