Channel your energy
relax off-duty or spend their leave, pork tenderloin was accompanied by managed by stern Red Cross sisters. “potato peel pie”.
Now a five-star hotel, it was our luxurious It was all rounded off with Guernsey base for a weekend escape. gache (a fruit tea bread) and a scoop of
As we went down to dine in the the island’s famous dairy ice cream. Brasserie restaurant, we admired the A bracing walk the next day to and splendid paintings and fine antiques around Lihou – the most westerly of the adorning the hotel – including wroughtiron Channel Islands – was just the thing to gates originally commissioned for work off the calories. the Mauritania ocean liner. At low tide, our guide Gill Girard led
Dinner gave us the opportunity to the way across the slippery cobbled sample some of the island’s renowned causeway. Even this tiny dishes on the special Soldatenheim island didn’t escape menu. Our starter, tian of Guernsey the attention of crab, was a seafood treat, while roasted the Germans – A gun emplacement. Inset, Brasserie meal the only house here was used as target practice. The island has since been deemed a vital wetland site, however, and is now a paradise for birdwatchers. Gill, whose parents lived under the occupation, kept us mesmerised with stories about life on Guernsey. Her tours are among the events featured in the Heritage75 Festival, which celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Channel Islands’ liberation and is due to run from May to October. Our final stop was at the German Occupation Museum, set up by Richard Heaume, who started collecting memorabilia as a boy. A poster from local newspaper the Daily Star’s report of Liberation Day with the joyful headline, “We are free! Food, Fuel, Fags are coming”, caught my eye. My brief visit to this gem of an island was certainly liberating in every way.