A weekend in...Guernsey, Sark and Herm

If you’re looking for a high-summer holiday, Guernsey’s got the lot: Caribbean-style beaches, heaps of history and wildlife, and room to kick back and totally unwind. By Andrew Eames

 
All the names are French, its lingua franca is English, its fortifications are German, its cliffs inspirational and its sandy bays wide and welcoming. Its industry is largely invisible and per capita income suitably discreet, but history bristles from every promontory and there's no denying the variety, and the quality, of its shores.

 
This appealing and intriguing triangle of land is Guernsey, the Channel Island often eclipsed by Jersey, its bigger and bolder cousin next door. Within its territory it has three more charismatic islands: Herm, Sark and Alderney. That amounts to an awful lot of coastline girdling relatively small scraps of land.

 
At first sight, Guernsey seems underwhelmingly suburban, hemmed in by bungalows. But venture away from the main routes and you'll discover designer beach bars, offshore islets, dramatic cliff paths and a bay (Moulin Huet) that inspired Auguste Renoir to paint it repeatedly. And none of these will be crowded, even in August, when Britain's peachiest beaches are usually heaving with people.

 
Tourism here is not the big deal it was in the days when the Channel Islands were as exotic as you could get without needing a passport. Guernsey lacks big headline attractions for families on rainy days - Jersey's the place for that - so you have to make your own entertainment. But its restaurants have high standards and some of its hotels are re-inventing themselves for contemporary tastes.

 
Meanwhile, its sister islands Herm (20 minutes by boat) and Sark (45 minutes by boat) are still time-warp experiences, with no cars and, in the case of Herm, no radios or TV. People come here year after year for the sense of spiritual retreat, the dramatic clifftop scenery (Sark) and Caribbean-like beaches (Herm).

 
The last of the islands in the bailiwick, Alderney, is larger than both Herm and Sark. It is currently undergoing something of a renaissance in some of its visitor facilities and offers a huge range of places to stay, outdoor pursuits to try and wildlife to spot, including the rare blonde hedgehog. It is such an outstanding place that it is worth a holiday in its own right. And a travel feature, too, come to that - which is why we're keeping it for another time...

 
ESSENTIAL INFO

Sleeping

● La Fregate, St Peter Port (01481 724624, www.lafregatehotel.com). Swish uptown designer hotel with wonderful views of the port; it's busy with the corporate market during the week. Double B&B from £145.

● The Fermain Valley Hotel, St Peter Port (01481 235666, www.fermainvalley.com).
On the lane down to Fermain Beach, this is a gleamingly recent and ambitious modernisation of an old favourite. Modern art, russets and chrome, complete with private cinema, indoor pool and outdoor terraces. Double B&B from £160.

 

Eating and drinking

● Le Petit Bistro, 56 Le Pollet, St Peter Port (01481 725055, www.lepetitbistro.co.uk).
Proper French cuisine that's well presented in an informal setting. 

● Fermain Beach Café, Fermain Bay (01481 238636).
Don't be fooled by the ‘beach café' label; the Portuguese chef knows his fish, and his place is a very trendy lunch choice on a summer's day.

 

Must-see, must-do

● Hauteville House, 38 Hauteville, St Peter Port (01481 721911).
Victor Hugo, the French writer and philosopher, spent 15 years in exile on Guernsey and the property's bizarre wood-panelled interior is his creation.

● Castle Cornet, St Peter Port (01481 726518 www.museum.guernsey.net).
Now housing military and maritime museums, Cornet has a fabulous location and a colourful past.

 

St Peter Port and the east coast

Guernsey's capital is a handsome town, especially when approached from the sea. It looks like an oversized Cornish fishing village piling down to the harbour, studded with grandiose buildings and guarded by an offshore fortress. There's plenty of comings and goings - giant wave-piercing catamarans and scruffy fishing boats, along with sleek gin-palaces - to watch in the port. A waterside dual carriageway keeps most of the traffic out of the cobbled high street area, and nuggets of modern architecture betray the presence of big money in the town's little lanes - the offshore banking industry is booming here. South of the centre is the upmarket suburb of Fort George, where the tax refugees put down their roots.

 
Along the south coast

The south is dramatic, moody and inspirational. Its high cliffs are bitten into by bays, mostly with pebbly beaches, which are inaccessible by car. The best of those bays is Renoir's muse Moulin Huet (below), but a walk along the cliff path reveals more. The south has some of the island's more pleasing houses, tessellated with pink and grey granite, and the Ruettes Tranquilles - narrow lanes with a speed limit of 15 mph - around St Martin are lined with wild flowers and gardens. As you head west into Torteval, the population thins and agriculture starts to dominate. This is the real Guernsey, home to many of the 1,500 people who still speak dialect - a sort of Normandy patois. Guernsey was occupied in World War II and the Germans turned it into an island fortress. Its western tip, Pleinmont, is wild, studded with bunkers and range-finding towers in Bauhaus style, particularly L'Angle Tower, which looks like the stepped conning tower of a submarine.

 

ESSENTIAL INFO

Sleeping

● The Farmhouse, St Saviours (01481 264181, www.thefarmhouse.gg).
Slightly inland, this new conversion aims to be a chic countryside retreat. Check before you book regarding ongoing building works. Double B&B from £125.

● Mille Fleurs, St Pierre du Bois (01481 263911, www.millefleurs.co.uk). The self-catering cottages may be small, but they are set in fabulous gardens with a swimming pool. From £895 per week.

 

Eating and drinking

● The Auberge, St Martin (01481 238485, www.theauberge.gg).
Big deck, great views, minimalist décor, maximalist flavour.

 

Must-see, must-do

● Walk the cliff path from Jerbourg around Moulin Huet and end with tea on the terrace at the Hotel Bon Port (01481 239249,
www.bonport.com) for its magnificent view.

● The Occupation Museum (01481 238205, www.occupied.guernsey.net) details the dark period in island history. World War II put paid to Guernsey's francophone culture; thanks to evacuation, a whole generation was educated in English schools.

 

Take home

● ‘Hedge veg' - garden produce sold on an honesty-box basis from the roadside.

 

From the west to the north

Where the south is precipitous and steep, the west is languorous and shallow. Bay succeeds bay, peninsula succeeds peninsula, all protected by skerries of offshore rocks. This is family holiday territory, with good sand, calm seas and aquamarine colours. The flat topography means that the tide can retreat a long, long way, allowing walkers to cross the causeway to the conservation island of Lihou, and revealing an excellent foreshore for marine life. Generally, Cobo is regarded as the trendiest of the bays, with fine sand and a beachfront pub, chippie, tea-room and shop. With the sun setting directly across the water, this is a big gathering point in the evenings. Depending on the direction of the wind, Pembroke can also be very popular and is far closer to St Peter Port.

 

ESSENTIAL INFO

Sleeping

● The Bay, Vale (07781 145129, www.thebayguernsey.co.uk).
Spacious modern apartments in a tremendous location alongside Pembroke Bay. From £650 per week.

● Fleur du Jardin, Kings Mills, Castel (01481 257996 www.fleurdujardin.com).
A 15th-century hotel given a shabby-chic, bleached-out, Long Island makeover. Double B&B from £124.

 

Eating and drinking

● The Modernist-style Mirage bar (01481 246494) on Pembroke Bay has an upper deck where you can sit while you eat reasonable food.

● The Cobo Fish & Chip Bar (01481 254276) is an iron shed that serves great fare, which you can take to eat on the beach.

 

Must-see, must-do

● Walk among the loophole towers - 18th-century coastal fortifications - at the top of L'Ancresse Common, by Pembroke Bay.

● Check out the extraordinary Neolithic passage grave Dehus Dolmen, situated among the bungalows of Vale.

 

Take home

● A traditional cable-knit Guernsey jumper that's made on site at Le Tricoteur, Perelle Bay (01481264040 www.cwgsy.net/business/letricoteur) from £27.

 

Herm

Guernsey's nearest nephew is a 20-minute boat ride across from St Peter Port. This sea-surrounded spangle of sand gets substantially more sun than Guernsey and has a chilled-out Caribbean flavour. Its Shell Beach (pictured below) is regularly nominated in the UK's top ten. The island is a family-run enterprise - long-term leaseholders Adrian and Pennie Heyworth live on Herm and control everything from the hotel to the beef cattle. The 50-odd year-round residents are supplemented by up to 100 seasonal workers recruited from all over the world. As for the guests who come to stay in the White House Hotel, self-catering cottages and (extremely scenic) campsite, most are dedicated Hermites, returning year after year; it's a place that definitely casts a spell...

 

ESSENTIAL INFO

GETTING THERE

●  Travel Trident (01481 721379, www.herm-island.com) operates eight crossings a day from St Peter Port, £7 return. It also offers a Captain's Table package with the hotel restaurant: a return evening crossing plus carvery three-course meal for £24.95.

 

SLEEPING AND EATING

● The White House Hotel (01481 722159, www.herm-island.com) is rather old-fashioned, but it has handsome gardens and a swimming pool, and looks out over the water to Guernsey. From £88 per person per night half-board.

● There are self-catering options, plus a bar/brasserie and a pub called the Mermaid Tavern (01481 710170), which serves food.

 

Sark

More remote than Herm, and not just in terms of distance - it's 45 minutes by ferry from Guernsey - Sark is the only territory within the UK that has the right to raise its own army. Leased from the Crown by its Seigneur for a princely £1.76 a year, it is fiscally and legally independent, and its kingdom-within-a-kingdom status attracts offshore companies in search of a postal address and a resident to become their nominal director. The island is actually two separate lumps of land joined together at a vertiginous narrow neck, La Coupee. Mostly it is a tabletop of graceful pasture about 350 feet above sea level, studded with largely unexceptional houses, threaded with footpaths and tinkling gently with Sarkese on bicycles. The complete lack of traffic - cars are banned - seems to release a handbrake on human interaction, and everyone greets everyone else. With 40 miles of glorious coastline, there's not a whole lot to do here other than admire the sea and the cliffs, the birds and the wild flowers. This is a place to be, rather than do.

 

ESSENTIAL INFO

GETTING THERE

● The Isle of Sark Shipping Company (01841 724059, www.sarkshipping.guernsey.net) operates four crossings a day from Guernsey, £22 return; children, £11.20.

 
SLEEPING

● Aval du Creux Hotel (01481 832036, www.avalducreux.co.uk). Central location, fresh interiors. Double B&B from £103.

 

EATING

● La Moinerie seafood restaurant (01481 832089) is a traditional granite farmhouse in a secluded valley, run by a local fisherman.

 

TAKE HOME

● Seek out local wildlife artist Rosanne Guille (01481 832418, www.sarkpaintings.com), who'll be happy to show you around her garden gallery.

 

FACT FILE

 

GETTING THERE AND AROUND

● The main air carriers to the island are Aurigny (0871 871 0717, www.aurigny.com) and Flybe (0871 522 6100, www.flybe.com).

● Daily sea crossings from Weymouth and Poole (taking just over two hours) are operated by Condor Ferries (0870 243 5140, www.condorferries.com). Island car hire from Hertz (0800 735 1014, www.hertzci.com).

BOOKS AND MAPS

● Best guidebook is the Insight Compact Guide: Guernsey with Herm, Sark and Alderney (Apa Publications, £4.99).

● Perry's Routefinder Map of Guernsey (Channel Publications, £1.50) is widely available.

 

TOURIST INFORMATION

● Guernsey: 01481 723552, www.visitguernsey.com

●  Herm: 01481 722377, www.herm-island.com

●  Sark: 01481 832345, www.sark.info