The Isle of Wight

This small island can be found just off the southern coast of mainland England.

It has a landmass of some 147 square miles with an administrative centre in Newport and the resort towns of Ryde, Sandown, Shanklin and Ventnor.

The Isle of Wight is famed for Cowes Week, the annual yachting regatta held by the Royal Yacht Squadron from the shores of the town of the same name, Osborne House, the building erected in 1845 for Queen Victoria and Farringford, the home of the poet Tennyson.

The water that separates the isle from the county of Hampshire, to which it once was attributed, is known as the Solent and is home to some of the most rigourous and demanding sailing waters in the world.