The ancient island where you ‘never have to lock your car’

In Port Erin I also found enterprising locals like Pippa Lovell, whose restaurant vice versa it is, he says, “a platform to prove a point” as much as it is a showcase of his creative cooking. She uses only Manx ingredients—Port St Mary crab, local cheese, forage mushrooms, invasive weeds, citrus fir—to conjure ever-changing zero-waste menus with the smallest possible footprint. The results are delicious.

I met Ian Swindells, founder of forage winemakers, also. Having moved to the island 12 years ago, he fell in love with the place: “never having to lock the car means a lot.” He came across a homemade wine book from the 1950s and began experimenting in his shed. The results were “really iffy… until we tried rhubarb.” Fast forward a few years and he runs a stylish harborside bar and winery, perfectly positioned to watch the sun set behind Bradda Head. And the wines – a rhubarb, an elderflower and an apple soda – are really, really good. “We supply the winners’ podium bottles for this year’s TT,” says Ian, unable to contain a smile. “I grew up watching the TT, wearing my dad’s bike helmet. It was a real pinch-me moment.”

Ian senses that Port Erin, once considered a backwater, is beginning to change. But he later feels positive about the island as a whole. “I don’t understand why it’s not inundated (with visitors),” he says. “He has incredible potential.”

How to get there and move

Foot passenger returns on the Liverpool-Douglas ferry start from £45pp; travel time 2 hours 45 minutes (08722 992992; vapor-packet.com). The island is served by flights from many UK airports including Heathrow, Birmingham and Manchester (airport.im).

The buses run all year round; heritage railways operate from mid-March to the end of October. Go Cards offer unlimited travel across the island, valid for one to seven days; the five-day Go Explore Heritage card, which includes entry to National Heritage sites, costs £67pp (01624 662525; iombusandrail.im).

Where to stay

Sarah Baxter was a guest of The Mannin (01624 602555; manninhotel.im), a traditional Douglas hotel with double B&Bs from £105pn and Riverside Cottage (01624 830200; islandescapes.im), a four-bedroom house in Glen Chass, near Port Erin; from £710/£1,093 for three nights a week.

See visitleofman.com for more information.

Have you visited the Isle of Man? What are your favorite memories of the British Isle? Please let us know in the comments below.