Our holiday to Jersey

Our holiday to Jersey seems like an age ago now.  You have probably all forgotten that we went!  It is quite a nice island but a week is long enough to see all the main attractions.  We didn’t have very good weather so it made it a different kind of holiday.  One that was busy and expensive and tiring!

When we are on holiday we like to do a lot of laying on sun beds by the pool or on the beach with a good book to read and food and drink on hand when we need it. We do go out and visit places but usually only on alternate days.  We may go out in the morning then come back have lunch and relax for the afternoon.  We will then have a late afternoon siesta before dressing for dinner and the evening.

When the weather is rubbish that is not possible.  Instead we spent pretty much the whole week going from one place to another which costs a lot and as I said is tiring.  You just want a rest! We went all over the island and there are some lovely beaches.  We liked St Brelades bay best.  We were staying in St Catherine’s which is not far from the capital St Helier.  It is quieter and we liked it for that reason.

Our favourite visits were the Gerald Durrell zoo, the La Mare wine estate and the war tunnels.

The area around St Catherine’s is much quieter than St Helier and the coast line is quite stunning.  It is covered with rocks and has a kind of lunar appearance.  We walked for quite a while the first day and also climbed up Green Island which is only accessible at low tide.

We went to St Brelades bay a few times and it is very nice.  We did a walk around the whole area.  We had some leaflets from the tourist office with directed walks of some towns.   We did a couple of those.

Corbiere lighthouse was quite fascinating with its causeway.  Unfortunately it was high tide so we were unable to go across.

The La Mare wine estate was fascinating.  We paid to do the tour and wine tasting.  It was really interesting and the wines were delicious but very expensive.  We were going to buy some of the red but then I decided that since I am perfectly happy with Blossom Hill or Tesco’s own it is a bit wasted on me to buy expensive stuff!  We did buy a jar of Jersey black butter which is a sort of apple jam and very good.

The grounds at La Mare are beautiful and we were stunned by the vivid colours of the hydrangeas.  We have a couple of hydrangeas growing in pots in our garden and they are a wishy washy pink. You can check it out here.

One thing that really surprised us was the lack of cows.  Jersey is famous for its beautiful coffee coloured cows and their wonderful cream and milk. Ok, so where do they hide them all?  We only saw half a dozen in a small field that was it!  Very strange.

The Zoo was a real highlight and we would recommend it if you ever find yourself in Jersey.  It was begun in 1959 by Gerald Durrell and is renowned for it conservation work.  There are many endangered species there.  You can check it out here.

The birds were just beautiful.  There were so many that we had never seen before.  Many that do not exist even in the wild any longer.  How sad.  The gorillas and orang-utans were equally fascinating.  It did pour with rain all day and we got soaked but the animals made up for it.

The shell garden is small and takes less than an hour to get round.  It is the private garden of a man who has spent his life transforming his garden with shells collected from the local beaches.  The garden is open to the public and the funds go to charity.  This year it is Alzheimer’s. You can check it out here.

We visited the Lavender farm which was a good afternoon.  We did the tour thing and saw how the lavender is distilled into essential oils.  The whole process was very interesting.  The smell was heady!  We have visited the Norfolk Lavender farm at home many times but have never been in the distillery.

On yet another cold grey day we visited a transport and general museum which Simon enjoyed and then amused ourselves on the beach doing that well know extreme sport ............ beach writing!  We only had one afternoon right at the end of our holiday when it was hot enough to sunbathe.  It lasted about 3 hours!

The visit to the underground tunnels was fascinating.  It is very atmospheric and easy to conjure up in your mind just what the islanders felt during the invasion.  The tunnels were set up as a hospital for prisoners of war but were never actually used for that purpose.  Today they have exhibitions describing the German occupation. 

It is an incredible story.  Imagine being in a situation where you are given the choice of going or staying.  You have a few hours to board the boat and you can only take what you stand up in.  Do you go and leave everything you have ever known or do you stay and face the unknown?  What a choice. I found one of the saddest things reading about how people who were leaving queued up at the local vet to have their dogs put to sleep rather than just leave them to fend for themselves. I cried at that place. 

In the restaurant the walls are covered with photos of Islanders who died.  There are photos along with their stories.  They make unbearable reading. The whole place is a giant reminder that we need to remember what has gone before and make sure that we never forget or allow it to happen again.  You can check it out here.

On our last day we visited Samares Manor which was just around the corner from our hotel.  It is an old estate that has a lovely herb garden and beautiful black swans. 

So that was Jersey.  Would we go back?  Probably not.  At least not at our own expense!  It is a lovely island but the weather let it down for us.  We need some proper hot sun particularly after the dreadful summer we have had this year.

I have posted an album of photos and some video clips.