Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2017

Check out our website visitilife.com A WORD FROM THE EDITOR Living on an island where you’re never more than 12 miles away from the sea (at least as the crow flies), we’re naturally surrounded by marine influences - from trades and crafts to food, events and beach-based leisure activities. Cowes Week has just finished turning the Solent into a multi-coloured collage of sailing boats, and the rest of summer will continue to provide plenty of spectacle on the water. When this is the backdrop to your everyday life, it’s easy to take for granted. Maybe you rarely even go near the water. Well, that’s a situation that the charity UKSA is keen to address - especially among young people - by encouraging them onto and into the water as a way of building their confidence, as well as simply having fun. In this issue we talk to CEO Ben Willow about plans to tempt even more youngsters into the Solent for sport or leisure. Still on the marine theme, we talk to Mike Randall, one of four men who have spent eight years lovingly restoring an iconic 1922 Seaview Mermaid. The tale of her discovery is delightful, and straight out of a storybook! There’s also an interview with a talented young Islander who reluctantly left behind her familiar seaside views for the fast- paced environment of NewYork. Mary Harding was back home for the summer, and we caught up with her to find out more about her life at a world-famous acting academy that’s produced some of the best- known names in film and TV. So – plenty to enjoy in this issue. We’re happy to bring it to you with our compliments, but as always, simply ask that you continue to support our loyal advertisers, who help to make it happen. Jackie McCarrick, Editor 4 www.visitilife.com C ONTENTS I SLAND L IFE AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2017 INTERVIEWS p35 Ben Willows: Sailing - not just for the rich and famous! p50 DAYS OUT It’s a sailing spectacular at Cowes Week p48 Midsummer Night’s Masquerade Ball p56 Royal Ascot p62 Riot of colour at Mardi Gras p67 Love wins PROPERTY p14 Waterfront House MOTORING p73 Car Review: Subaru XV All the world’s a stage: Mary Harding p40 Featured property: Mermaid rises from the depths p42 p20 Featured property: Brook Hill House COUNTRYSIDE p74 Matt Noyce: The growing season p76 Ten things you didn’t know about Bees p77 Sam Biles: Marrows, beans & buns p78 Our magnificent moths p80 Tony Ridd: Countryside News p82 Captivating squirrels EQUESTRIAN p85 Robert Booth: Training horses

Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2017 | Page 4