Insight Guides: Greak Breaks Jersey

Insight Guides

• Publisher: Insight
• ISBN:
  9781780057828
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Travel

Great Breaks Jersey is a concise, full-colour travel guide to the 'Queen of the Channel', with a selection of clearly laid-out walks and tours complemented by beautiful, full-colour pictures and a wealth of practical information, all in a compact package.
Overview: the book starts with a spread highlighting the Top Ten Things to Do in Jersey, taking in the island's absorbing heritage, stunning coastal scenery, historic forts and fortresses, and museums and manor houses. This is followed by an engaging introduction on the island's culture, geography, lifestyle and traditions, and an overview of where to find Jersey's best food and drink.
Walks and Tours: this guide features 7 irresistible self-guided walks and tours that will take you on a journey through the squares, markets and museums of Jersey's capital, St Helier, to the dramatic coastline of the windswept West with miles of sandy beaches. All are clearly timed and accompanied by easy-to-follow maps plus hand-picked places to eat, drink and shop en route. Special Features home in on what makes Jersey unique: its local festivals, prehistoric tombs and medieval fortresses.
Travel Tips: the final section of the book is packed with information on active pursuits, themed holidays and transport, as well as specially selected accommodation to suit all tastes and budgets, from chic boutique hotels to family-friendly B&Bs.

Tour 1 : St Helier

This walk around Jersey’s capital, visiting two of the best museums, the lively Central Market and historic Elizabeth Castle, is 2½ miles (4km) and takes a whole day

Highlights

• Maritime Museum and Occupation Tapestry Gallery
• Royal Square
• Central Market and Fish Market
• Jersey Museum and Art Gallery
• Elizabeth Castle

Jersey’s capital is home to two of the best museums on the island, a spectacularly located historic castle and a central square steeped in history. Although the traffic in the capital is worse than anywhere else on the island, the main shopping throughfares, with large stores, boutiques and lively food markets, are pedestrianised. The walk takes you through the historic centre, west to Elizabeth Castle and back along the waterfront.

The stunning setting of Elizabeth Castle.

APA/Anna Mockford and Nick Bonetti

The town’s origins date back to the 6th century when Helerius, a monk from modern-day Belgium, founded a hermitage on a small rocky outcrop on a tidal islet in St Aubin’s Bay, today known as the Hermitage Rock. Helerius devoted his life to prayer and fasting, but in AD555, after 15 years on the island, he was beheaded by a band of passing pirates. A small monastic settlement rose up here, and in the 12th century, an oratory was dedicated to St Helier.

Growth over the centuries was slow and it was not until entrepreneurial Huguenot refugees arrived in the 16th and 17th centuries, bringing their skills with them, that the town saw any real expansion. Further growth came about in the late 18th century, funded by all the profits from privateering during the French and American wars. In the post-Napoleonic era, the population was swelled when hundreds of officers from the English army settled in the town. Retired on half pay, they were lured to Jersey by the climate, the low cost of living and the desirable lifestyle. Regency and Victorian houses were constructed, land was reclaimed from the sea, and by 1840 St Helier had taken over from St Aubin as the island’s main harbour.

Hermitage Rock.

APA/Anna Mockford and Nick Bonetti

The bronze Liberation Sculpture in Liberation Square.

APA/Anna Mockford and Nick Bonetti

LIBERATION SQUARE

Start at Liberation Square 1 [map] , which was opened by Prince Charles on 9 May 1995, the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of the island from German Occupation. It was here that jubilant crowds greeted the British liberators after five long years under German rule.

The prominent Liberation Sculpture commemorates the event with a bronze group of figures, holding up the Union flag. From left to right the figures represent a Jersey couple old enough to have witnessed the Occupation, a liberator, a Jersey fisherman and a farmer with his wife and children. Overlooking the square on the north side, the Pomme d’Or Hotel was the headquarters of the German navy during the Occupation.

The square used to be the terminus of the Jersey Railway which served the south and east coasts, and it was from the rear of the building on the west side that some 2,200 residents were deported to Germany in September 1942.

The Maritime Museum on New North Quay.

APA/Anna Mockford and Nick Bonetti

Alongside Liberation Square is Liberty Wharf, Jersey’s only covered shopping mall, opened in 2010 inside original granite warehouses.

MARITIME MUSEUM AND TAPESTRY GALLERY

Across the busy A1 south of Liberation Square, and looking like something out of Disneyland, the world’s largest Steam Clock is modelled on a 19th-century paddle steamer. Local vessels and shipbuilders are commemorated on benches around the harbour.

The nearby Maritime Museum 2 [map] (www.jerseyheritage.org; Apr–Nov daily 10am–5pm; charge), housed in a restored warehouse on New North Quay, explores every aspect of the island’s links with the sea. Jersey was one of the largest shipbuilding centres in Europe, its shipyards around the coast producing over 800 wooden sailing ships in the mid-19th century. From the 1860s the trade suffered from the advent of iron and steam.

The museum offers a host of hands-on exhibits and other activities for visitors of all ages. You can feel the pull of the currents and the power of the sea, design a boat and float a ship, sing along to sea shanties and meet traditional boat-builders repairing classic boats.

Occupation Tapestry Gallery

Within the museum is the Occupation Tapestry Gallery 3 [map] (Apr–Nov daily 10am–5pm; charge). This excellent display comprises 12 separate large tapestries charting the story of the Occupation from the arrival of the Germans to their surrender to the British liberators in 1945.

These historically accurate and meticulously worked scenes were created by the 12 Jersey parishes to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Liberation. Themes range from “The Outbreak of War” and “Deportation” to “The Daily Life of Civilians”, such as the school-room scene of a boy yawning in a German lesson.

Le Petit Train

The little tourist trains departing from Liberation Square are fun for families and cover two routes, with guided commentaries: the Promenade Tour to St Aubin, following the bay all the way, and the Town and Maritime Tour, taking in the harbour area and Waterfront.

The trains link St Helier with the Funbike site at West Park (St Aubin’s Bay) and the cycle depot in St Aubin’s. There is a regular daily service between April and October. For more information, check out the website www.littletrain.co.uk.

There are 12 richly embroidered tapestries in the Occupation Tapestry Gallery, detailing the moving story of life in Jersey during World War II.

APA/Anna Mockford and Nick Bonetti

Return to Liberation Square, cross the Esplanade on the far side and take Mulcaster Street. About halfway up the road you’ll see the Lampli...