| Holiday Ratings | |
| Recommended days | 3 |
| Budget | ££ |
| Difficulty | Easy |
This blog details a quick weekend break to Jersey, visiting Mont Orgueil Castle, Battery Moltke and the Eric Young Orchid Foundation. The island isn’t a cheap place to visit with both the ferry, accommodation and eating on the island being significantly above other UK options. It does however offer a unique blend of Anglo-French culture in a beautiful and well looked after setting.
Getting to Jersey
This was our second attempt to visit this year as the first bookings were all cancelled due to potential storms. Which made a nice change from Covid cancellations. There are a couple of ferry options, either a 4 hour crossing or an 8 hour but there didn’t seem to be much difference in price so I’m not sure why you’d choose to spend an extra 4 hours stuck on a ferry!
The ferry (Condor Ferries) was actually pretty good to be fair and there was plenty of space as well as decent food options. We didn’t fly as I was actually working on the island so flying didn’t really give enough carrying capacity! Again I’m not sure the price was much different although the cost of flying the short hop to the island is several times higher than flying a few hours to Italy, Greece or Spain.
One option that I would like to try is the island hopper ticket so you can visit Guernsey, Jersey and St Malo as that opens up a lot of potential new places to see. Something for another day.
Our crossing was absolutely perfect – blue skies and clam seas so the pack of travel sickness prevention tablets remained untouched and I even ate a full breakfast on the ferry! We docked and drove the short distance to the hotel (we stayed at the Dolphin Hotel on Gorey Harbour) and unpacked.
Driving on Jersey
I thought Cornwall was a pain to drive in but Jersey is far worse. There is far more traffic, the roads are equally narrow and usually have stone walls to delineate the edges but also most of the cars on the island are of the, shall we say, prestige variety. I’m not quite sure why as the maximum speed is 40 and most of the roads we went on that was actually reasonable instead of being overly restrictive. There is a frequent bus service that does circuits of the island so if I wasn’t working then the bus would actually be a viable option. Something I never thought I’d say!
Eric Young Orchid Foundation
We visited here on the day we arrived on Jersey. The Foundation is well signposted and has a good sized car park. There is a little seating area where I had a cuppa while my wife did a second circuit of the orchid area.
The staff are friendly and the orchids are amazing plants in a brilliant setting. They really are awe inspiring and beautiful to look at, even as someone who is ignorant of plants. There’s info on different home regions and growing requirements in the nursery area. Entry was £6.50 which was well worth it.
Eating on Jersey
I’m not a great fan of eating and if I could replace it all with a daily tablet I would. Jersey is certainly somewhere people that like their food go to eat! Gorey Harbour boasted several restaurants with very nice menu options and prices to match. In the end we opted for Feast and we did have a lovely meal, the presentation and thought that had gone into the combinations was obviously a level above our usual establishments and wasted on me.
Mont Orgueil Castle
The reason for staying in Gorey was to visit the castle, only open at weekends out of season and it would really justify a weekend break to Jersey on its own. I woke early and walked around the harbour area while watching a very cold sunrise before going back to the hotel for breakfast. We then got to the castle for its 10AM opening time.
Mont Orgueil is in a fantastically dominant location and is a very photogenic castle. There is parking in the village and entry from either the harbour wall or the village. It is run by Jersey Heritage and a major tourist attraction on the island.
The castle is incredibly well kept and well arranged – there’s a real plethora of information boards, layout and exhibits. The Jersey Heritage group have taken a holistic approach so as well as the military history side topics covered included medicine, witchcraft, diplomacy, punishment and mythology amongst others. There was the option for a free guided tour but we didn’t take it.
The staff were friendly staff and helpful. Entry cost was £13.50 and we were there nearly 3 hours so it was excellent value for money. The onsite cafe had great staff and my cream tea was fantastic. There is a great adventure play area as well as plenty of picnic areas so you could happily spend a day here.
A superb visit and one of the best organised castles I have ever visited and as you can see here, I’ve been to a few!
Battery Moltke
As the weather was unexpectedly good we drove across the island (30 mins of stress!) to the far north west corner. The battery is well signposted once you get close. There was no information on the site but it was pretty self explanatory!
Although it seemed relatively remote the island is so small that we could easily see down the length of the coast. There were great views, as you’d expect and there are a few linked bunkers along the coast. It looks like a command bunker that has been sealed off for now. There are also some dragon’s teeth next to the car park.
That was really it for our weekend break on Jersey. The weather was abysmal the next day so we had a chilled time, mostly in the hotel. The storms weren’t as bad as promised so we were able to work and cross safely (although nothing like as sedate as the trip over) and then the real storms hit two days later.
It is a beautiful island, every house and garden we saw looked very well kept and there is obviously a real pride (coupled with huge wealth to pay for people to do a lot of the actual work!). We didn’t actually see any litter or graffiti the whole time we were there too, a really pleasant surprise. A lot of the historical tourism is based on the German occupation and the history of that time plus the structures they left behind.
The island seems intensely proud of its links with the British crown stemming from it being part of the original Duchy of Normandy. It isn’t somewhere you can go for a cheap break but if you want the familiarity of home but a better cared for and presented version with better weather, it’s certainly worth a visit.