The other villa 2

They have found a dozen or so Roman Villas on the Isle of Wight over the years. One of them fell into the sea, most of them were covered up, the one at Brading (see reference 1) got most of the lottery money (see reference 2) and then there was this one at Newport, sitting pretty in the middle of a suburban housing estate, a little to the south of downtown. It seems that they stumbled across it while building the estate, bought the plot, did a bit of excavation and erected the shed you have now over most of it. Nothing like as grand a shed as that at Brading, but it serves.

Not as big a villa as that at Brading either, but it does have a very elaborate bathing suite, occupying the whole of the west wing of the house. Roman Britons must have been very keen on bathing to have spent so much money on it.

There were some good educational trimmings. Some large shaped bricks organised to show you how a round arch worked. The loom illustrated to show you how weaving worked - which it did very successfully. Also reminding me that loom weights are staples at places like the British Museum, the standard artefact from peoples too ancient to have gotten around to inventing or using coins.

Next stop the post office, only to find that the grand post office marked on our map was up for sale and what was left of the post office was now in the back of the co-op. All very scruffy. What must foreigners think of us?

Thought to use the Olivo's, presumably a franchise from reference 3, but decided against as the dining room was cramped and noisy, this last the result of canned music. So we abandoned any idea of fancy lunch and made do with the fine chipper next door, Oggies, where, inter alia, they did very good mushy peas. Also real chips, not cooked in an oven. Should occasion arise, we will be back.

Inspected, but did not use, the Wetherspoons, a tasteful conversion of yet another church, conversions which Wetherspoons seem to be quite good at.

Sundry shopping, Newport being the island's big town. I was pleased to be able to get a back up egg timer from a charity shop, very similar to that at reference 4 but made in China out of yellow plastic with pink sand. Same price as its mainland cousin. I was also able to swap dental hygiene stories with the shop girl - who, having no teeth of her own, was able to contribute a different perspective.

Rounded out the day with a visit to the new church, an 11th century rebuild, at Newchurch. The gift of one William FitzOsborne, perhaps one of the companions of the conqueror. Which reminds me that somewhere along the way we learned that the Isle of Wight was not an integral part of our kingdom until the time of Edward II. Prior to that it had been more or less independent, rather in the way, I suppose, of the Isle of Man now. Perhaps they decided that as a very small country, the cost of keeping pirates out was just too much and they needed to be able to draw on the resources of their big neighbour.

Reference 1: http://www.psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/roman-villa.html.

Reference 2: http://www.psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/dimbola-lodge.html.

Reference 3: http://www.olivorestaurants.com/.

Reference 4: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/older-teeth.html.