I’d only been to the Isle of Wight once as a child, so my memories of England’s second most populous island were a little fuzzy. Even so, I felt a little tinge of excitement at the thought of two days exploring a place I had been told ‘stood still in time’.

Sailing across on Wightlink from Lymington only takes half an hour, and as the water was like a millpond, the four of us stood on the deck watching as the island grew larger and larger.

Before we knew it we were driving out of Ryde terminal in search of our hotel, taking the coast road towards Ventnor.

The Isle of Wight is actually a county and is steeped in maritime history, from its iconic Needles lighthouse to its quaint fishing villages and famous Regatta.

It has also been home to the poets Swinburne and Tennyson and, most famously, to Queen Victoria, who built her much-loved summer residence and final home Osborne House at East Cowes.

We found the Hambrough perched above the cliff side in Ventnor.

A 5 AA Gold star Victorian villa with seven bedrooms and a fine dining restaurant, the Hambrough is part of a group that also contains the Pond Café in nearby Bonchurch and Ventnor’s Winter Garden complex.

We were shown to a studio suite on the first floor of the hotel and as soon as we walked through the door were taken aback by our vast and glorious view of the channel.

Ours was a huge bedroom with French doors on to a balcony.

Impeccably decorated with a large and inviting bed, our girls would be sleeping on a double sofa bed and quickly set about poking little fingers into the TV controls, minibar and Nespresso machine.

As always I made straight for the bathroom and wasn’t disappointed with what I found – a downpour shower, separate, deep, freestanding bath and delicious products.

After unpacking we were keen to start our adventure so we left the hotel, jumped in the car and headed for the island’s famous steam railway.

Like all children, our girls love trains and steam trains are the most magical of all.

We collected our tickets and made our way to the old-fashioned station, where we found traditionally-uniformed staff and a gorgeous locomotive billowing out clouds of steam.

One of Britain’s Heritage Railways and a registered educational charity, there is always lots going on at the Railway and Santa even visits in December.

After a tasty and very reasonably-priced lunch in the station cafe, we jumped on the train for a journey back in time.

Our five-year-old was a little confused by the Victorian and Edwardian carriages – a series of little boxes with no connecting corridors – and no toilets! But she loved the puffing and hissing of the steam engine as it trundled five miles from Smallbrook Junction through Ashey and Havenstreet to Wootton, stopping at all the quaint stations along the way.

After our leisurely steam train tour we returned to the hotel and changed before venturing out in search of dinner.

Our island guidebook told us that a short walk along the Esplanade was a pub called the Spyglass Inn, which offered great food, live music and heaps of smuggler history. We found the pub ablaze with light and literally perched atop the waves.

In the darkness we could see a terrace which must be gorgeous in the summer and some pretty mean-looking smuggler statues which made the girls giggle.

Inside, the pub has low ceilings, rich decor and walls festooned with maritime pictures and artefacts.

Seafood is a speciality at the Spyglass with fresh crab and lobster delivered straight to door from the Ventnor Haven fishery.

We all went for green-lipped mussels and chips and were amazed when we received the biggest mussels we had ever seen.

Later, we made our way back to The Hambrough along the beach, hearing the waves crash in the darkness.

The next morning, after the best night’s sleep I had had in ages, we made our way down to breakfast.

A little nose around the hotel beforehand revealed a luxurious bar area.

We then made our way into breakfast where we found cereals, pastries, fruit, smoothies and juice, as well as a hearty hot menu too.

After filling our boots with bacon, vine tomatoes and sausages, we set off in search of other meat eaters – dinosaurs.

The Isle of Wight has some of the richest cliffs and quarries for dinosaur fossils in Europe and Dinosaur Isle is Britain’s first purpose-built dinosaur museum and visitor attraction.

Based in Sandown, the museum has a huge hands-on learning gallery complete with model dinosaurs, sound effects and lots of practical experiments, which our girls loved.

You can also join guided fossil walks throughout the year at the beach. That evening, as we boarded the ferry back to Lymington we all agreed we had had a fabulous time on the Isle of Wight.

As we had visited out of season we had missed the chance to enjoy some of the many attractions, parks and historical sites – as well as the island’s beaches.

But that just means we will have to go back for another adventure soon...

Getaway

For more details see visitisleofwight.co.uk

Thehambrough.com