<h3>The Isle of Wight</h3>

The Isle of Wight is an English Island and country in the English channel five miles from the South Coast of Britain. It is situated south of the county of Hampshire and is separated from mainland Britain by the Solent. Popular since Victorian times as a holiday resort, the Isle of Wight is known for its natural beauty and for its world-famous sailing based in Cowes.

With more people visiting each year, that figure can only rise. The Isle of Wight is the perfect place for a holiday as there are so many things to see and do. Whatever your interests, you will be spoiled for choice and will find that one visit to this special place is never enough. Most people that visit this wonderful island find themselves coming back time and time again which is great for Isle of Wight tourism.

The Isle of Wight is the smallest of England’s counties, with the resident population being around 130,000. To the north lies the Solent and to the south is the English Channel. Known as “The Garden Isle”, this jewel of England indeed resembles a diamond in shape, measuring 23 miles west to east and 13 miles north to south, an area or 147 square miles.

Language and dialect

The distinctive Isle of Wight accent is a somewhat stronger version of the traditional Hampshire dialect, featuring the dropping of some consonands and an emphasis on longer vowels. This is similar to the West Country dialect heard in Southwestern England, but less removed in sound from the Estuary English of the Southeast. In common with many other English regional dialects and accents, a strong Island accent is not now commonly heard, and, as speakers tend to be older, this decline is likely to continue.

The Island also has its own local and regional words. Some words, including grockle (visitor) and nipper/nips (a younger male person), are still commonly used and are shared with neighbouring areas. A few are unique to the Island, for example overner (a mainlander who has settled on the Island) and caulkhead (someone born on the Island or, for sticklers, those born there from long-established Island stock). Other words are more obscure and used now mainly for comic emphasis, such as mallishag (meaning) and nammit ("noon-meat", meaning food). Some other words are "gurt" as in large or great, also "gallybagger" as in scarecrow.

The exact centre of the Island is at Shide Corner, on the outskirts of Newport and the highest point is St. Boniface Down at Ventnor. Walking on the Isle of Wight is a popular past-time and there are over 500 miles of public footpaths including dramatic coastal paths.

The climate here is almost sub-tropical and Sandown, Shanklin and Ventnor are regularly at the top of the UK sunshine table. Over 50% of the Island has been designated an “Area of Outstanding Beauty” with about half of the coastline named as “Heritage Coast” - an honour only awarded to the finest stretches of coastline in the country.

Red squirrels have a particular penchant for the surroundings (due to the lack of grey squirrels) and are widely prevalent on the Island - almost the final stronghold in the south of the country.

The most famous landmark here on the Isle of Wight is The Needles - three jagged chalk projections running out to sea at the extreme west of the island at Alum Bay, which is also renowned for its multi-coloured sand cliffs, which are caused by a mixture of minerals in the sand.

There is a lighthouse here too, clinging to the base of the most westerly rock of the Needles group. It originally became popular here with tourists over 200 years ago when they used to visit by paddle steamer from the mainland.

Another popular landmark is the Bembridge Windmill, the only existing windmill on the Island. It is located at the opposite end of the Island, was built around 1700 and still has its original machinery intact.

Source: wikipedia and travel-rants