Tribe & Tide: navigating Island family life

Tribe and tide

NAVIGATING ISLAND FAMILY LIFE

By Emma Elobeid Pictures Timi Eross

Having favourites is frowned upon. We’re supposed to appreciate each for its individual gifts and not yearn for either a predecessor or successor. Fear not, I don’t mean children. Because while it’s biologically impossible – and utterly unthinkable – to spread our love anything other than equally between offspring, most of us have a season that speaks to us above all others. Mine is Autumn.

Turns out, I’m not alone in my preference. Far from it: there have been social surveys and serious studies and they all say the same – Autumn is the most beloved. “Delicious Autumn” exclaimed Victorian – and gloriously Gothic – novelist George Eliot (who herself was repeatedly drawn to the Isle of Wight’s spectacular wildness) “My very soul is wedded to it; and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.” My thoughts exactly. Describing the detail of this seasonal love affair without descending into cliché isn’t easy, but I’ll give it a go. Because I love Autumn best for reasons (almost) entirely unrelated to plaid shirts, crunchy leaves, darkening skies or ‘hug in a mug’ Pumpkinspiced lattes. I love Autumn because it is when I feel both truly myself and deeply at home. Certain places exude Autumn all year round, and Appuldurcombe House is one of them. Once the grandest on the Isle of Wight, now largely a shell of its former English Baroque glory

“My very soul is wedded to it; and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.” - George Eliot

- having been bombed during the second World War - the decadence of its decay gives it a permanent Romantic (with a capital ‘R’) aura. As it might well do, given its connection to ‘The Worsley Affair’, one of the most infamous society scandals of the 18th Century. It is a somatic and sensory place. We visit on what the Irish call a ‘soft day’ – a most perfect combination of warm rain-washed air and melancholy mist-laden pine needles. Our eyes have to adapt to the changing light as we explore: one minute we’re picking our way up darkened stone stairwells, the next dazzled from a shaft of sunlight streaming through from the open upper floors. Something in its walls makes us want to lose ourselves. The boys run wildly across uneven stone flagstones pitted with puddles; following endless passageways, discovering hidden rooms and jumping out at each other from weathered windows as I pursue them on tiptoe urging them to Slow Down, and Watch Where

They’re Going. Now and again, they pause, and I know that they feel the magic of time and space colliding as I do. The building is full of scenesetting vignettes that make us stop in our tracks. We look up and marvel at floating fireplaces on floors long forgotten, and down with caution at mysterious Cellar Doors (aside: I’ve been waiting years to get that phrase – said by J.R.R. Tolkien to be the most beautiful in the English language – into a piece of writing.) This is history on our own terms. A visit to Appuldurcombe is delightfully directionless. There are, of course, plaques to read (if you’re so inclined) but with no prescriptive one-way system or directed ‘Visitor Experience’ to dictate our own haphazard wanderings, we are free to put ourselves centre stage. Of course, I could have attempted to make this an Educational Outing by telling the boys, for example, that its grounds were designed by ‘omnipotent magician’ Capability Brown, considered England’s greatest landscape designer. But at seven and three, they care only that its gently sloping parkland makes for the most excellent running-down-armsoutstretched hill. Instead, we set off towards the curious cattle in the field beyond and whip out our new waterproof sketchbooks; me trying in vain to capture the building’s striking colonnades and dramatic arches while wrestling a wriggly youngest who wants to run down the hill one more time. As I draw, I wonder what aspect of the building has so captured the imagination of my eldest – who is consumed in creative contemplation on an upturned log that appears as if placed for Autumnal effect. It is only when we return home that I realise he has drawn himself on stage – spotlights, audience and all – followed by a T-Rex saying “Boo.” I’m amused, tickled by the sharp contrast with my own lofty Romantic imaginings. Until, that is, I realise that Autumn at Appuldurcombe has affected him after all. Quite by accident, he has sketched a version of both the truest version of himself (the budding Palaeontologist) and his deepest sense of home (on stage). It’s a cliché, but I kind of like it.

A wonderful place to learn and grow

Ryde School with Upper Chine has been educating pupils from the Isle of Wight and beyond since 1921. An independent day and boarding school for boys and girls aged 2 ½ to 18, the school is set in over 17 acres of grounds overlooking the sea and makes full use of the wider island for a wide range of extra-curricular activities. Main sports, such as netball, cricket, rugby and hockey are played against schools on and off the Island with football, athletics, croquet and riding also on offer. Sailing is built into the curriculum with beginner to elite sailors thriving at Ryde. A Round Square and IB World School, Ryde offers excellent academic teaching and aims to promote a healthy atmosphere of learning in which pupils will seek to develop their full potential. Ryde encourages an independent attitude in pupils, with pupils wanting to learn and make full use of the resources available. Boarding pupils are accommodated in two new boarding houses in the School grounds. Both offer modern and comfortable accommodation in single and twin rooms, mostly ensuite. Millfield, a beautifully renovated Victorian villa for the younger boarders, is complemented by Centenary House, a new purpose-built boarding house, with stunning sea views, designed to prepare older students for university and adult life. A wonderful place to learn and grow, Ryde School holds termly Open Mornings and ad hoc tours. If you are interested in finding out more please visit: rydeschool.org.uk/ admissions/open-days-visits or email: admissions@rydeschool.net

An Island School with a GLOBAL Outlook

An independent day and boarding school for girls and boys aged 2 ½ to 18

2021/2022 OPEN MORNINGS

Saturday 2 October 10.00am to 12.30pm and Saturday 5 February 10.00am to 12.30pm

A Round Square, PSB and IB World School Excellent GCSE, A Level and IB results Wide range of extra-curricular activities including beginner to elite sailing Scholarships and bursaries available for entry into Years 5, 7, 9 and the Sixth Form

FOR MORE INFORMATION Call +44 (0)1983 617970 or visit

www.rydeschool.org.uk/open-days-and-visits

Queen’s Road, Ryde, Isle of Wight, PO33 3BE