One of my favourite things to do when I’m on the Isle of Wight is to visit The Needles at Alum Bay. There’s so much to see and do there. You can do two different things when you park up in their big car park.
You can walk along the top of the headland to the Old and New Batteries and see the old war forts. You can walk down into the pleasure park and enjoy the many attractions including glass blowing, filling up sand ornaments and partake in crazy golf.
Or, if you are brave enough, take the chair lift down to the beach and get a boat tour out to the Needles themselves.
You can park there for £6 for the day, which is really reasonable and the staff there are always so friendly, welcoming and helpful. It’s always a fantastic, fun filled day out.
Where are the Needles?
The Needles are on the far western side of the Isle of Wight in West Wight. There are four defined edges of the Isle of Wight and the Needles is right on the tip of the west side, at the far end of Totland. They point out into the English Channel and have a lighthouse on the far end.
The Needles are often thought of as one of the seven natural wonders of the South of England.
Did you know that they have also recorded the highest ever gusts of wind of 122 miles an hour during Storm Eunice in 2022!
What are the Needles?
The Needles are a row of three chalk stacks that are about 30 metre high.
Stacks are formed by erosion from the sea on the headland. The force of the sea on the headland creates cracks and these form into a cave. The sea eventually erodes through the cave making an archway and when the roof of the archway collapses into the sea, the sides that are left standing are called stacks.
They were named the Needles apparently because one of the four ‘original’ stacks looked like a needle, and this became named as “Lot’s Wife”. It was called Lot’s Wife after a story in the bible about Lot’s wife who turned into a pillar of salt. This stack was 120 foot tall and was tall, thin and pointed like a needle.
Sadly this stack fell into the sea after a storm in 1764, but the name stuck and the remaining three stacks are still called the Needles.
The three remaining stacks stand high and strong and at the end, there is a lighthouse warning sailors to the danger of the sounding area.
The Lighthouse
The lighthouse was built in 1859 and has been automated since 1994 and has a helipad for easy access.
Originally there was a lighthouse on top of the cliffs, which was built in 1786, but it wasn’t very effective as it stood 151 metres above sea level and the light was often dimmed by fog and mist.
They replaced this with a new lighthouse at the end of the rock formation by apparently using dynamite to flatten the end rock.
The sea around the Needles is known to be treacherous and sailors asked for a lighthouse to be built there from as far back as 1781.
There is a dangerous shingle bed by the lighthouse which is about three miles in length. This has claimed three ships in the past namely HMS Assurance in the 1700s, HMS Pomone in the 1800s and more recently SS Varvassi in 1947.
The lighthouse that stands there today is 33.5 metres high and used to have three people looking after it. They apparently each had to take turns to work 24 hours a day for a whole month at a time. This was very hard and lonely for them so it was automated in 1994 and a helipad was added in 1987 so that crews could come and do repairs etc without the need for boat trips.
The Chair lift
The main talking point about your visit to Alum Bay is the chair lift. Will you be brave enough to go on it down to the beach? Personally I haven’t ever been on it as I don’t like heights but it looks great fun and a real adventure. I always love watching the people ride down on it and the views from there are spectacular.
The chairlift at Alum Bay has been there since 1973. If you are brave enough to have a go, you will be stunned by the fantastic views on the ride down to the beach.
The chairlift was designed to carry visitors down to the beach but you can access the beach by stairs if you prefer. I always take the stairs. There are quite a lot of them but plenty of room and brakes to stop and take a breather if you need to.
The chairlift is a legendary part of the pleasure park and carries millions of passengers every day. It can apparently take 500 people every hour in both directions.
The chairlift is now owned by the National Trust.
The Needles Boat Tours
If you’d like to have a closer look at the Needles you can get a boat tour that takes you out to sea by the end of the Needles. You can either take a 20 minute slow cruise or a fast high speed rib that will take you out for 15 minutes.
It’s a great experience and a fantastic photo opportunity, as you can see the Needles up close and looking back to see the multi coloured sands in the cliffs on the shore. You don’t need to book a tour, you can just turn up and you pay when you get on the boat.
It is to be noted that the boat trips are independently operated by Needles Pleasure Cruises Ltd and only run when the weather permits.
Amusement Park and things to do at Alum Bay
What can you do at Alum Bay pleasure park? You can go to a 4D cinema, See some glass blowing at Alum Bay Glass, that’s always so fascinating to watch. It’s so skillful and you can stand and watch while they create amazing objects out of molten glass.
There’s a lovely gift shop there too with so many handmade gorgeous pieces in, you will find it difficult not to buy something to take home.
There is also a sweet factory, The Isle of Wight Sweet Manufactory and you can see how sweets are made and maybe buy a few to try.
There’s fairground rides like the Carousel, tea cup ride and the water walkerz.
Of course there’s a dinosaur themed crazy golf course and lots of shops to browse in, including The Pier Head Shopping Emporium that sells lots of Isle of Wight goodies where you can really taste the Wight.
They sell everything locally made from pickles to salt, locally brewed Beer and vodka. It’s definitely worth a visit. I bought a bottle of Goddard’s Brewery “Ale of Wight” and a bottle of the Needles Raspberry Vodka and very nice they were too.
There are also lots of places to sit and grab something to eat and treat yourself to an ice cream.
Filling up Sand Ornaments
The Sand Shop is always a must if you come to Alum Bay. You can fill up your choice of glass ornament from lots of tubs of 21 different coloured sands taken from the cliffs at The Needles.
The tradition of filling up shapes with sand goes all the way back to the middle of the 1800’s. Even Queen Victoria had one given to her as a gift.
It used to be that the customers would go down to the cliffs and scrape off the sand themselves but due to health and safety and the protection of the cliffs, this is now collected professionally and dried ready to go into the shop. The sand is 100% genuine and not artificially coloured.
We chose a lighthouse, a map and a globe to fill up this time. They are great souvenirs and also great gifts for loved ones.
There’s not many people that I know that haven’t got a sand souvenir from Alum Bay on their mantlepiece.
The Old and New Batteries
You can walk up from the car park to the two batteries at the end of the headland. It’s quite a long walk and some of it is uphill so if you aren’t feeling fit enough to do the walk, you can always get the open top bus and that drops you off near the Old Battery.
There are two batteries at the end of the headland, a rocket testing station and four cottages that used to be for the coastguards, all of which are now owned by The National Trust.
The artillery battery has been there from the 1860s and was only decommissioned in 1954. It was built there to defend against invading enemy ships.
During the World Wars the Needles apparently helped to defend against German U Boats and helped to stop night landings of German torpedo boats.
After the Wars in 1945 the Batteries were decommissioned and they were put up for disposal in 1952 and in 1954 the guns were taken away.
There are still replica guns at the battery so that you can get a feel of what it was like there.
It was fascinating walking around the Battery. There is an entry fee for the Old Battery as it’s owned by The National Trust but it’s well worth the money and there’s lots of little museums to have a look around and a small tea shop at the end which serves delicious sausage rolls, sandwiches and cakes which you can enjoy while looking at the view at the end of the headland.
The National Trust took over management of the site in 1982 and now you can go and see where the soldiers were stationed. It’s very exposed there so it must have been very difficult manning the Battery in the winter months!
King Charles officially opened the site in 1982 when he was the Prince of Wales.
Rocket Testing
The downs on the headland were used as a location for top secret rocket testing from 1956 to 1971 as part of the British ICBM programme. Around 240 people worked there, in underground control rooms developing the rockets. The rockets were built on the Island, in Cowes.
They developed the “Black Night ” and “Black Arrow” space rockets there that were used to take research equipment into space. The Black Arrow was built to launch satellites.
The Prospero Satellite was launched in 1971 and was the first and only British satellite that was launched into space.
Marconi
Did you know that Guglielmo Marconi first broadcast his radio transmissions from the Needles in 1897.
Guglielmo Marconi was an Italian electrical engineer who created the first radio-wave wireless telegraph.
His discovery led to the development of radio, TV and the wireless communication that we have today.
Marconi set up his first radio transmission at the Needles in the Royal Needles Hotel. He used a 168 feet high mast to send the transmission.
In 1899 he managed to establish a connection between France and England across the Channel.
Conclusion
There is so much to see and do at The Needles. There’s something for everyone. You can go up from the car park and walk along the headland and find out all about the gun fortifications and enjoy the scenic views or you can go down into the Pleasure Park and enjoy lots of fun activities and see the making of Glass and Sweets. I love it there and I really enjoy taking in the views of the Needles from all angles.
There’s lots of places to have something to eat and sit and relax and enjoy the view. The park is run really well and you never have to wait long for anything.
It’s to be noted that the walk along the headland is quite a long walk there and back but well worth it. I would suggest sensible shoes and taking a drink with you, although there is a small cafe at the end of the headland once you enter the Old Battery.
There is an open top bus that takes you up to the Batteries if it is too far to walk. The Old Battery is owned by The National Trust so there is an entry fee but it’s worth it to see the history of the Needles and to explore.
We chose to do the walk to the Batteries one day and walk down to the beach on another day so we could enjoy them both properly as they are both quite a walk and there is so much to see and do at both places.
Of course you can’t go home without filling up an ornament with coloured sand, my favourite part and my son’s both love it even though they are older now. We had a great couple of days there and can’t wait to go back and do it all again and maybe next time I’ll be brave enough to try the chairlift!
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