Isle of Wight

An island of 380 square kilometres in the English Channel, two to five miles off the mainland across the Solent, with 141,660 people living mostly around the coast, Ryde, Shanklin and Sandown to the east, Totland and Freshwater in the west, with Newport inland where the Medina widens into its estuary. It is largely rural: fields, downland and the steep coastal ravines the island calls chines. It is said to be the sunniest place in Great Britain, is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, and holds dinosaur fossils.