The Isle of Wight rakes in tourism awards!

Wightstay offer their huge congratulations to businesses and events on the Isle of Wight, following their success at the Tourism South East ExSELlence Awards 2009!

The awards ceremony took place at the Wentworth Club in Surrey, and the Isle of Wight was without a doubt the winner, with nominations in nearly every category!!

The results are as follows...

Silver Award Winners

Tourism Event of the Year - Isle of Wight Walking Festival
Best Tourism Experience Award - Seaview Wildlife Encounter
Caravan/Holiday Park of the Year - Old Mill Holiday Park
Self Catering Holiday of the Year - Mersley Farm

Highly Commended Award Winners

Access for All - Sunny Bay Apartments
Caravan/Holiday Park of the Year - The Orchards Holiday Park
Flavour of the South East - The Garlic Farm
Sustainable Tourism Award - Bedford Lodge

Proof positive that the Isle of Wight is tops when it comes to places to visit in the UK - and for places to stay on the Isle of Wight, take a look at the rest of the Wightstay - with hotels, bed and breakfasts, camping, touring and holiday parks, great attractions, the Isle of Wight really is the best place to visit - especially this half term!

Go Yellow Day for the EarlMountbatten Hospice with Netguides and WightStay

What a day! The WightStay team have been out and about with our tame gorilla collecting money for the Earl Mountbatten Hospice on Go Yellow Day.

Take a look at the photos, as people queued to get on to the Red Funnel car ferry from East Cowes, they were treated to the sight of our gorilla and his handlers giving away bananas - nearly 500 of them!

Those waiting dug deep and put money in the collection tins, which filled very quickly!

With lots of great monkey music blasting out from our speakers, we hope that everyone had fun - the smiles on the faces of children in particular was brilliant.

We can't thank enough Lynn and Sandra at That's Service Party Shop for helping us out with the gorilla suit and Darren, Alexa and the team at Red Funnel for letting us take over the car park, and collect money for this great charity.

And of course - a huge thank you to everyone who gave so generously!

If you weren't on the Island, then you missed out on your free banana - why not take a look at WightStay and our selection of great hotels on the Isle of Wight, our list of lovely self catering cottages and apartments on the Isle of Wight, or our bed and breakfast choices, or the camping and touring sites on the Isle of Wight!

Once again, thank you to everyone who gave money - we hope you enjoyed the bananas!

The Isle of Wight - or Pink - or Red - and now even Yellow!

Autumn on the Isle of Wight is all about the colours - the sky goes from bright blue to a range of dramatic shades; the leaves on the trees take on their autumn hues - from green to red, to yellow, to brown; the scarves come out around the necks of schoolchildren, dazzling in their array of colours...

All very poetic - but the Isle of Wight itself? We know that it is National RED Squirrel week, and there are plenty of opportunities to see these cute and increasingly rare creatures; and that this month the Isle of Wight aims to become the Isle of PINK to help raise awareness and support for the Breast Cancer Campaign; but did you know that this Friday it is Go YELLOW Day here on the Isle of Wight?

Go Yellow Day is in support of the Earl Mounbatten Hospice - and anybody who has come to visit the Isle of Wight during the Isle of Wight Festival or Bestival will have seen the Earl Mountbatten Hospice collecting money by selling huge sunflowers (now the must-have addition for any festival-goer of style and taste)

Across the Island, people are wearing yellow, selling yellow cakes, even climbing the equivalent height of Mount Everest - all to support the Island's only hospice which needs every penny of support it can generate to provide hospice care to the patients with life-limiting conditions and their families on the Isle of Wight.

If you are coming to the Isle of Wight this week, perhaps you might like to take part in the fun and raise money for this worthwhile cause!

Come and stay at one of our many hotels on the Isle of Wight, our camping and touring sites on the Isle of Wight, or our bed and breakfasts in Shanklin, Sandown, Freshwater, Cowes - everywhere on the Isle of Wight!

What are WightStay doing on Go Yellow Day? I'll let you know later in the week!
(Notice I resisted the urge to mis-spell the Isle of Wight to Isle of WHITE...)

National Red Squirrel Week on the Isle of Wight

What a beautiful day on the Isle of Wight! The sun is shining, people are still walking around in shorts and t-shirts - Indian summer? No - on Isle of Wight the summer just lasts longer!

This month, the name is changing to the Isle of Pink - but this week coming on the Isle of Wight is a chance to see something that very few places in the UK can boast... The Island is a desingated grey squirrel free area - we only have the red squirrel here and this week is the Wildlife Trusts' National Red Squirrel Week.

If you are interested in the red squirrel - perhaps you've never seen one - then visit the Isle of Wight this week! The red squirrel is the only squirrel native to the UK - contact Helen Butler who runs the Wight Squirrel Project to book on one of her walks, or take part in the workshop which shows you how to spot the signs of these shy creatures - and you may even see one yourself! Give her a call on 01983 611003 or email wightsquirrels@hotmail.com .

If you need somewhere to stay whilst out spotting squirrels, then WightStay is here to help - we have many hotels, camping sites, guesthouses and bed and breakfasts to choose from Shanklin to Totland, Ryde to Ventnor and all points between!

Come and see these rare and beuatiful creatures, whose numbers have been declining on the UK mainland for many years, but thrive on the Isle of Wight - we look forward to seeing you soon!

Visit the Isle of Wight - or even the Isle of Pink!

Pinch, punch first of the month! October has rolled around on the Isle of Wight, the air has the clean crisp feeling to it, and the sun is still shining!

There is plenty to do on the Isle of Wight - or this month as it is known - the Isle of Pink!

The Guildhall in Newport turns pink with the help of the people from Happy Daze!

As part of the Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the Island will see a series of events to raise awareness and funds for the campaign. This month, the aim is to raise £40 000 for the Breast Cancer Campaign on the Isle of Wight and £3.5 million nationally, and there will be many opportunities to do it - so if you want to help out, visit the Isle of Wight (I mean Pink!) and join in the many fun events - or even organise your own Pink event!

If you visit the Botanic Gardens in Ventnor, you can place a pink ribbon around a tree - or at the Isle of Wight Zoo in Sandown you can celebrate Halloween in style - as long as your style is Pink! More details to come over the next few days and weeks...

With plenty of places to stay on the Isle of Wight, you won't be short of great hotels in Sandown, camping in the countryside or self catering cottages in Freshwater.

The sea's still lovely and warm after a great summer and the beaches are deserted. What are you waiting for?

Come and stay on the Isle of Wight - and paint the town PINK!