It may appear small but the second largest
of the channel islands is big on sunshine, incredible coastlines and history. Just a
45-minute flight from England or 30 minutes from France, it really should be on your bucket
list to visit. In this tour, we'll show you some of the best things you can do on a weekend
break in this wonderful British crown dependency. At the time of filming your only option for
flying from southern England is Aurigny from Gatwick airport. A couple of other carriers. blue
island and logan air fly from regional airports in the UK. If you'd prefer to sail and that does take
a number of hours then check out Condor ferries. We took a Friday night flight and were
welcomed to Guernsey with a wonderful sunset as we approached the island
crossing over St Peter Port our base for the weekend and for where
we'll start our guide in the morning. With so much to see getting
up and out early is a must. With a lovely sunny morning, we
headed south to Jerbourg Point to start a coastal walk that would take in
hidden coves and winding paths before breakfast. So there are a lot of walking trails that you
can do here and we found a website that gives you plenty of ideas of different routes to
take across the island with different levels of fitness and length. So we'll put that link
on the screen now for you. We're doing one from Petit Port to Saints Bay. It's about an hour
and a half walk one way and apparently, it was also the area where Renoir painted many of his
landscapes, so should be interesting to see this. Petit Port beach below us is exposed when the tide
is out and only accessible by 270 steep steps, we chose to stick to the path. Near the halfway point we arrive at Moulin
Huet. The famous landscape artist Renoir fell in love with this area when
he visited for six weeks in 1883. In that short time, he worked on no less than
15 paintings all depicting views of Moulin Huet. The charitable organization Art for
Guernsey created a Renoir walk in 2019 and it highlights some of the
locations where he painted. This is one of those locations,
cleverly framing his view. You can find out more information on
this at Art for Guernsey .com / Renoir. Continuing on, Saints Bay harbour comes into view. This is a lovely secluded bay with
a boat launch into the blue waters. There is a small beach and then you
can see what's called a loophole tower. We'll see more of those over the weekend. They
were built at various coastal points in 1778, 15 in all although only 12 remain now. They were
used to deter the French from possible attacks. To complete the walk fully we should have
hiked all the way down to the harbour itself but that was enough for us it was time
to head back. So back in St Peter Port after the walk. We've stopped off for a little
bit of late breakfast, we did the walk quite early actually and it was probably better because
the weather is meant to be pretty hot today and it certainly was warming up as we were coming back
from our trail. So we stopped off at Christie's and we're going to have two rarebits,
Guernsey rarebit I believe. They are a bit like cheese on toast, something like that but
a little bit posher. We'll see when it arrives. That's so cute, isn't it the little. Is that
like the Worcestershire sauce type thing? I suppose something similar. We'll put that on.
It's pretty cool, looks absolutely delicious. It really was tasty and set us up
for our walk around St. Peter Port. Home to around 18 000 people, the capital of
Guernsey, St. Peter Port is a charming town with spectacular sea views, cobbled streets and
home to many of the island's best restaurants. We based ourselves here in order to enjoy the
multiple local pubs and restaurants. In fact, the island is so compact it doesn't really matter
where you base yourself you're never more than 30 minutes away from anywhere. Victoria Marina
is in the heart of the town, right next to the bustling seafront. Walking along the promenade
gives a distinctively Mediterranean feel, especially if you're lucky enough to have
the nice weather. It's here you'll also find pubs bars restaurants and shops all
with gorgeous harbour and sea views. There's a lot of choice for where to eat but we
were intrigued by the slaughterhouse, it is, as the name says a former abattoir converted into a
modern restaurant. We had dinner here on Saturday night. The seafront is also home to the island's
bus terminus. The network is extensive and you can travel almost anywhere on the island from here.
Adult day passes cost £5 and note, only cards are accepted for payments, no cash. It's a great
way to get around if you don't have a hire car. Visible all over town is Castle Cornet.
It's dominated the harbour for 800 years and seen plenty of action over that period. Linked
to the town by a wide walkway it is actually built on an island. You can visit the Castle Museum, RAF
Museum and the Royal Guernsey Militaria museum. Open Wednesday to Sunday from £10.50.
If you're close by around noon, listen out for the daily midday gun fired
by keepers cladding scarlet costumes! To commemorate the first-ever visit of
a reigning monarch to the island in 1846 the victoria tower was built. It's possible
to visit and climb the 99 steps to the top of the tower for wonderful views of
the islands of Sark and Herm. A key is available for 30 minute periods from
the Guernsey Museum in Candie Gardens, during normal opening hours. We were not
there when it was open so missed out. Candie Gardens is a victorian park with a diamond
jubilee commemorative statue of Queen Victoria and is home to the Guernsey museum where you can
find out more about the archaeology of the island. Interestingly the Beatles performed in the
auditorium next door, tickets cost 17 shillings and sixpence! Aside from the lawns flowers
and fish ponds you'll also find a statue of Victor Hugo he was exiled here from France and
wrote many of his best works in St. Peter Port, most notably Les Miserables. We'll
see his home on the island shortly. Guernsey loves to run regular events throughout
the year bringing locals and tourists together for all sorts of fun, from festivals, beach
parties and for our weekend some road racing! Head to the Visit Guernsey website and
find out what's on when you're visiting. From Prince Albert statue next to the
town church his Cornet Street. Walk up the hill away from the seafront. You come
to number 26 the Victorian Shop and Parlour. The old family-run shop and home
that stands here was purchased by the national trust of guernsey in 1983 and
restored to its former glory as a shop. Many of the artefacts are original,
like the range in the parlour, the shop counter and lovely old till. Ask the nice assistant to show you
the mechanical wooden shutters, ingenious!
That's brilliant. And they've been doing that on both sides at
the same time. Oh, you've got one on each side. that's brilliant, yeah There is a picture above the fireplace
of the family who owned and lived here. The assistant would be more than happy to
tell you a little bit about them as you browse around the eclectic mix of purchase ideas. Free to enter check out this
website for opening times. Further, up the hill notice the painted
number seven. During the nazi occupation, residents made it as difficult as possible for
the enemy to navigate the island. They removed all maps and road signs so the occupying force
came up with their own system. The numbered route stretched across the whole island at one point
but now there are just a few signs remaining. This is Hauteville house, home
to the writer Victor Hugo. Inside is a beautiful five-story home
where he wrote the classic Les Miserables amongst other works. unfortunately, the house
is closed until spring 2022 but by all accounts, the interior decor is a work of art and well
worth a visit. Details can be found here. Right, that's enough from the
town, for now, let's stretch our legs further afield and show you some
of the other island's delights in the car. So we hired a car from Europe cars guernsey, costs
about £90 for the weekend. If you're coming here and you haven't got your own transport then
the bus system is really good around the whole island. Plenty of bus stops everywhere at all
the major attractions, so you really will have no trouble getting around. When you are driving there
are a few sort of nuances to how you might drive in the UK or other countries. First of all, there
is a mandatory 35 mile an hour speed limit on the island and in some areas, that's down to 25 miles
an hour and before you come you think oh my god that's really slow but the roads are quite narrow
and actually it feels quite quick when you're going around at that sort of speed so generally,
you are going around much slower than that. Our first stop is just south of the
airport to Le Petit Bot Bay and Tower. It's at the bottom of a woodland
area with towering cliffs around it. The beach is sandy at low tide and we were there
during high tide and it's a little bit stony then. There's a nice little cafe with outdoor seating
and toilet facilities here. It's really popular as you can see, that makes it a little bit
tricky for parking as it's quite limited. There's also one of the 15 loophole towers here and a plaque explains why they built it and you
can see a view from inside the tower as well. It's a sheltered bay so really
good for some safe fun swimming. Further, along the coast, a cafe
that could be a great spot for lunch sits just at the start of a pretty easy
and stunning cliff walk. Maybe grab a bite to eat then walk it off on this relatively
short route taking in that fresh sea air. I think there must have been some very interesting
caves below this point as the sightseeing boat was very keen to stop. People were snapping away
like mad, maybe a smuggler's contraband cave. Locals will tell you you cannot come to Guernsey
without a visit to the much-loved landmark in the lovely parish of St Andrew.
You can see a bus stop just outside the front as we come into the car
park, bus route 71 gets you here. As you walk down the path a
little chapel comes into view and from this distance, it looks
like it's from a model village but as we get closer you start to see something
really quite special about this quirky church. The Little Chapel as it's known is decorated
with seashells, pebbles and broken china. It was the idea of Frenchman Brother Deodat
who, whilst living in Guernsey in 1914 wanted to recreate the miniature version of the
famous grotto and basilica in Lourdes in France. What we see today is the third version. The
first was criticized and swiftly pulled down. The second had much better reception and stood
until 1923 when the Bishop of Portsmouth had the embarrassment of not fitting through
the door so Deodat pulled it down again. This third version was very labour
intensive collecting pebbles and broken china to decorate it
with. It's quite remarkable. In 1939 brother Deodat returned to France due to
his ill health and never saw the chapel finished. It fell into disrepair but slowly over the years
it's been restored. A newspaper article in 2014 put the chapel on the map and people from all
over the world started sending broken china and shells to help decorate it. A large injection
of funds helped restore the chapel for today. Fundraising continues and whilst it's free to
enter a donation to help maintain it is welcome. Driving to the southwest coast we pass
the beautiful Rocquaine Bay with a sandy beach and the Fort Grey shipwreck museum,
affectionately known as the cup and saucer. Our destination now is down some rather winding, ever narrowing roads to a National Trust car
park giving us access to Pleinmont Headland. This was the perfect place to come for an
afternoon walk along the rugged coastline. It's also here you can see an old fort,
the coastal lighthouse and something called the fairy ring. Intrigued
we needed to come and take a look. Many stories center around fairies and witchcraft
and we thought it might be like the fairy glen on the isle of skye. In fact, this circular
ditch with a circle of stones around it is believed to have been created in the 18th or
19th century, used as a picnic area for pions, the footman of officials on horseback that
inspected road conditions every few years. This is just a lovely area
to walk around and explore. A fort has stood here since 1680 protecting
the southern end of Rocquaine Bay. Originally with two three and a half
inch cannons by the 19th century and with the greatest risk of a french invasion
they were upgraded to three 18-pound guns. You have a stunning panoramic view from this fort
so you can understand why they built it here. Saumarez Park is the largest
public park in Guernsey, full of exotic plants, great for a picnic and
bringing the children to the large play area. There is a rose garden, bamboo walk,
a japanese garden and a wall garden which was closed when we visited. There was also
this grand house which we thought we could visit but it appears to be a care home for the
elderly now. What a great setting for them. We are here to visit the Folk and Costume
Museum within the grounds of the park and run by the National Trust. It's free to enter
and just 15 minutes drive from St. Peter Port. Set around a collection of lovely restored period
buildings, the museum gives the visitor an insight into the history of Guernsey's people over the
last 250 years. The displays tell the story of daily life for those at home, at school
or working in one of the local industries. Working at sea has always been
a large part of island life so there are a number of exhibits and
salty sea dog tales to learn about. There is a large collection of ladies garments and
evening dresses as part of an exhibit celebrating the life of Dame Olivia de Havilland from the
Hollywood blockbuster "Gone with the Wind". Her family line settled in Guernsey in the middle
ages, this may have been a temporary exhibit. From the old horse-drawn bus and other
carriages that carried people around the island to the agricultural tools and machinery, this museum really does give you the feeling
of days gone by. It's well worth a visit. One of our goals for the weekend was to ensure
we managed to get to all the corners of the island so let's now head north and take
in some more of its wonderful coastline. There's plenty of places to park up for
free and take a short or longer walk exploring more of the loophole towers
or other world war ii fortifications. This is L'Ancresse Bay with a lovely
almost white looking sandy beach a bit exposed and blustery, but really beautiful. There are many sites of archaeological interest
on the island and one that sparked our interest was right in the middle of an 18 hole golf
course at, Le Varde. It takes a little bit of finding and you do need to watch out for
golfers and their balls, but head towards the Millennium stone and you should be able
to see that from quite a good distance. So this was found in the 18th century when
human bones were discovered by archaeologists. It dates back to the neolithic period just
watch out for the roosting birds inside! God that frightened the life out of me! You can see that stone here, this has been
put up to support it all. Amazing isn't it! Look at all the shapes of the
rocks, it's quite something. Archaeological examinations of the site revealed
burnt and unburnt human bones indicating burials and cremations were held in this chamber. There
are quite a few of these places across Guernsey. Over our weekend we have shown you just a few of
the many wonderful things to see and do making Guernsey a brilliant place to visit for a weekend
or longer. There is so much more to see but we'll have to do that in the future. Do subscribe
for more content like this, give us a like or comment we love to hear from you! Until the
next time, thanks for watching the Memoryseekers.
