Isle of Wight is an island county on the South coast of England across the Solent strait from Hampshire with a population of over 140,000 and a land mass of 147 sq miles. Towns on the Isle of Wight include: Shanklin, Newport, Ryde and Cowes.

Newport is the county town of Isle of Wight and has 23,000 residents and has remains from Roman and Norman settlers. The town itself lies on the bank of the River Medina which flows into the Solent. The Parkhurst area of the town actually has 3 prisons namely Parkhurst, Albany Prison and Camp Hill Prison.

The Isle of Wight music festival is world renowned and attracted 100,000s in 1970, the festival has now been revived having more success in 2002. Luminaries who have graced the stage include: Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, The Who, the Doors and Jimi Hendrix.

Cowes will always be associated with the sea, it has ferry connections to the mainland, a ship building industry and is best known as home of the Cowes Week sailing race attended by thousands of visiting yachts every year.

People who have lived on the Isle of Wight include: poet John Keats, naturalist and author Charles Darwin, ex prime Minster Winston Churchill, writer Lewis Carroll, poet Lord Alfred Tennyson, actor David Niven and actor Jeremy Irons.