Visiting Holy Island- a beginner’s guide, please!

[CormoranStrikeIsBloodyLovely]

We are visiting Holy Island as a family this week. (Two children, 11 and 8, both into wildlife and history)

Could anyone give me some advice on the basics?
Safe tide crossing says from 11.30, would you get there for then? A little earlier? Will people be queuing up to cross?

Is it worth doing the priory or castle or is it enough to have a walk and enjoy the views?

Should we have booked somewhere to eat or will will manage to find somewhere with out too much of an issue?

Any further tips or “must see” ideas?

I have planned the rest of our trip in detail but realised today that I just have “Holy Island” down for Thursday and I like to have a clear idea of what to expect when we travel.

Thank you very much.

We usually rock up when we're ready to cross and there hasn't been a queue. There's a car park to the left after you've made the crossing.
We've been tight and not paid for the castle or priory. The walk to the castle is nice and you can have a look around the church and graveyard.
There are plenty of places to eat and drink.
There's a fab gin and candle shop and it's worth checking out the Mead shop too!
Our kids are around the same age and we only really spend about 3 hours there now as we've been a few times!
Have a fab time.

Just carefully check the tides times for coming back so you don't get stranded for hours as we did! 😂
I think it was late on a Sunday afternoon and nothing was open.
it wasn't only us. There was a queue of cars containing bored looking people waiting to leave as soon as the causeway was halfway passible.

Echo the above
Also, it’s good for beach combing for pottery, etc
And if you’re thinking of visiting the castle, it was pre-booked visits when we went (and it was booked up). This was the 1st week in July this year
Enjoy, it’s beautiful ❤️

If you are able to walk to the side past the castle there are lots of rock sculptures that people have made, make your own. We really enjoyed that

Thank you all, this is really helpful