Queen Victoria's beach and bathing machine on public view

17 July 2012 Last updated at 03:25 ET Help

A section of beach on the Isle of Wight once reserved exclusively for Queen Victoria is to open to the public for the first time.

The section of beach at Osborne House, Queen Victoria's former private home, will fully open to visitors on 27 July.

Queen Victoria regularly bathed at the site and many of her children also learned to swim there.

Visitors will also be able to see an original wooden bathing machine which ran down a ramp into the sea.

From there, Queen Victoria would emerge in her swimming suit with her modesty preserved. Nick Higham reports.

Read More

BBC © 2013 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.

This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.