An hour from Dublin, Guernsey and its neighbouring islands are a botanical paradise that combine small-town life with a rich history, writes Arminta Wallace
GUERNSEY IS THE sort of destination that is likely to attract as many bankers and taxation experts as it is tourists in search of a wild time. The second- largest of the Channel Islands, Guernsey is a small place in a big world. It's also surprisingly close. A scant hour in one of Flybe's turboprops (not counting a long wait at Exeter or Southampton) and you're flying over Guernsey, Alderney, Herm and Sark: four miniature emerald isles sparkling in their watery setting, just 50km off the coast of France.
A whisk through the island's minuscule airport and a transfer to its petite capital, St Peter Port, will take you, oh, all of 20 minutes. The island's main road makes a minibus look big. There are no dual carriageways, let alone motorways, on Guernsey, which measures just 14.5km by 8km – although it does double in size at low tide.
The island, as those of a botanical turn of mind will notice, is a gardener's paradise. Mild winter temperatures and the absence of frost ensure that even the most innocuous clump of colour swiftly gets supersized, while local specialties such as the dainty St Peter Port daisy or the madly fuzzy mesembryanthemums turn stone walls of the town into glowing canvases in several shades of pink.
Wander into the countryside, meanwhile, and you'll find fields and hedges fragrant with wild gladioli, valerian and bulbs of wild garlic swaying on tall, skinny spikes.
Guernsey isn't big enough for serious treks, but it does have about 50km of accessible cliff paths, some of which are moderately challenging, as they plunge up and down steps cut into solid rock, and thence to tiny coves where even the most inexperienced bird-watcher can spot kestrels, sparrowhawks and puffins.
You can make your way right around the island – or, better yet, walk for a while; hop on one of the excellent little buses that turn up every half hour, and can be hailed at any point on the road for just 60p (70c); have a glass of wine or local cider at a hostelry; then get out and walk some more. (An annual walking festival at the end of September offers a choice of walks with accredited guides.)
But you can easily do your own thing by hiring a bike and pottering around the island's web of ruettes tranquilles – pretty winding lanes where cyclists and pedestrians have priority over cars, and where the speed limit is 24km/h.
Francophiles can have fun spotting the French street names: La Rue des Croutes, La Rouette des Fosses and – my particular favourite – Rue du Dos D'Ane. If you get lost (which you will), the advice is to make your way to the sea, then reorient yourself from there.
Sun worshippers should orient themselves in the direction of the island of Herm. Wear a hat and plenty of sunscreen, we were told: everyone comes back from a day on Herm with a lobsterish tint, even locals.
Five kilometres and a 20-minute catamaran ride off the east coast of Guernsey, Herm is ringed by white sandy beaches with enticing names – Mouisonnière Beach, Bear's Beach or Shell Beach – and, as this lobster can confirm, the rumours are all true. One day of sun on Herm will bag you as much colour as three days in the sun elsewhere – even a couple of kilometres away on Guernsey. Go figure.
For those in search of a bit of old-fashioned peace and quiet, a couple of nights in Herm's White House Hotel fits the bill perfectly. This award-winning hostelry offers everything from apartments overlooking the beach to self-catering cottages in their own gardens. It is like something out of an Agatha Christie novel.
In fact, the island as a whole has a faintly fictional quality. No cars are allowed, so it's almost eerily peaceful, swallowing without apparent effort the considerable number of visitors who pile off the ferry every day. If you opt for self-catering, you can pre-order your groceries from the local shop and have them delivered by tractor. The same goes for luggage. It's all rather wonderful.
Back at St Peter Port, it's possible to spend a day exploring its winding streets – and to spend a lot of money on electronic goods. In fact, it's quite a good idea to do the latter, as Guernsey's tax-free status chops a bundle off the list price of cameras, laptops and the like.
If you want to steer clear of those, turn seaward and head for the squat, looming hulk of Cornet Castle, at the end of the marina. Its walls offer stunning views over the harbour; tucked away within, you'll find lots of levels to explore, a fistful of military museums, a site-specific installation of Antony Gormley sculptures – marvellous, leggy human figures that gaze silently at the skyline and, disturbingly, appear to move their heads if you gaze back at them for long enough – and, just sitting there in a sunny courtyard in the oldest part of the castle complex, the cluster of sweet-smelling flower beds that used to be the sutler's herb garden.
The castle is a reminder that Guernsey's history has, like that of many islands, been subject both to tidal changes and to occasional violent storms. Five years of German occupation, towards the end of the second World War, cast a particular shadow on the land and its inhabitants. Those old enough to remember the occupation prefer not to talk about it; vivid traces of this period of history are, however, to be found at the German Military Underground Hospital. A vast series of tunnels hewn out of solid rock by slave workers, ostensibly as a hospital but actually as part of an elaborate preparation for Hitler's putative invasion of the British Isles, it's a chilling place where, should you want to, you can come face to face with the evil of the Third Reich.
But be warned. It's a one-way system: once you enter, the only way to get out is to follow the signs right through the complex. I ended up almost running as I turned around an apparently endless series of dank, dripping corners and crossed wide corridors whose curved, beautifully constructed ceilings made my sense of unease, even despair, even more acute. I began to think I'd never get out.
Back at the minibus I made a limp excuse to the driver, who wasn't expecting any of her charges to return so promptly. To my surprise she just nodded. "My mother won't go in there, either," she said. "She was here during the war, and she reckons there are Polish soldiers walled up inside somewhere."
A considerably more appealing relic of Guernsey's past is Sausmarez Manor, in the parish of St Martin. Saddled with a glorious but crumbling residence – it incorporates fragments of unrepaired Norman masonry, but the beautiful granite facade dates from the early 18th century – the seigneur, Peter de Sausmarez, has opened both house and gardens to the public. The garden is tall and tropical, more rainforest than big house, and full of anarchic, wittily-placed sculptures that are, should you wish to buy one, for sale.
It certainly makes for an unusual afternoon as you wade through a clump of bamboo only to find yourself confronted by a huge stone peach, a one-and-a-half-metre-high frog standing on its hind legs and waving its arms, or a translucent male torso made from bronze mesh and apparently suspended in mid-air.
This last turned out to be David Begbie's Raptu – a snip, we reckoned, at about €11,000.
More affordable baubles are on offer at the charming gallery in the manor grounds, Little Green Island, which sells work by local artists, much of it made from reclaimed or recycled materials. There's also a lakeside cafe, a miniature train ride for children and a farmers' market on Saturdays. And if you're in Guernsey on a Monday, sign up for the ghost tour of the wildly atmospheric manor, which begins at 6.30pm (book on 00-44-1481-235571).
Arminta Wallace was a guest of VisitGuernsey (www.visitguernsey.com)
Where to stay and eat on a visit
Where to stay
There are no hotel chains on Guernsey; most hotels are small, so book in advance – and be warned that you may not get the kind of facilities you’re used to with more modern outfits. On the plus side, rooms are often in renovated attic spaces, with outlandish shapes and outstanding views.
Hotel Fleur du Jardin, in Kings Mills, eight minutes from St Peter Port, has 15 beautifully renovated rooms – many with wet rooms – and a couple of suites; the food is terrific, too, so half-board is a good option. www.fleurdujardin.com.
The White House Hotel on Herm is another great place to unwind – by the pool on a fine day or in the Monk’s Bar in a storm. www.herm-island.com.
Where to eat
Food is Guernsey’s trump card: seafood, to be precise, and lots of it. The island punches way above its weight in the restaurant stakes, partly thanks to a profusion of local crab, lobster and prawns, and partly thanks to the insatiable demand of the corporate and banking sector for first-rate restaurants. If you’re particularly into food, don’t miss L’Auberge at Jerbourg, just outside St Peter Port (www.theauberge.gg). Not only does it provide stunning views of sunsets over the cliffs from its pleasant garden; it also serves up clever, creative takes on old favourites, from a prawn and crab “spring roll” starter wrapped in crisp lettuce with pickled ginger to the dessert simply called chocolate. More traditional but equally well-presented fare can be found at the restaurant of the boutique hotel La Fregate (www.lafregatehotel.com), in St Peter Port.
Go there
Flybe ( www.flybe.com) flies from Dublin to Guernsey via Exeter or Southampton.