Five On Friday - About Guernsey

Hello, thank you for popping in, and thank you for your kind responses to my last post.  Lorrie captured my feelings perfectly when she described "gentle domesticity" and I have found some comfort in it this week, pottering around the house and garden.

There is also comfort in routine and so today I am joining Amy at Love Made My Home for Five on Friday.  I mentioned last time that the Best Beloved, The Teacher, Flashman and I went to Guernsey last week to spend some time with The Mathematician who is working there during her university placement year.  Here are five things we enjoyed in Guernsey.

 

1.  The Food

 

Unsurprisingly, the seafood was abundant and delicious - we enjoyed crab, mussels, scallops, prawns, calamari, sea bass... from 1st October for six weeks every year the Channel Islands run an event called Tennerfest during which participating restaurants offer special menus priced between £10 and £20.  We took advantage of this while we were there and ate some spectacular food.

Mini Fruits de Mer at Crabby Jack's

The Best Beloved's lunch at Crabby Jack's

 Seared Scallops with Rocket Salad at Urban Kitchen

  

2.  The German Occupation Museum

 

Guernsey was occupied by German forces from 30th June 1940 until 9th May 1945 and this privately-owned museum, developed from one boy's collection, comprehensively covers that period.  It is old-fashioned, stuffed full of documents and artefacts which have been put together thoughtfully in a series of themed rooms.  We enjoyed it very much and told the attendant so; he replied that they have fewer and fewer visitors each year but that those who do come seem to be increasingly appreciative. 

 

 

3.  Fort Grey Shipwreck Museum

 

Fort Grey is a Martello Tower built in 1804 in Rocquaine Bay on the west coast of the island.  Getting there is an adventure as we had to walk out along the causeway and then climb the steps before entering the doorway, but it's not nearly as much of adventure as it was before the museum was opened in 1976 as until then, there were no steps and no doorway: the only way to get in was to use a ladder!  The museum is small but fascinating, the location is fab, looking out over the Hanois Reef and its lighthouse, and the attendant was lovely.  What more could you ask for in a museum?

 

4.  The Little Chapel

 

The Little Chapel is very little indeed at 5m x 3m and was first built in 1914 as a miniature version of the grotto and basilica at Lourdes.  This is its third incarnation and unfortunately, it is covered in scaffolding because the ground beneath it is subsiding.  (We have a family joke that wherever I visit, there is scaffolding - the only time I have been to Venice, the entire frontage of St Mark's Basilica was  covered in scaffolding!)  Major restoration work is underway to rescue the building and although it was closed for several months at the beginning of this year, it is now open and we were able to go inside.  Wowee!  These photographs don't do it justice; it is A-MA-ZING.

 

 

5. The Beaches

 

Ah, now you know how much I love to be beside the sea and wherever you are in Guernsey, it's never far away.  I couldn't wait to take my shoes off, feel the sand beneath my feet and paddle in the shallows.  I picked up shells - striped limpets, buttercup-coloured flat periwinkles and top shells glinting with nacre - explored rockpools and simply watched the light change over the water.  Bliss.

 

I had a romantic notion to sit on a beach with the Best Beloved and watch the sun set over the sea and although we were able to do just that one evening, the sky was cloudy so the reality didn't match my imagined scene.  It wasn't bad, though.

 

 

Of course, the best thing of all was being with both of my precious girls.

 

Now, if you have the time please hop over to Love Made My Home and see what everyone else is sharing this week.

 

See you soon with, I think, a post about knitting.  It's that time of year again.

 

Love, Mrs Tiggywinkle x