Visitors' Book - Quay Cottage

From:

John B Collins

This is a wonderfull Island, The Island was deralect & after the Death of Mrs Christie who owned the Island it was taken over by the National Trust sometime in 1962. Then the Builders moved in with the Help of the Royal Marines to ship over all the Plant required to start a massive job of restoring the Island. I was one of the first to land on the Island to start work. ( as a carpenter) The Cottages were renewed, the Church & the Grounds Itself which all told took about a 3 year Period for which I spent most of the time there( about 2 1/2 years) Not forgeting the Castle which was in a very bad state. I was the First Carpenter to start work in the castle & it was very spooky. I have been back to the Island many times & it has never stoped improving. It is a wonderfull place and well worth a visit for the day or by renting a cottage for a longer period. Unfortunately the General Public are unable to visit the castle which is now a Hotel. All though I have been back there many times over the years I to have been unable to see inside the castle, which I am led to believe is brilliant. I have one ambition left and that is to be able to look around the castle to see the Beauty for myself from when I started in 1962 to restore it. Do Visit if Folks you wont be disapointed. John B Collins

From:

Alys Sawell

Our first of hopefully many visits to this wonderful cottage. We especially enjoyed the solitude after the boats had gone and got to see all the wonderful wildlife up close. The cottage catered for everything and you will be hard pushed to find a better view anywhere else in the UK than the view from the master bedroom

From:

Sally

May 2008. A lovely venue, with gentle walks. Where else could you see special breed chickens, Canada geese and goslings, peacocks and oyster catchers all feeding on the same piece of grassland at the same time!! There is plenty of variety on Brownsea. Staff and volunteers alike were friendly and helpful at all times. They obviously loved their jobs and were a mine of information