DURING HALF TERM WEEK
every day Saturday 24 October until Sunday 1 November
Carisbrooke Castle and Osborne House will be opening their doors for free to young visitors during autumn half term week to offer families an historic day out without blowing the budget.
Every day from Saturday 24 October until Sunday 1 November up to three children under the age of 16, will be admitted free with each full paying adult or concession at either English Heritage site.
At Carisbrooke Castle families can meet four-legged ‘famous four’ – donkeys, Jack, Jill, Jimbob, and Jigsaw – and find out about their different characters, their favourite foods and who plays up at grooming time. They can pick up a quiz sheet to follow a fun trail around the castle and take a look at the castle’s museum which houses a toy exhibition and is packed with memorabilia and information about the Isle of Wight. Youngsters can dress up as soldiers, enjoy interactive displays, fire a medieval cannon or crossbow or meet characters from the castle’s past in a film narrated by comedian Phill Jupitus.
Families can also take advantage of the free child entry offer to enjoy a day out at Osborne House. The vast estate gardens include Swiss Cottage, the charming wooden chalet built for the royal children as a place to learn to cook and clean and their individual gardens and personal wheelbarrows, inscribed with each child’s initials. Youngsters can also see the royal children’s miniature fort and army barracks and Queen Victoria’s bathing closet. Inside the house there are rooms full of memorabilia including the lavishly furnished State Rooms, private rooms of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and the charming nursery. A vivid picture of life in service in the royal household can be uncovered in the below stairs Table-deckers’ rooms which contrasts dramatically with the Indian-influenced Durbar Room, with it’s exhibition of priceless gifts presented to Queen Victoria as Empress of India.