Where We've Stayed (Part Three) - Rookley Country Park

The third place they sent us to was Rookley Country Park, in the town of Rookley which is a little inland of Ventnor.

My feelings were mixed. We had kind of adopted Thorness Bay, and this was completely different. Smaller, and independent - the bar was more of a pub than an entertainment complex, indeed one section was largely inhabited on most evenings by locals enjoying the Real Ale rather than by holidaymakers.

On the plus side, for me, there was a fishing lake. Rather, there were two fishing lakes, but one was the sole preserve (no pun intended) of the serious carp anglers, those anoraks of the thousand-quid rods with the irritating alarms and apparently limitless patience.

I had been quite a good angler as a kid, but hadn't found the time to pursue my interest into adulthood. Shortly before my first stay at Rookley I had made a half-hearted attempt to rectify this omission by purchasing some cheap tackle, but I had never been a carp angler at the best of times. For my first few visits to Rookley I contented myself with the relatively untaxing pursuit of small roach, rudd and perch.

Anyway, the site itself then comprised a few rows of caravans. We were impressed, on our first visit, by the size and cleanliness of the one that had been allocated to us. Despite it allegedly being a Bronze Standard model it ranked amongst the best that we had stayed in.

The site, even then, boasted a swimming pool and a pitch and putt course. In the bar, where as it turned out there was indeed nightly entertainment (including an Elvis impersonator called Simon who was resident on the Island), there was also a pool table. The bar area was sectioned in such a way as to create an entertainment area for visitors and a smaller pub-like area, as mentioned above, for the locals.

We have stayed at Rookley several times during the years that have passed following our first visit. It is now a considerably bigger operation, with a few dozen holiday homes having been constructed where the caravans used to be, and the caravans themselves relocated (in greater number) elsewhere on the site. Owned by the Island View Holidays chain, it now boasts a small shop, a fine restaurant-cum-lounge bar as well as a spruced-up entertainment bar (the Midnight Bar), a children's play area and a very modest mini crazy golf course. By an apparent twist of fate, Simon/Elvis is now the manager!

Last year I stayed at Rookley twice on my own (working holidays, when The Sun gave us dates that were inconvenient to us as a family), and once with the clan. On the latter occasion we were lucky enough to have been allocated one of the new holiday homes, which are simply magnificent. The entertainment is often of a very high standard - on one of my solo visits there was a Madness tribute group (the highly-rated Ultimate Madness) which, despite there being a small entrance charge, provided for a really excellent night.

This upgrade in overall quality, as it happens, has been mirrored (again no pun intended) in my fishing, where despite the cheap tackle and light line which I still use I have somehow managed to land several carp - including fine specimens of 11lbs, 13.5lbs and 20lbs successively - as well as innumerable green and golden tench and not a few crucians.

Rookley has long become one of our preferred ports of call on our frequent visits to the Island, and seems to be going from strength to strength.