A French feel but very much Britain

LEE SWETTENHAM found out all the answers to the charms of the Channel Island of Jersey on a recent trip...

IS it British? Is it French? Is it full of rich people? How did it survive five years of occupation by he Nazis? Was Bergerac a real detective?

For someone like me who has heard about Jersey, but hadn’t bothered to actually find out about it, I jumped at the chance of a visit to learn, put aside the misconceptions, and soak in the largest of the Channel Islands for the first time.

The flight time from Manchester is less than an hour and when you land you’re just a handful of miles from the French coast, which means you feel oddly disoriented when you arrive, unsure about whether you’re abroad or not.

So, time to learn, and a great place to start your island education is the Jersey Museum.

Situated on the harbourfront of the vibrant capital of St Helier, it manages to take 250,000 years of history and cleverly distil it down into fascinating bite-sized chunks.

It uses everything from ancient artefacts to interactive screens as it explains how it became an island, the fight to keep its language alive and its complex relationship with France, Britain and the English Crown. I unearthed a peculiar Lancastrian link too - during the War of the Roses, the Queen sold Jersey to the French in return for their support for the Red Rose side, but the island was liberated again seven years later by the Yorkists.

The museum uses the restored Merchant’s House as a backdrop for the drama of a Victorian family in crisis - brilliantly brought to life with the characters playing out their roles in each room on screens.

More up to date is the ‘Bergerac’s Jersey’ exhibition (no, he wasn’t real), which uses the BBC detective show set here as a means to look at what life was like on the island in the 1980s, which turned out to be turbulent and quite a lot of fun - there’s even a full-size disco dancefloor and a ‘jukebox’ of dozens of 80s classics to play and have a bop too. We choose New Order’s Blue Monday, obviously.

Stories of the occupation are also told in the museum though archive materials and personal accounts - islanders were on the brink of starvation as the Nazis kept a tight grip on supplies, and it’s hard to overstate just how hard life was for the locals.

Our base for the weekend was also a focal point during those long five years of occupation.

The Pomme D’Or hotel in St Helier, overlooking the harbour, became the German Naval headquarters.

But when liberation finally came on May 9, 1945, it was outside the hotel where thousands of islanders gathered - a spot now known as Liberation Square - to celebrate as the swastika flag was taken down and replaced by the Union Jack.

The Pomme D’Or is now one of the best places to stay on the island. It has all the facilities and comfort you need from a modern hotel, with excellent restaurants and a Friday seafood buffet that’s renowned across Jersey.

In some respects, St Helier itself could be any decent-sized town on the mainland, with its long shopping street with all the chains you know, and the slightly out-of-town cinema and retail park.

But wander off the main drag and you’ll find many treasures - independent shops, cafes and restaurants galore.

The French influence is clear and there’s plenty of alfresco dining and drinking thanks to the calmer, warmer climate.

And with Jersey’s position, you won’t be surprised that the seafood on offer across the island is spectacularly good.

At just nine miles by five miles, it’s easy to explore the rest of Jersey, even when your stay is brief.

Car hire is popular, but we joined a day-long tour that proves the perfect way to see the different sides and characteristics of the island, thanks to the skilled and informative commentary from our coach driver.

The route sticks primarily to the coast, and as we travel west from St Helier we see the stunning beaches and scenery that have brought tourists here for decades.

The resorts of St Aubin and St Brelade offer delightful views, with the latter’s sweeping sands particularly striking.

Jersey’s tax laws give it the reputation as a home for the rich and famous - St Brelade is perhaps the best example of that with the likes of Formula One legend Nigel Mansell living here and Wigan businessman Dave Whelan owning a seafront hotel.

Further north sees open and windswept St Ouen’s Bay - a surfer’s paradise - with dozens of former German bunkers dotting the sand dunes, some of which have been turned into quirky holiday lets for tourists.

The northern side of the island is more rural, and it’s here particularly that at this time of year (March) you’ll see huge fields covered with plastic, beneath which the world-famous Jersey Royal potatoes grow, later to be harvested and sent across the world.

The north also offers even more dramatic scenery, particularly the rising cliffs of Bonne Nuit, Bouley at St Catherine’s bays.

Our final stop is at Jersey’s most iconic monument, Mont Orgueil which looms high over the gorgeous fishing village of Gorey and shows just how close you are to France - the Normandy coast is just 14 miles away and usually clearly in view.

Jersey is very much English, with those French influences plain to see, and some eccentricities (you still get handed £1 notes in change, occasionally).

But, basically, Jersey is Jersey. And it’s all the better for it.

If you want to live here, you’d better be able to afford it - you need to