WK_Jersey

A tiny island in the shadow of France, Jersey packs in big beaches, stunning seascapes and a host of historic and family attractions.

When the novelist Victor Hugo was exiled from France he chose to live on the island closest to home – just 14 miles (22km) across the Channel, where his native language was spoken. “Fragments of Europe dropped by France and picked up by England”, was how he described the Channel Islands. As self-governing islands and strongholds of ancient, semi-feudal laws, the Channel Islands are neither truly British, nor are they French. English is now the accepted language, the currency is pounds and pence, yet many street names are still in French, the food has a Gallic slant and the islands have a distinctly foreign flavour. Tourists are drawn by this combination of French flavour and British lifestyle – not to mention the location, which is sufficiently far south to guarantee more daily hours of sun than anywhere else in Britain.

For a small island, Jersey offers a wide range of attractions and activities, from ancient castles and wartime relics to sea sports and cycle tours, spas and adventure parks. But for most visitors it’s the coastline that has the greatest allure. Jersey has 50 miles (80km) of shoreline and 20 miles (32km) of fine sandy beaches, swept clean by huge tides. The island tilts southwards, and seascapes range from the towering cliffs of the north to the Atlantic rollers of the west and the spacious sands of the south. The island has one of the largest tidal movements in the world, and the coastal landscape undergoes dramatic changes between high and low water.

The most southerly of the British Isles, Jersey lies in the Gulf of St Malo, 100 miles (160km) from mainland Britain, but only 14 miles (22km) from the coast of Normandy. On most days you can see France from the north and east coasts. Largest of the Channel Islands, Jersey is 9 miles (14km) east to west, 5 miles (8km) north to south. In summer, the island has a daily average of eight hours of sunshine and an enviable average maximum temperature of 68°F (20°C). There is always the risk of bad weather, but clouds are often quickly dispersed by the strong south-westerly winds.

The Jersey cow pops up everywhere on the island.

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Toads and Donkeys

Deep-rooted rivalries exist between Jersey and Guernsey. To Guernsey natives Jersey is “the other island” and the inhabitants are crapauds (toads), while Jersey people refer to the residents of their supposedly stubborn little sister as ânes (donkeys).

The crapaud, which is found only on Jersey, has been fast disappearing from ponds and waterways. The Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, renowned for recovering endangered species from more exotic climes, is currently helping to save the island mascot.

The Channel Islands once formed part of the Duchy of Normandy but have had links with the British Isles ever since the Battle of Hastings, when they became part of the Anglo-Norman realm. The links were reinforced in 1204 when King John lost Normandy to France but the Channel Islands chose to remain loyal to the English crown. In return for their allegiance King John granted the islands customs and privileges, tantamount to self-government, which have since been confirmed by every English monarch. France then became the enemy, and for the next 650 years Jersey was repeatedly threatened by French invasions. The last invaders were the Nazi Germans, who occupied the Channel Islands in World War II.

Until the 1960s French was still the official language of Jersey. Prayers are still said in French before States and court sittings, and the parliament votes pour or contre. Not so long ago a Jersey resident would have spoken English, standard French and Jèrriais, a derivation of ancient Jersey-Norman. This patois enjoyed a revival during the German Occupation as a useful means of covert communication, and today it can very occasionally be heard by elderly Jersiais (the people who speak it). Only a handful of the population speak it fluently, but renewed interest in the language has led to the introduction of classes in some schools.

The English language was first introduced to Jersey in the eighteenth century, and is now spoken by all the islanders. Street names on the island still carry their French names, often very different from the English names they were later given, eg La Rue de Derrière (King Street) or La Rue des Trois Pigeons (Hill Street).

Jersey Royals are one of the most prized crops of spring.

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Anne Port, a pleasant cove on the northeast of the island, is an ideal location for rockpooling with children.

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The all-dominant financial services industry accounts for over 40 percent of the total economic activity on Jersey, employing around a fifth of the workforce. This took over from agriculture and tourism as the mainstay of the economy in the latter part of the twentieth century. Tourism generates less than 4 percent of Jersey’s GVA though the total impact of the sector is equivalent to 8.3 percent of GVA, and it accounts for over 8% of the island’s employment. The decade-long downward trend in travel to Jersey was reversed in 2017 when the island saw 727,000 visits, putting it on track to achieve its aim of one million visitors by 2030.

Since Napoleonic times Jersey has attracted high-earning immigrants seeking to benefit from the island’s desirable way of life and advantageous tax laws. Today’s high earners are actively encouraged through the High Value Residency initiative, whereby applications are assessed for suitability on social and economic grounds, including paying a minimum tax of £145,000 per annum.

Jersey has a growing number of over twenty Sites of Special Interest (SSIs), 28 of them protected for ecological and 22 for their geological interest, plus a huge intertidal zone designated as a Ramsar site (a wetland of international importance) on the southeast coast. The island’s sixteen beaches are washed by some of the cleanest waters in Europe.

Green lanes, reducing the speed limit on some country lanes to 15mph (24kmh), have encouraged cyclists and pedestrians, and clearly marked cycle routes now cover around 100 miles (161km) of coast and countryside. On the negative side, although the island is still largely unspoilt, its capital St Helier has seen very unsightly development swallowing the coastline. The amount of rubbish generated has doubled in two decades and the island only recycles a third of its waste. Jersey still has one of the highest car ownership and user rates in the world. It’s remarkable how many Porsches and other fast cars you see given that the maximum speed limit on the island is 40mph (64kmh)!