Plan your visit
Open all year
Open 7 days a week*, 10am - 4:30pm. No need to book, just pop in. Our donkeys can't wait to meet you.
* Closed Christmas day and New Years day.
Free entry and free parking
We offer free entry and free parking, with disabled spaces available.
No booking is required – feel free to visit us anytime during our opening hours.
Dog friendly
Well behaved dogs are welcomed with open hooves! We have even won awards for the best place to bring your dog on the Island.
Cafe
Enjoy delicious food in our cafe - a beautiful converted barn - whilst looking over the paddocks, or bring a picnic and relax in the Wildlife Meadows.
How to get here
By car: You will find us at Lower Winstone Farm, St Johns Road, Wroxall, PO38 3AA. The A3020 is the main road running from Newport through to Shanklin. This road will lead you to the Whiteley Bank roundabout where you will turn onto the B3327, and we are located 0.4 miles along this road.
By public transport: There is a bus stop directly outside of our entrance gates, and across the road from us. The number 3 Southern Vectis bus runs along this route. The number 3 starts from either Newport or Ryde, and then goes through Brading, Sandown, Lake, Shanklin, Ventnor, Wroxall, Godshill, and Rookley. Services are usually every 30 minutes.
There is also a train that runs from Ryde Pier through to Shanklin, where you can then pick up the number 3 Southern Vectis bus heading towards Newport.
By foot: If you wish to reach us by foot, there are a number of public footpaths that will lead to the Sanctuary. You can see a full map of pathways here.
Keeping everyone safe
The health and safety of our visitors, staff, and animals is extremely important to us, and there are a few things that we would ask you to bear in mind during your visit to us.
- We are a no smoking site, including vapes and e-cigarettes. There are a lot of flammable materials onsite, and we ask that you refrain from smoking while you are here.
- There are hand sanitiser stations placed around the site, along with multiple hand washing stations to make use of. You should be washing your hands after touching any of the animals and before and after you eat any food.
- We encourage you to bring along picnics, or to purchase food and drink from our café, but ask that you do not take any food into the barns to avoid the ecoli risk. We also ask that you do not feed anything to the animals, including grass. Our animals are on closely managed diets, and can become ill if they eat the wrong thing.
Things to do
There are a range of activities available and things to do during your visit to the Isle of Wight Donkey Sanctuary.
There is a café and a gift shop onsite, to purchase refreshments, souvenirs, or gifts.
Upon arrival, there are a number of free activity sheets that can be collected from Meet and Greet to complete while exploring the Sanctuary, including a donkey spotting sheet and quizzes.
We also have a play area with small ride on farm vehicle toys, and hobby horses (weather permitting).
As well as the free activities, there are also activities such as Donkey Grooming and Walking to pay to take part in. The availability of these activities will vary during the year. During term time, Donkey Grooming is available on Tuesday and Friday afternoons, whereas during the school holidays there will be a fuller schedule to take part in.
These can be pre booked before your visit to us. Book here.
There are also a number of beautiful walks around the area if you enjoy exploring the countryside with public footpaths and bridleways.
Explore the Sanctuary
Entrance/Front Walkway
Courtyard & Picnic Area
Walkway behind the Café
Wildlife Meadows
More about visiting us
