Places to Visit: Eat, Drink, and Dive into the Past

If you are lucky enough to go to Jersey, these are some of the places I visited as research for this book. But you don’t need to be researching a book, or particularly be a history buff, to visit and fall in love with these places.

The Occupation Tapestry

I loved this place so much I visited twice. As I described in the Epilogue, loving hands from Jersey’s parishes came together to stitch a stunning tapestry to show life under the Occupation. Apparently it took seven years from inception to conception and 30,000 hours of work by 227 embroiderers, but wow, was it ever worth it! What’s really incredible is the detail; you can spend hours absorbed in it. It tells the story of Jersey’s war in a completely unique and vivid way. I also love the idea of Jersey’s older generation getting together to embroider and share stories of the Occupation with the younger generation. What a brilliant way to pass down history. I’d have loved to have listened to some of those conversations.

It’s at Jersey’s Maritime Museum.

Read about it in Threads of History: The Jersey Occupation Tapestry by Tessa Coleman.

https://www.jerseyheritage.org/visit/places-to-visit/maritime-museum-occupation-tapestry/.

The Lighthouse Memorial

Standing immediately outside the Maritime Museum, on the New North Quay of St. Helier Harbour, is the Lighthouse Memorial. The lighthouse stood at St. Catherine’s Pier for over 100 years, before it was decommissioned in 1996. It was then installed there as a memorial to the Jersey 21—the men and women who died in Nazi prisons and camps, having been tried and deported for breaking German Occupation regulations. Their names can be read on the plinth around its base, where wreaths are laid each year on 27 January to mark Holocaust Memorial Day. I found this information on the excellent Frank Falla Archive, (https://www.frankfallaarchive.org/search-people/), which is a wealth of information on the Jersey 21 and Guernsey 8, who did not return from Nazi-occupied territories.

Jersey War Tunnels

An absolute must visit if you’re interested in the Occupation. This vast network of underground tunnels was designed to allow the German occupying infantry to withstand Allied air raids and bombardment in the event of an invasion. In 1943, it was converted into an emergency hospital. Today it’s a really immersive museum.

https://www.jerseywartunnels.com.

The Channel Islands Military Museum

Housed in a former German bunker, this is an evocative way to get close to the past.

Weapons, uniforms, motorcycles, photographs, radios, Red Cross messages and a plethora of other items transport you back to the Occupation. La Grande Route des Mielles, Jersey, JE3 2FN, located at St. Ouen’s Bay. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063753360746.

Jersey Public Library

Grace’s library is no longer based in the Royal Square, St. Helier, but in a bright modern building in nearby Halkett Place. It’s a stunning building with welcoming staff, late opening and, of course, acres of books. It’s well worth a visit. When I was over there I lost myself in many of their Occupation books. The library really was a godsend for so many islanders during those dark and dangerous years and islanders donated thousands of books to the library. What an indignity for the Chief Librarian, Arscott Sabine Harvey Dickinson, to watch his library plundered by the German censors for any authors “uncongenial” to the regime.

Jersey Heritage History Archive

A hive of stories, photos, books, pictures, oral and written archives relating to Jersey’s rich history. https://catalogue.jerseyheritage.org. You can also search and access the records online.

Havre des Pas

No. 2 Silvertide, Havre des Pas. The German Secret Field Police, run in part by the odious Heinz Carl Wölfle. It struck me as sinister that the organization many civilians referred to as the “Gestapo” should choose to run their interrogations from a typically English seaside villa.

The Bathing Pool, Havre des Pas

This beautiful, horseshoe-shaped saltwater pool nestled in a white sandy beach is a stunning place to swim and it’s free! Apparently the Germans loved to swim there during the Occupation, according to local resident Leo Harris, who told me how he once found one of their guns on the bottom of the pool. Walking with bare feet on the warm wooden planks of the bridge as you cross over to the pool and plunge into the bracing saltwater is one of the great joys of life. Sadly I didn’t find any World War II ephemera during my swim.

Kate by Havre des Pas bathing pool. Copyright Kate Thompson.

Tours

I took two tours in Jersey: one by day with the incredibly knowledgeable military guide Marc Yates (www.historyalive.je); and one touring the bunkers by night, with Jersey War Tours, which was thrillingly evocative and creepy, as you’d expect (www.jerseybunkertours.com).

Both are well worth doing for a really good insight into the Occupation and stories galore.

Fish and Chips in a German Bunker

Faulkner Fisheries runs a quirky and excellent fish restaurant in a converted German Bunker in L’Étacq at the northern tip of St. Ouen’s Bay. The famous summer BBQ is a unique experience. Step inside the bunker and choose from fresh fish and shellfish and eat al fresco overlooking a stunning beach, with local Jersey Royal Potatoes and homemade Jersey garlic butter, washed down with a glass of local wine. https://www.faulknerfisheries.com.

Kate enjoying an al fresco glass of wine at L’Étacq. Copyright Kate Thompson.

Or eat mussels straight from the bowl like Kate’s son Stanley. Copyright Kate Thompson.

Bouley Bay

On the rugged north coast, Bouley Bay is my favorite beach. Swim through crystal-clear waters to a small pontoon where you can gaze up at the rugged cliffs, before striking back to land for a fresh crab sandwich at Mad Mary’s Café on the beach. Mary has almost legendary status with locals and is fighting hard against the massive development of a former hotel in the bay.

Idyllic Bouley Bay. Copyright Kate Thompson.

Jersey Zoo

Growing up, one of my favorite books was Gerald Durrell’s My Family and Other Animals, so it was a real thrill to visit the beautiful zoo and the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust he founded in his adopted homeland of Jersey. This is a must visit. https://www.durrell.org/visit-jersey-zoo/about-jersey-zoo/.

All information correct at the time of writing.