History, fine food and sweeping views: There’s a lot to the island of Guernsey

Eimear Ryan found an enjoyable slice of island life on the Channel Islands

Taking in the coastal views on Guernsey. Pictures: Chris George Photography - Coast Media

About a month before travelling to Guernsey, I read an advance copy of Cathy Thomas’s Islanders, due out from Virago this summer. A collection of interconnecting short stories set on Guernsey over twenty years, and inspired by Thomas’s own upbringing on the island, it explores the joys and frustrations of small island life. Each story is set in a specific location – Port Soif, Cobo Bay, St Peter Port, the Rohais, L’Ancresse – which meant that I arrived on the island with my head already full of its Franco-English musicality.

With a population of 63,000, Guernsey is the second largest of the Channel Islands – after Jersey, with whom it shares a friendly local rivalry. The island’s history is rich and fascinating. Governed by France until 1204, when it reverted to English rule, there remains a strong French influence on the island, from its placenames to its architecture. Guernsey French is still spoken among older islanders, although a vacuum created by World War II – when the island was occupied by Germany, and most of the young people were evacuated to mainland UK – meant that the patois is no longer the commonly spoken language of the island. Today, Guernsey is largely self-governing, though remains a Crown Dependency: English is spoken and sterling is the accepted currency.