Jersey is truly different. The first indication comes as your aeroplane descends. Chances are that it will plunge down towards the great blue sweep of the English Channel, as if it is about to land on water. Only at the last moment will the dramatic vista of St Ouen’s Bay reveal itself, with its five miles of golden sands culminating in the bleak lighthouse of Corbiere. Sweeping low over surfers and sand dunes, your plane will come to land on a small island with a greater wealth per head than Brunei. A sign greets you in the arcane, archaic dialect of Jerrais – «Seyiz les Beinv’nus a Jerri». This is Britain, but not as we know it.
Embraced by the long arm of the Cotentin peninsula, Jersey is one of a group of rocks that nestle in the gulf of St. Malo. The Channel Islands were once the high ground in a forested plain that was swamped by glacial melt-water in prehistoric times, when Neanderthal man built caves near what is now St Brelade’s beach. The Roman Empire left few traces on «Insula Caesarea», but the islands were incorporated into the Duchy of Normandy. They were an integral, francophone part of Duke William’s domain for generations long before he set off on a madcap adventure to conquer another, much larger territory – England.
Jersey has retained its unique identity as a separate realm, loyal to the Crown but distinct from the United Kingdom and reliant on it for defence and foreign affairs alone. Government continues to be local and based on the twelve parishes, with the States of Jersey eschewing political parties and meeting in the rose-coloured States Chambers in the capital of St Helier. The currency union with England means that the pound sterling is common coinage, albeit that Jersey pound notes feature the queen uncrowned – for here she is Duke, not monarch. Every function of the mainland is duplicated here in miniature – Jersey Post instead of the Royal Mail; Jersey Telecom in lieu of British Telecom, Jersey Heritage instead of English Heritage. One feature that is not duplicated is the tax policy of the mainland; the top rate on the island is 20% (versus 50% in the UK) and irksome burdens such as capital gains tax, inheritance tax and VAT do not exist. These advantageous and business-friendly policies have enabled the Island to develop as a leading offshore financial centre in recent decades.
Yet the true wealth of Jersey is its landscape. Barely forty-five square miles of verdant valleys, wooded lanes and quaint villages, the island doubles in size at low tide as the powerful tidal surge of the St Malo basin reveals vast tracts of sea bed. Guided «moonwalks» can be taken to explore this fascinating, luminescent yet potentially very dangerous landscape, for the sea can advance faster than a man can run and flood in to a depth of forty feet. The sea has shaped spectacular and diverse series of cliffs and beaches; from the rugged high cliffs of the north shore, where Bouley Bay and Plemont crash hundreds of feet into rocky, deep ocean, to the gentler reaches of the southern shores. The panorama of St Aubin’s bay is a grand sweep that overlooks the tidal islet on which Elizabeth Castle perches. It was described by Queen Victoria as the equal of the Bay of Naples. Further west, St Brelade’s is a quintessential family beach, where the medieval Fisherman’s Chapel watches over gorgeous sands. Nestled nearby are two secret gems – Portelet Bay, featuring a Martello tower set on a tidal island, and Beauport Bay, which on a summer’s day has the look and feel of a Caribbean island. Fortunately the weather in Jersey is sunnier than anywhere else in the British Isles.
History is everywhere. Tussled over by England and France for centuries, the island boasts a first class castle at Mont Orgueil, which towers vividly and imposingly over the Royal Bay of Grouville. The seat of Jersey governor and New World explorer Sir Walter Raleigh, the castle offers an immersion experience into the world of medieval Jersey. A more sobering experience is provided by the Jersey War Tunnels, constructed by slave labour during one of the most traumatic periods in the island’s recent history – the Occupation from 1940-45. The island surged back from its wartime experiences to agricultural prosperity in the postwar era, with the Jersey Royal Potato and the beautiful, docile Jersey Cow becoming world famous exports. Then the rise of the financial services industry led to a new wave of prosperity and help to explain the sophistication of Jersey’s culinary and cultural scene. Fortunately, development outside St Helier has been limited and much of the Island’s hinterland retains a rural, even bucolic flavour. The speed limit of forty miles an hour and the tiny, narrow roads calm the spirit in this unique, tiny yet utterly charming corner of the British Channel Islands.
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