Osborne House

Visiting Osborne House was the main reason I wanted to go to the Isle of Wight. It was a fantastic day and I’ve enjoyed it a lot. I am sharing pictures as I took them and not in the obvious visiting route: house – garden – cottage and museum – beach. We’ve started our visit with the beach and from there we went to the cottage, the highlight for me, and the museum, before going through the garden to the house. I mentioned that we had lunch in another post, vegan on the Isle of Wight. We had curry, as that is what Queen Victoria loved.

This is the beach, where Queen Victoria and Prince Albert played with the children and swam. It was the place of a happy family, having fun together. Queen Victoria’s bathing machine was taken for conservation, so we couldn’t see it.

The beach was also used as a landing place for visitors, including dignitaries. The display board contains a wonderful sketch by Queen Victoria. Unfortunately her sketches are not printed anymore, because I would have bought a copy without any doubt.

This is one of the alcove seats installed on the grounds. It has Minton tiles on the ceiling. These were high-end tiles, used in places such as St. George’s Hall in Liverpool.

Next on our trip was the Swiss Cottage. I knew, before visiting, that for me this will be the highlight and it was. Prince Albert and his brother grew up playing in a Swiss chalet that also had a garden, a fort, and a museum. He had recreated this for his own children. The cottage was made in the 1850s, but the museum was built after Albert’s death.
The royal children loved their time there and brought their own children to play at Osborne. Queen Victoria used the cottage even after the children were grown up. It just shows the love they had for this place and for the memories they created here.

In the kitchen the princesses learned to cook and bake. This was used to make family recipes or recipes given to them by friends. It is a small room and it must have been crowded with so many children at one time. A recipe of Queen Victoria’s was left for visitors to enjoy – Imperial Water named after Napoleon, a lemonade.

This is the museum. It is home to the original collection, which has thousands of objects, such as the first transatlantic telegraph message, hand grenades, cotton manufacturing box, artificial flowers, and a set of miniature steel scissors and penknife.

The gardens are stunning and there are garden plots too.

This is the Victoria fort and Albert Barracks. It was built by Bertie and Alfred as a surprise for Queen Victoria. The princes acted out battles using toy soldiers. Most likely it was designed by Lieutenant Cowell of the Royal Engineers, who also supervised the building work. The girls would have played here too.

The royal children’s tool shed. The children would work in the garden and each of them had their own tools.

Osborne House is a stunning place. It is not big, considering its owners and how many children they had.

These two desks were used by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, side by side. After his death, the bell to summon the servants from his desk was removed, but the desk remained in place. How wonderfully sad is this story? She loved him so much. Also, I was surprised to see how small these desks are. My desk is bigger than this.

This is where Queen Victoria died. On the left is a painting of Prince Albert.

I enjoyed my visit very much. It is a wonderful place, beautifully presented. One can spend a day there without noticing the time passing. I would visit it again.