Haviland Cottage

Dogfriendly Magazine Review

Read our comprehensive review of this listing printed in our bi-monthly magazine.

Haviland Cottage, Isle of Wight
Reviewer: James Waters

We had taken Stanley to Totland Bay in the Isle of Wight in July 2021, so it wasn’t in our plans to visit so soon. But we were keen to go back again to explore a different area. The ferry trip across from Portsmouth was once again straightforward. We were a bit more clued up on the dog areas of the boat for Stanley’s second trip and the crossing was pleasant and sunny for us. Once we arrived at Ventnor, we had a little time to look around before we checked in to the cottage.

Ventnor is a small seaside town, and this was out of season, so it was quiet and very quaint. It doesn’t have any of the tacky attractions you would find at south coast resorts. I think this is something common to a lot of the Isle of Wight, while there are a few bigger beaches such as Sandown and Shanklin, a lot of the beaches aren’t overly commercial and remain quite Victorian in style. We had a stroll along the promenade and Stanley enjoyed a paddle in the sea.  

There was time to pop into the first of our dog friendly recommendations provided by Haviland owner, Alan – Toni’s Tea Room. Again, the teashop has a unique early 20th century style in keeping with the local buildings. Toni’s offers a range of beverages and a lunch menu, as well as area complete with doggy bed. We felt very at home. Coffees, hot chocolates, and a doggy treat for Stanley set us up for making our way to the cottage.

One thing to mention at this point is Ventnor is a one-mile gentle stroll downhill from Haviland. A little slope on the way back, but good for exercise after refreshments or a meal. We enjoyed the proximity of it and there is also an alternative route to the beach just east of Ventnor which you can add to your walk. This section of the promenade is just 600 yards from the cottage, and you get to it via a secret garden door…

HAVILAND COTTAGE

Haviland has two parking spaces outside the cottage, and you enter via the front gate to be greeted by a somewhat grand Victorian building that used to be a coach house and has a chapel feel about its architecture.  There is also a hot tub on the front patio with a gate that takes you to a well maintained, large walled garden. This is a delight and Stanley, and our kids were excited to be presented with such a large space to run around and explore.

Through the hallway you are greeted by a large open kitchen with all the appliances you could need and some luxury items including an automated toaster (which believe or not was quite a treat for us as we have only ever used a manual one).  The kitchen connects to a wonderful light conservatory with six-person dining and double doors leading to the hot tub. We were impressed.

Upstairs three bedrooms are beautifully decorated in classical illustrated wallpaper and ornate bed furniture that has a real story telling feel – this ties in with the area of Ventnor featured in some of Charles Dicken’s novels. 

There is also a downstairs garden bedroom, but the real doggy delight is the snug room downstairs,

which is specially made for dogs. Alan has six golden retrievers so there needs to be a separate room when they come on holiday. The stair gate on the stairs is a useful feature to keep the dogs from coming up to our bedrooms. Also, to mention the second garden that backs on to the snug room, very convenient for the dogs to easily get out for a run and a sniff.

The living room is also a special room with its large flat screen TV, lots of entertainment with DVDs galore for all ages, and also a great selection of board games. Even ‘Haviland-themed’ postcards to send back to your ‘Wish You Were Here’s’.

Overall, the accommodation was a pleasure to stay in. The owners had thought of everything to make you and your dog’s visit something special.

Once we had settled in we looked at venturing back to Ventnor town for our evening meal. Another recommendation, The SpyGlass Inn, was our destination. Dog friendly and good traditional pub food. We walked the 20 minutes or so into town across the promenade to the pub. No reservations needed and a great atmosphere when we walked in, pirate and nautical memorabilia throughout the pub made it feel homely and welcoming.

Stanley was very much at home with the other canine companions around the pub. The food was pretty good and a little later a folk band played. We really enjoyed the music and Ventnor had a big thumbs up for our first night.

We didn’t have a lot planned for our visit except for relaxing and walking Stanley (and sometime in the hot tub). On our second day we ventured to use the secret garden door to get to the beach east of Ventnor. The instructions to do so are in the Haviland Cottage manual which is very informative and also gives some history about connection with Charles Dickens. It took us a little while to find the secret garden door, but this is also because there are multiple gardens with various areas. The garden door leads to a back alley which takes you on the route to the beach. It is just 600 yards, but down quite steep steps at one point. The beaches nearest to the cottage are part of a coastal walk around the Ventnor coast. We find the Isle of Wight has a good selection of coastal walks so great for getting out with Stanley and we walked this different route into the town centre again. Walking further on through Ventnor the coastal route takes you to Ventnor Park Gardens and then onto Castle Cove, which is a small resort area with a few facilities like a beach hut (ice-cream and coffees during the high-season) and a crab shack, all uncommercialised.

For our second meal out, we were recommended to visit Bonchurch Inn, in Bonchurch. Of course, dog friendly. The inn is a unique place with a pub-come-restaurant, but again something that could come straight out of a Charles Dickens novel. Based in a mansion courtyard it gave the feeling that we should be arriving on our horses. Best of all we were promised ‘life changing lasagne’ and we had to oblige. Did it change our lives – well, maybe, just a bit. The walk with Stanley up the hill to Boniface (about 1 mile) was enjoyable (with our phone torches trained on the spooky steps) and the whole night was a great experience.

Normally, on our break or holidays we try to venture a bit more, but the cottage was so nice and Ventnor such a lovely town that we spent a lot of time just relaxing. We can’t recommend the place enough for dog owners and their dogs to visit and stay somewhere that you feel is genuinely rather special.

Haviland Cottage, review by James Waters and appears in DogFriendly magazine issue 72.  For more information on the DogFriendly magazine visit https://www.dogfriendly.co.uk/magazine