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To say that my husband and I were pleasantly surprised with our time spent on Jersey would be an understatement. Armed with the preconception that time on the island had more or less stood still since the 70's, I was amazed to discover how wrong we had been.
FRENCH CONNECTION
Landing at the island's immaculate and super efficient aiport, after a very enjoyable flight with Bmibaby (which took just about enough time for us to order and drink a cup of hot chocolate), we hired a smart little silver Ford Ka from Hertz and drove the short distance to our hotel, The Jersey Club Hotel and Spa (The Club) nestled in the island's capital of St Helier.
Because of the short journey time, we didn't feel the usual stresses associated with travel and were immediately ready and willing to venture into town to see what was on offer. If you're looking for a shopping mecca then, in all honesty, St Helier isn't going to blow your mind - it has the usual national brands that you'd find in any large mainland town, with a smattering of restaurants, cafés and coffee shops. As you would expect of an island known for its VAT free status, it does have several quailty jewellers displaying pricey diamonds and high end brand watches. There are also a few independent boutiques, but we honestly expected a few more.
No town would be complete without a local market and St Helier's Victorian Central and Beresford markets are no exception and rather charming they are too. There's a great selection of local produce and fresh fish. Here's where we got our first introduction to the language used on the island. Jersey is 100 miles south of mainland Britain but only 14 miles from the Normandy coast of France. Until the 1960's the official language was French is still used by the court and legal professions but there's also a mix of English, Latin, Breton, Norman French and Jersey Norman French or Jerriais (Jersiasis) as it's known by the locals but pretty much everyone we talked to spoke English.
We continued our walk through the town and came upon the Jersey Museum. Now I'm not one for museums as a rule, (my husband often refers to me as a 'pleasure model' whose only interests are shopping). So it was with some trepidation that I agreed to enter the building. I was so glad that I did. Had I not, I wouldn't have learnt all about the history of the island. During World War II the Channel Islands were the only part of Great Britain to be occupied by the Germans. This lasted for five years until Liberation on 9th May, 1945. Needless to say, it was a difficult time for the islanders, many of whom either left prior to occupation or were deported.
On a lighter note, there were also two other interesting exhibitions. One on the talented Jersey illustrator Blam (Edward Blampied), which appealed to my husband, and the other on Marilyn Monroe. A local Jersey resident by the name of David Gainsborough Roberts has amassed a large collection of Marilyn memorabilia over the years, including items of her wardbrobe. No prizes for guessing which exhibition held my interest the most!
We finished our first day with a lovely meal at a restaurant adjoining the museum and then headed back to our hotel for the night. As real foodies we'd decided to stay at the Jersey Club Hotel and Spa (The Club). This luxurious five star hotel boasts eight suites and 38 luxury bedrooms with a smart, contemporary feel while retaining a friendliness that sometimes hotels of this kind seem to lose. It has the finest feather mattresses with frette linen, stylish granite bathrooms with seriously strong power showers and L'Occitane products, flatscreen TV, DVD/CD player, Bang and Olufsen portable telephones and a private bar plus a well placed town centre location.
The hotel also boasts a luxury spa, an outdoor freshwater swimming pool with waterfall and an indoor salt pool with hydrobench, Rasul mud chamber, salt chamber, monsoon shower, herbal steam room and sauna and treatment rooms offering every imaginable therapy available. Oh, and did I mention the Michelin starred, four AA Rossette restaurant Bohemia, headed up by celebrity chef Shaun Rankin? Yes, The Club was a good choice.
After a pleasant night's sleep, we enjoyed our first continental breakfast of the trip and then headed off to the capital as the city was celebrating Liberation Day. We were so pleased to have been visiting the island at such an important time. The islanders and visitors were out in full enjoying the festivities including food stalls, the sounds of the Jersey Big Band, a drive by of army vehicles and much more.
We then jumped in the car and took the coastal road to check out the island and were amazed at the coastal scenery. The sea was a beautiful sea green (funnily enough!) and we thought Jersey would make an ideal beach holiday - there were so many coves to choose from. This might be a good time to mention the weather. We'd left Cardiff in the rain and were now enjoying a sunny, much milder climate. We'd heard that the island hadn't seen rain for weeks. En route, we came across the army vehicles again and pulled in to see them in more detail. We viewed the vast collection of German occupation items in a military bunker run by islander, Damien Horn, who had been collecting the items from the war since a very early age. It was truly fascinating.
We continued the military theme with a visit to the Jersey War Tunnels, an underground complex which thousands of forced labourers from all over conquered Europe, working under the harshest of conditions, created an amazing construction of more than a kilometre of chambers and corridors herwn from the sold rock and immune to attack by land or from the air. It certainly gave you a feel for what the island and its inhabitants endured during those times.
Another attraction not to miss is the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust owned by the late, great naturalist Gerald Durrell. We spent hours here in the company of flamingos, snakes, meerkats and orangutans.
This is no zoo, (I can't abide those places anyway). You can tell that this place was built with the wellfare of animals in mind.
Back to our hotel and a quick wash and
brush up for our reservation at
Bohemia. As you'd expect from such a highly rated chef, the food, service and surroundings were impeccable.
We managed to pack in quite a bit into our short trip but there are many other attractions that we would like to have visited that our time couldn't allow for. Our time in Jersey went far too quickly. Our journey home to Cardiff took less than an hour as, thankfully, there are no passport control queues.
To sum up, Jersey is the perfect getaway for young couples, couples young of heart and young families. We wholeheartedly recommend you visit!
You can get more information on what's to see and do at www.jersey.com.
Flights can be booked through bmibaby at www.bmibaby.com
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SISTER MAGAZINES
 
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