Frazer and Helen Cunningham always had a fantasy: to build their own holiday
home on the Isle of Wight. Their dream came true when, in 2000, they bought
a small plot of land in Ventnor, where, with the help of Frazer’s architect
brother, they built a two-bedroom house for £70,000.
Three years ago, the Cunninghams decided to really take the plunge, swapping
life in Dulwich, south London, for full-time island living. They reside with
their daughter, Faber, 16, in the cottage and run a business renting out
vintage Airstream caravans, using one for photo shoots. (Frazer is a
photographer and Helen is a fashion stylist.)
“I loved London, and it was quite an adventure to move, but we love it here,
too,” says Helen, 46. “There’s so much to do – but it is a slower pace of
life.”
The Cunninghams are not alone in swapping the rat race of city life for the
more sedate pleasures of the home-counties isle. While it has long been a
haven for braying yachtsmen, and a popular holiday destination ever since
Queen Victoria started spending her summers there in 1845 - not to mention
her retirement in later years – the Isle of Wight is shaking off its staid
image and attracting a whole new breed of buyers.
Admittedly, the yachtsmen (not all of them voluble) and those on their annual
bucket-and-spade holiday still come, but more people are buying to live
there permanently – many, like the Cunninghams, setting up businesses on the
island and working from home. It is getting trendier, too: the DJ Rob da
Bank lives there, and is one of the island’s ambassadors; the comedian
Russell Brand was rumoured to be house-hunting in Ventnor earlier this
month; and there are three music festivals every summer, attracting
cool-hunters who wouldn’t have dreamt of setting foot on the Portsmouth-Ryde
ferry until recently.
“I’ve seen the island change dramatically over the past decade or so,” says
Cathy Tutton, a property-finder who has lived and worked on the Isle of
Wight for 21 years (01983 721701, www.cathytutton.co.uk
). “It’s always had its own following, from people who came for childhood
holidays in Bembridge or for Cowes Week, but there have been a lot of
lifestyle moves in the past decade. Buyers are getting younger and a number
of big players are seeking out the island as a destination, even though they
could probably live anywhere.”
This is having an effect on prices: while the rest of the country languishes
in the property doldrums, on the Isle of Wight values have risen by 2.1%
since last July, compared with an average drop of 10.3% on the mainland.
“The Isle of Wight is one of the best-performing locations at the current
time,” says Liam Bailey, head of research at Knight Frank, who predicts that
prices will rise faster here than anywhere else in the southeast in the next
five years.
What, then, is the appeal of this little island, a mere 146 square miles in
size, with a population of just under 133,000?
Visiting on a beautiful English summer’s day, it has obvious charms. The
18-minute ferry trip from the mainland is the first excitement – the very
act of crossing water to get there makes visiting feel like a holiday. As
Helen Cunningham says: “There’s something about coming over the water – it
does make your shoulders go down a bit.”
Arriving at Ryde pier, you feel as if you are stepping back in time, what with
the long, boarded walkway to the station and ferry port, the sandy beach,
the children eating ice cream, and row upon row of solid-looking Victorian
houses. A drive around the island is like entering an Enid Blyton story: on
the eastern and southern sides, it’s all bosky woods with dappled light and
shade, rolling hills and steep gullies down to the blue sea; to the west,
dazzling white cliffs stretch for miles, long, sandy beaches at their feet.
All around the island are pretty little towns, not much more than overgrown
villages. To the east are Seaview, a haven for yacht-lovers, where a Jolly
Roger flutters bravely in a front garden; Bembridge, with its
bucket-and-spade beach and small children; and Ventnor, with its retro 1950s
feel. To the west is Yarmouth, which could have come off the lid of a
biscuit tin. And to the north is Cowes, where white sails flicker and bob
across the Solent.
Property prices vary as much as the landscape. Prime beachfront locations in
popular areas such as Seaview, Bembridge and Yarmouth fetch as much as they
would on the mainland, with large houses going for several million. Savills
(023 8071 3998, www.savills.com) is
selling five-bedroom Seamark House, in St Helens, on the eastern side, for
£2.3m; Creasey Biles & King (01983 282 222, www.creasey-biles-king.co.uk),
a local agent, recently sold Georgian Clare-mont House, in Cowes, for £2m.
It is possible to pick up cheaper property in popular areas – a fourbed,
double-fronted house at the slightly shabbier end of Seaview recently sold
for just under £600,000.
If you’re after a bargain in an up-and-coming area, take a look at Ventnor,
where you can buy a new two-bedroom flat in the centre for as little as
£110,000; a detached three- or four-bedroom house costs between £300,000 and
£400,000. “The advantage of Ventnor against much of the island is that it’s
terraced, so you always get a sea view,” explains Richard Dickson, a
director of Hose Rhodes Dickson, an estate agency based on the island. The
waterfront at Ventnor is seeing the first signs of full-on gentrification;
there’s a crab shack where you can pick up freshly caught seafood.
Another area seeing huge investment is East Cowes, the slightly down-market
neighbour to Cowes proper. A £250m scheme to transform the town centre is
under way, while developments such as Barratt’s mixture of flats and houses
on the waterfront are replacing the industrial landscape. Prices there are
25% lower than in Cowes – and, though it lacks cachet, you can get to the
Solent and the Royal Yacht Squadron club just as easily.
On the opposite coast, West Wight, the area around Brook and Brighstone has a
good primary school and a shop, making it popular with residents and
second-homers – you can pick up a four-bedroom family house for between
£350,000 and £550,000. Kingston & Grist is selling a
four-bedroom property in the village for £450,000 (01983 761005, www.kingstonandgrist.co.uk
). There is new development in this area, too: the old Savoy Country Club,
set in 28 acres just outside Yarmouth, is being transformed into one, two-
and three-bedroom cottages with all the fun of the clubhouse (indoor sports,
spa and pool). Prices range from £174,950 to £235,000 (www.savoyholidays.com
).
Further inland, prices come down substantially – a 20%-30% drop, according to
Michael Riley, the Savills representative on the island. Five years ago,
James and Penny Lord sold the three-bedroom holiday cottage near Yarmouth
that they had owned since 2001, and bought a derelict three-bedroom
farmhouse near Newport, with several acres, for £340,000. They spent another
£200,000 doing it up. The couple, along with their two children, Scarlett,
7, and Patrick, 5, now live on the island permanently: James, 38, works from
home as a graphic designer and Penny, 40, runs a soft-furnishing business.
“There’s a great sense of community here,” says James, who is a keen sailor.
“Although we’re in the centre of the island, it’s only 15 minutes’ drive to
Cowes. And, because it’s a small place, the people you meet there are the
people you bump into the next day doing business.”
It might sound like a nightmare to some, but that’s island life.
Community-orientated, wonderfully sedate and quite charming. As Helen
Cunningham says: “It’s in a time warp. We love it.”
