Woodside House in Wootton, on the Isle of Wight, enjoyed a commanding position, its 31-acre grounds rolling gently down to the Solent. In the 1950s the estate served an unusual purpose as a naturist camp, but in 1961 Warner’s secured planning permission to redevelop the site into a holiday camp. The proposal met fierce opposition, with 90% of locals lodging objections. Even so, the planning committee approved the plans, drily noting that in legal terms “there was no change of use between using a camp for nudists or for those who wore clothes.”
The camp officially opened in 1963, featuring 215 detached brick chalets and capable of accommodating 650 guests. It was situated close to the existing Pontins holiday camp at Little Canada.
Woodside House itself was demolished and a large new entertainment building took its place. The small lodge house was retained and became the camp manager’s house. Other facilities included indoor and outdoor swimming pools, a games rooms, disco and various bars. The large windows in the main building provided a grandstand view of the Solent and there was always great excitement when a large ocean liner sailed past, which included the Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary.
The site was full board with all meals included, so the chalets consisted of nothing more than a bedroom and bathroom. Meals were taken in a huge communal dining room.
A couple of years after opening, Warner’s expanded the site by acquiring the neighbouring Underwood Hall and its 12 acres of land. This allowed for more chalets to be built, increasing the camp’s capacity to around 950 guests. Unlike the original brick-built chalets, however, these new units were constructed from wood and proved far less substantial.
In 1969, a hovercraft service was introduced, offering a 10-minute ride from the camp to nearby Southsea. However, locals protested the service, wading into the sea and blocking the inaugural trip, forcing the hovercraft to detour further up the coast. It did however continue for another two years, and a concrete landing strip was even built.
From 1968 to 1970 the Isle of Wight Festival was held literally across the street from the camp. This huge music festival ran in 1968, 1969 and 1970 and featured the biggest names of the day with crowd figures said to be around 600,000 people.
By the 1970s the camp had gained a reputation for being operated on the cheap, drawing frequent complaints about poor food, rude staff, lacklustre entertainment, unhygienic conditions, and shabby accommodation.
Matters came to a head in 1975 with what became known as a full-blown “camper revolt.” It began when a woman declared that the Yorkshire puddings were “not fit to eat.” Her protest snowballed, and by the following day some 400 holidaymakers had stepped forward with their own grievances: birds flying through the dining hall, staff smoking while serving meals, and waitresses wandering barefoot among the tables. Further complaints poured in about chalets in disrepair and toilets not even properly fixed to the floor.
When new arrivals turned up for their holidays, they were greeted not with smiles but with a crowd of angry protesters urging them to turn around and go home. The situation grew so serious that managing director Alen Warner was forced to fly in by private helicopter in a bid to calm the unrest.
The camp struggled through the late 1970s, facing declining visitor numbers. Underwood Hall was sold off but remained open as an independent holiday hotel.
In 1981, the Warner family sold their holiday camp business to Grand Metropolitan, and the following April management at Woodside Bay announced that the site would not reopen for the season. They admitted: “we simply did not have enough bookings to make the centre viable, which coupled with increased costs made it unrealistic to open.” However, the camp did see a brief revival later that summer when, over the August Bank Holiday weekend, it was used to accommodate 160 policemen drafted in for the annual “scooter invasion.”
Planning permission was granted for a mass rebuild of the camp to include new chalets and facilities but nothing further happened. The camp sat empty and unused, slowly falling into disrepair. In 1985, an arson attack destroyed the main entertainment building – at the height of the fire there were 14 fire engines and 50 firemen from all over the island.
The site continued to be left abandoned and derelict where it became a favourite haunt for urban explorers, dog walkers and more arsonists.
In 1991 planning permission was approved to redevelop the site with a 100-bedroom hotel, new lodges, a conference facility and a swimming pool similar to Centre Parcs. But nothing came of it.
After being ignored and abandoned for 27 years, the land was finally sold in 2011 for £4.5 million, and demolition work commenced to clear the remnants of the old camp. In 2014, a new £15 million holiday complex opened on the site known as Woodside Bay Lodge Retreat. Nothing remains of the old camp, but a stone plaque at the main entrance survived until the 2010s.
The following photos were taken in 2003
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