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The Isle of Wight UNESCO Biosphere Reserve – another great reason to live here.
Did you know that Isle of Wight was awarded biosphere status in 2019? The Island is officially a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and that makes it only the seventh UK destination to be awarded this very special award. So, what is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and why did the Isle of Wight get awarded this honour?
The Isle of Wight is now known as one of the best areas in the world for managed landscapes where human impact doesn’t detract from the natural beauty or the wildlife. As soon as the ferry leaves the mainland to cross the Solent you are in the Reserve and on your way to celebrate the wealth of locally produced food and the huge range of activities that await including water sports, cycling and walking. With traditional family orientated beaches, the UK’s oldest theme park Blackgang Chine, and the famous sands at Alum Bay, there are plenty of places to make family memories that will last a lifetime. And for those who are looking for tranquillity, escapism and inspiration, there are the elevated chalk downs, coastal landscapes which enjoy a lack of noise and light pollution and interestingly most of south-east England’s ‘Dark Skies’ are found in the area.
Joel Bateman, Isle of Wight AONB Project Officer says, “The Island is a very special place. We have this beautiful mix of fantastic landscape, which is really quite diverse, mixed with 140 thousand people living in and amongst fantastic wildlife, well managed farmland – the Island has a little bit of Southern England all across it and it’s just this astonishing place. This recognition of the fact that the Island is a very special place is very much the starting point to push towards that ultimate sustainable development goal where we’re meeting the needs of the people today while our kids, our grandkids, our great grandkids can meet the needs that they will have in the future. And that’s the great big goal of this, is to really push for the future.”
The UNESCO Biosphere Reserve is, of course, a year -round pleasure and there are some wonderful highlights and iconic sights which all form part of the picture. If ancient history is your love, then visit St Catherine’s Oratory and reward yourself with stunning views across the sea. The only surviving medieval lighthouse in England, St Catherine’s Oratory stands on one of the highest parts of the Island. The 11-foot tall stone tower is all that remains of the original building, and was built by Walter de Godeton, Lord of Chale, as penance for stealing wine from a shipwreck in Chale Bay in 1313.
Home to dinosaur fossils and surfers and the Glanville Fritillary and Adonis Blue butterflies which thrive on the chalk down land, Compton Bay has also won the Marine Conservation Award. Hugely popular year- round for kitesurfing, surfing and paddle boarding for the hardy and brave, this West Wight beach is part of the Jurassic coast. Further up the coast, one of the most photographed views of the Isle of Wight, The Needles at Alum Bay are a row of three distinctive chalk stacks rising out of the choppy waters. There were originally four stacks with the fourth, now missing stack being needle shaped and named Lot’s Wife after the pillars of salt bible story and which collapsed in 1764. Walk from Freshwater up Tennyson Down through grassland home to skylarks and small blue butterflies in summer, past the Tennyson monument and on to Alum Bay.
