Jersey

Family holiday time Saturday 14th August to 28th August. The general direction of travel for the Post Office Campervan was South with Jersey as our final destination. Our Condor Ferry from Portsmouth, the Commodore Clipper was not sailing until the following Thursday so we spent a few days knocking around the New Forest and the South Downs. We visited Beaulieu, the home of the National Motor Museum, which for me meant seeing the ex land speed record holders, The Golden Arrow and Bluebird. The next day we visited Marwell Zoo. My children are zoo addicts and Marwell was notable for the large number of baby animals born there this year. On the way we spotted some deer running wild in the New Forest, a first for my children. We then moved to East Wittering (just behind beyond) near Winchester and used it as a base to visit the National Submarine Museum which houses Holland 1 and HMS Alliance. This included a tour around HMS Alliance. After the obligatory visit to the beech and some sleep we then went to the aquarium and the D-Day museum in Portsmouth. This houses the D-Day Tapestry, which is a Bayeux Tapestry ripoff but still worth a visit.

At last it was time to make the crossing to Jersey over a rough sea which made my children sick but had no effect on Kathryn whatsoever. We were met in St.Helier and escorted to our campsite ready to explore the island.

The next day was spent at the campsite getting everything back in order. With a walk down to the Rozell Bay in the evening.

On Saturday we visited the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust. I have been a member of this organisation for over twenty years but this was my first opportunity to visit. This zoo is notable as one of the first to give captive breeding a higher priority than customer entertainment. It houses species which other zoos may consider boring, purely on the basis of their relative endangerment. This is still an attractive and interesting zoo to visit and cannot be missed by any Jersey visitor.

On Sunday we attempted to visit Mount Orgueil Castle but we didn't get further than a nearby French Restaurant where we had a good meal but by the time we had finished there was no longer time to visit the castle.