Isle of Wight - Day 2 1st July: Part 2 - Mottistone church and churchyard, brief visits to Freshwater, Compton and The Sun

Following the walk to the Long Stone we moved the car to the National Trust car park at Mottistone Manor and had lunch.

A patch of umbellifers nearby was full of insects.

I am still not sure of the id of this insect possibly a Mint Beetle?
Edit - eek just looked at this photo again - I really had ought to proof read more - I don't think this is a beetle at all looking at it more closely! but a species of fly!

Information on the Mottistone Estate

We had planned to visit the gardens at the Manor but this was the only view we got

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as the property was actually closed that day. I really should have checked but I was lulled into a false sense of security as most of my local NT properties are open every day. Suspecting the family wouldn't be keen to come back as D and E are now no longer members and have to pay! I was determined to look round the beautiful ancient church of St Peter and St Paul and the wildlife friendly churchyard.

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Plants in walls

Cat's Ear (I think!! I find all these similar species exceedingly confusing!) and Ivy-leaved Toadflax

The churchyard is just wonderful - I could have spent hours here trying to identify the flowers, wild grasses, lichens and insects. Wild flowers included vetches, trefoils, bedstraws, wild carrot, ox-eye daisies, knapweed etc. and there were butterflies galore - mainly Meadow Brown with a few Marbled White and Commas. - Sorry no pics of the bees or butterflies - my Marbled White photo is blurred! and the Comma too far away!

Scarlet Pimpernel

There are a couple of crosses in the churchyard - I think this is the one with the 15th century shaft which marks the communal grave of 6 sailors drowned while attempting to rescue a ship in distress. Sorry I should have checked at the time as there was another smaller cross - seen in other photos.

The first church at Mottistone was built in the 12th century by Briande Insula, Lord of nearby Mottistone Manor but the church was extended in the mid 15th century by Robert and David Cheke whose family bought the manor in 1300. The Seely family purchased the estate in the 1860's and they restored the run-down church and many of the medieval features were sadly lost.

Osborne getting exceedingly excited at the thought of entering the church as this was where Benedict Cumberbatch (swoon from me) married Sophie Hunter on 14th February, 2015. She is the great great grand-daughter of General J E B Seely, first Baron Mottistone.

I am assuming this is a remnant of medieval wall paint - in other

areas of the church it has been restored.

Jacobean pulpit - apologies for the quality of some of the photos inside the church - my camera just does not like low light and sometimes using flash makes it even worse!

The font is 12th century

There is a local walk you can do (sadly we never managed to find the time to do the whole trail) to celebrate the locally famous war horse Warrior.

There is an excellent exhibition in the church giving much information about Warrior and his owner General Jack Seely of Mottistone.

The courage of the General in the war was legendary and he was awarded a DSO. He was MP for Isle of Wight from 1901 - 1924 and in 1915 inherited the manor. He moved to the manor in 1927 and was created the first Lord Mottistone in 1937. He was Lord Lieutenant of the Isle of Wight for nearly 30 years and died in 1947. His ashes lie in the Seely chapel.

He told the story of his horse in "My Horse Warrior" published in 1934. Warrior took part in the original Expeditionary Force in August 1914. Warrior served continuously on the Western Front until Christmas Day 1918, surviving many attempts on his life and died at the manor in 1941 aged 33.

The Jane Dillington Memorial - died 1674.

Stained Glass

Osborne enjoying the peace and tranquility of the churchyard.

We drove onto Freshwater for just a brief visit as we were to return later in the week - picture taken from the car of the only thatched church on the island.

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Freshwater

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The lifeboat was returning

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There is a lovely 2 mile nature trail you can walk around Afton Marsh which we have done in the past. The reserve has water voles (they are doing well on the Isle of Wight - no mink!!) so I was hoping to do some of the walk again.

Unfortunately we didn't get as far as the area where last time we say water vole burrow entrances as it was about half way round the trail and as D and E had stayed in the car it didn't seem fair to leave for them too long.

Onto Compton Bay for an icecream at the NT beach car park


Osborne was upset to discover you can no longer get down to the beach at this point as

there appears to have been a landslide and the lower stairs have disappeared. There was a digger on site so perhaps it is now being repaired?

Before going back to the cottage we drove to the Sun Inn at Hulverstone - a lovely 600 year old thatched pub with lovely views from the beer garden to the Downs and the sea.

Osborne looking forward to his first pint of the holiday :)

We did check the menus as it was within walking distance of the cottage but, as the food and drinks were very expensive, I didn't think we would return which was a shame especially as the certain actor mentioned above has been known to eat at this pub when he visits the island!!!

Finally, - yes a long day I promise I have nearly finished now!!!


a walk down to the beach just before sunset.

It was a bit too early for barn owls - the Military (coast road) is a superb location to watch them.


*D - photos taken by D with the Canon bridge camera SX50