The Needles Headland and Tennyson Down

The Needles Headland and Tennyson Down form the westernmost tip of the Isle of Wight, chalk downland ending in sheer white cliffs and the Needles rocks. Alfred, Lord Tennyson lived nearby at Farringford and walked the down daily, and his monument stands at the highest point of the cliffs; the headland also holds the Needles Old Battery, the New Battery's Cold War rocket test site and the heathland of Headon Warren. Cattle grazing since the 1990s is restoring the flower-rich chalk grassland. Reviewers describe the walk from Freshwater Bay over the down to the monument, and on to the Needles, as rewarding, with views across the west of the island. Tips from visitors: use the Trust car park in the old chalk pit at the end of High Down Lane, keep back from the unfenced cliff edges and put dogs on leads near livestock and in the nesting season; the loos and tea-room are inside the Old Battery, where admission applies.