Orchard Bay is a pretty cove with a sand and shingle beach, located at the southern edge of the village of St Lawrence. It lies to the south-west of the Ventnor Botanic Garden and a short distance west from the popular Steephill Cove.
To access the beach you have to clamber over some rocks.
Although the beach is privately owned by the attractive house overlooking the beach, the public are allowed access below the high water line. The house is currently let as holiday accommodation but was the centre of a massive drug smuggling operation in 2000 - see below.
DOGS ALLOWED: Yes, all year round
TOILETS: No
OTHER AMENITIES: None
LIFEGUARDS: No
ACCESS ON FOOT: An uneven footpath off Undercliff Drive takes you past some holiday cottages at Old Bank End Farm, to the Coastal Path. Turn right and the steps down to the beach can be found on your left. It's about 10 minutes.
ACCESS BY CAR: You cannot access this beach by road. The nearest place to park would be on Undercliff Drive (PO38 1UY), at a safe location near to the turning for Old Bank End Farm.
AS WITH ALL BAYS ON THE SOUTH OF THE WIGHT, CARE MUST BE TAKEN DUE TO UNSTABLE CLIFFS. LANDSLIPS ARE NOT UNCOMMON IN THIS AREA.
HISTORY
Dating back to 1828, Orchard Bay House was originally three coastguard cottages, built for the purpose of preventing smuggling.
Ironically, in 1999, the house was sold to a drug smuggler. The following year, he shipped 879lb of cocaine 3,000 miles by yacht, from The Grenadines to his private beach at Orchard Bay. On arrival in October 2000, bad weather hampered them ferrying the drugs to shore via dinghy, and they were forced to land at Woody Bay. They spent the next few hours manhandling the drugs on foot, along the coastal path in the cold wind and rain.
A member of the public spotted them, and HM Customs swooped in and arrested the lot of them. It was a record £90 million consignment, the biggest smuggled into Britain. The combined jail sentence for Tyrell, his wife and his accomplices was 141 years. Tyrell got 26 years, but died 13 years after being jailed, aged 68.
