Walking, Cycling, and Horse-riding

The Island is an excellent venue for walking and riding, with more than 500 miles of picturesque and well maintained paths and bridleways across a terrain the beauty and variety of which is unmatched anywhere else in Britain. A recently completed cycle track from Newport to Sandown provides an attractive and safe route between these towns and there is direct access to this from Marvel Cottage via a track through the farm. A cycle track also runs between Cowes and Newport along the west bank of the River Medina offering views of the river and its abundant bird life. Elsewhere, the Island's quiet country lanes also provide good walking, cycling and riding and we would be happy to assist with livery and/or access to riding.

If you wish to bring your horse on holiday with you, Marvel Cottage, with access to the farm’s indoor arena and absolutely fabulous hacking, makes an ideal base for a riding holiday.

The Isle of Wight is a fossil hunter's paradise with a wealth of fossil rich strata spanning a time period from the Early Cretaceous, some 125 million years ago, to the present day. The Island is of course famous for the rich diversity of its dinosaur fossils but as anyone interested in fossils will probably know a huge diversity of other vertebrate and invertebrate fossils can be found here. For those with more than a casual interest in geology, a number of Cretaceous and Tertiary type sections are also exposed along the coast.

Guided tours can be arranged if you would like to experience the thrill of finding your own dinosaur fossils or would like to look in detail at other aspects of the island's geology and palaeontology. The Museum of Isle of Wight Geology offers group tours of the dinosaur bearing strata in Sandown Bay and both The Fossil Shop and Dinosaur Farm Museum offer group tours of the dinosaur bearing strata on the Island's south west coast. However, for an entirely personal service to suite all areas and levels of interest look no further than the owners of Marvel Cottage. Steve has had a lifelong interest in the Island's geology and palaeontology and is currently engaged in a PhD project researching all the little animals that lived alongside the dinosaurs. Contact us for more information and visit our Island Geology pages.

The Island's huge diversity of habitats, its southerly location and isolation from the mainland make it a haven for wildlife of all types and its favourable and sunny climate make it home to many rare and sometimes surprising species such as Ventnor's wall lizards. Red squirrels, dormice and water voles thrive here as do rare moths and butterflies. The Island is also a major arrival and departure point for migratory birds and home to many species now rare on the mainland. It is, therefore, a bird watcher's paradise and days spent on the cliffs or at the National Trust nature reserve at Newtown are never disappointing. As for Marvel Farm, you can expect to see almost anything the Island has to offer - including Red squirrels.