The town is essentially Victorian, a popular resort in those days for affluent middle-class families. Then, as now, visitors enjoyed strolling along the elegant Esplanade with its sea views across Spithead Sound to Portsmouth.
Reminders of the town’s Georgian and Victorian heyday are still there in abundance, among them a fine arcade in Union Street opened in 1837, the year of Queen Victoria’s accession.
The town has some important churches: All Saints, designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott, the Roman Catholic St Mary’s with a Pugin chapel, and St Thomas, which is now a heritage centre featuring an exhibition of memorabilia associated with the transportation of convicts to Australia – many of the convicts left these shores in ships moored off Ryde.
In the middle of Appley Park stands Appley Tower, built as a station for troops guarding Spithead.
Another public space is Puckpool Park, a leisure area behind the sea wall between Ryde and Seaview. It surrounds what was once a battery, built in the 19th century; its last gun was removed in 1927.
At the Westridge Centre, just off the A3055 road to Brading, Waltzing Waters offers an indoor water, light and music spectacular performed several times daily in a comfortable modern theatre.
To the southwest of Ryde lies Rosemary Vineyard, which was established in 1986, and produces a selection of estate-bottled wines, fruit juices and liqueurs. Visitors can learn about the wine-making process and enjoy refreshments in the café that overlooks the estate.
