Where Heather travelled in 2012 – a year in photos

At this time of year it’s nice to reminisce a little and let the pleasant memories of the year wash over us to create that rosy seasonal glow. Then we can all brace ourselves mentally to look forward to new plans, new places, things we want to do more of, things we want to do differently. I’ll be sharing my plans for Spring 2013 very soon, but in the meantime, here are some of my travel memories from the last year, which perhaps will provide some travel inspiration for your plans in 2013.

December 2011 – Gothenburg, West Sweden for a pre-Christmas break with my husband

I’m cheating a bit here when I include our trip to Gothenburg from the end of 2011, but then it’s my blog, so I’m allowed a little cheating and we did have a great time despite the snowy and windy weather.

Why Gothenburg? I’ve always liked Scandinavia; so clean, so together and everyone speaks perfect English, and I wanted a pre-Christmas gettaway with my husband when we could eat great food and get into a Christmas mood, with just the two of us.

Happy memories? Fantastic seafood and a chat with the oyster-opening champion Johan Malm at Restaurant Gabriel, our memorable Michelin star tasting menu at Basement with head chef Camilla Parkner, sheltering in Cafe Kanold from the wind over a cup of hot chocolate with chilli, the Christmas market on the cobbled streets of Haga with the music of the marching band, the workman’s graffiti in the back of the statue of Mother Svea just outside our window at Hotel Elite Plaza, the millions of sparkling Christmas lights at Liseberg.

Where did we stay? The beautiful, 5 star Hotel Elite Plaza, once the headquarters of the Swedish Fire and Life Insurance company and full of grand marble staircases and chandeliers.

Want to read more?
Our Winter Break in Gothenburg, Sweden – Podcast
8 Swedish Foods to try in Gothenburg, Sweden – Video
Exploring the Christmas Markets of Gothenburg

February – a winter weekend on the Gower in South Wales

Why the Gower? My son is at university at Swansea nearby and I wanted to get the whole family together, including my parents, to spend some time together near the sea.

Happy Memories? Long, blustery walks along the cliffs, the wide open beaches of Langland and Caswell, sitting with the papers and a cappuccino at Langland Bay Brasserie watching the rain beat on the windows, pretty painted beach huts and exotic spiky palms on Langland beach, watching the surfers bobbing in the water from the clifftop.

Where did we stay? Maryland, a spacious 4 bedroom holiday home which we booked through Gower Cottages, perfect for extended family gatherings and only a few minutes walk from the cliff path.

Want to read more?
Our winter weekend on the Gower in Wales – Langland and Caswell – Video

April – Texas, USA for a family road trip

Why Texas? My husband had visited Texas on a military exchange a few years before and kept raving about it, plus we wanted to find somewhere we could enjoy as a family with good weather at Easter and flights that were not too expensive.

Happy Memories? Experiencing a Blast-off at Space Center Houston, the finger-licking BBQ at Black’s in Lockhart, cycling along Mission Reach to the Spanish Missions in San Antonio, an afternoon wobble shooting at Picosa Ranch (I actually shot something!), tubing down the river at Gruene followed by Bluebell ice cream at the old fashioned drug store, tequila tasting at the Cibolo Moon at the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country, eating trailer food, trying on cowboy boots and shopping for vintage in SoCo, Austin.

Where did we stay? The comfortable Park Inn Houston North, conveniently close to the airport, The Mediterranean style Hotel Valencia Riverwalk in San Antonio with views over the Riverwalk, The luxurious JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort complete with its own waterpark, our Holiday Rental in the Barton Hills area of Austin booked through HomeAway and the gorgeous boutique style Hotel Sorella in the vibrant City Centre neighbourhood of West Houston

Want to read more?
Our Texas Road Trip Part 1 – Podcast – Houston, San Antonio, Picosa Ranch
The best of Texas – finger-licking BBQ and a slice of pie
Picosa Ranch – a luxury Ranch with a slice of Texas history – video

May – a girl’s weekend in Winchester

Why Winchester? I wanted a weekend gettaway with my sister and Winchester was easy for both of us to get to, as well as having loads of things to see and do in the city and the beautiful Hampshire countryside nearby for some walking on the South Downs Way.

Happy Memories? The Anthony Gormley statue standing ankle-deep in water in the crypt of the Cathedral, seeing the small wooden table in the house at Chawton where Jane Austen wrote her greatest novels, eating lardy cakes bought from the farmer’s market with a view of the sulphur yellow fields on the South Downs Way, watching the mesmerising water wheel grinding the grain into flour at the Winchester City Mill, spotting the artistic bollards outside The Old Vine where we had a delicious supper.

Where did we stay? The Winchester Hotel, a stylish, modern hotel that is an easy walk from all the historic sights.

Want to read more?
10 ways to spend a wonderful weekend in Winchester – video
Yellow fields with lacy edges – walking the South Downs Way near Winchester
On the trail of Jane Austen in Winchester

June – Guernsey and Sark in the Channel Islands

Why Guernsey? It’s just a short flight from Bristol and has a fascinating history as well as a beautiful coastline, plus we were all intrigued at the thought of visiting Isle of Sark where there are no cars

Happy Memories? Walking along the coast from Fermain Bay to Jerbourg point through the pine trees, the exotic treasure trove of Hauteville House, home of Victor Hugo, eating crab sandwiches from a beach kiosk with a view of the sea, cycling around the island of Sark and eating fresh lobster in the garden of the Sablonnerie Hotel, hearing the stories of the German Occupation from Guernsey tour guide, Gill Girard.

Where did we stay? Self catering Albany apartments in St Peter Port that are perfect for a family holiday and the St Pierre Park Hotel with lovely gardens and golf course

Want to read more?
Guernsey, the German Occupation and Potato Peel Pie
Our spring break on Guernsey and Sark – Podcast
10 delicious foods to try on Guerney - video

July – Zakynthos, Greece for a family holiday

Why Zakynthos? My sister lives on the island where she runs two hotels with her Greek husband, Denis so we like to visit her every year and explore some new corners of the island.

Happy Memories? Discovering Porto Limnionas, a rocky cove in the north of the island with turquoise water and a great taverna, sitting with a drink on the terrace of Harbour House restaurant at Agios Sostis with new friend Derek Linley hearing stories from his years coming to the island, our boat trip from Agios Sostis to spot the Caretta Caretta turtles in Laganas bay and swim in the sea caves at Keri, the Greek dancing night at Windmill Hotel which never fails to entertain us.

Where did we stay? My sister’s hotel, the Windmill Studios in Argassi with a view over the sea from the geranium filled terrace. She also runs the Windmill Bay Hotel just down the road.

Want to read more?
10 gorgeous beaches and places to swim on Zakynthos
Get in your car and drive! the bits of Zakynthos that you won’t see from your sunbed
Swimming the turquiose Blue at Porto Limnionas

August – an adventurous weekend on Dartmoor with the teenagers

Why Dartmoor? My husband knows the moor well from his army days and we all love the wild scenery and endless opportunities for outdoor adventure that kept my teenage son and his friends busy

Happy Memories? Having lunch at the Okehampton station buffet imagining that I was Celia Johnson in the film Brief Encounter, watching my son and his friends splash around in the river on their gorge scrambling adventure, our walk on the moor with friends above Peter Tavy followed by a hearty lunch at the Peter Tavy Inn, climbing up to the Great Staple Tor and finding a letterbox to stamp our hands, the blissfully warmth of the heat cabin at Woodovis Park and a swim with the family in the pool.

Where did we stay? Woodovis Park in a comfortable mobile home. It’s an immaculate, 5 star, family run camping and caravan site which is a great base to enjoy all that Dartmoor has to offer.

Want to read more?
Wild and Wet adventures on Dartmoor – staying at Woodovis Park

September – walking on the Tour de Mont Blanc in Switzerland and Italy

Why the Tour de Mont Blanc? I’ve been walking the TMB which is a long-distance mountain trail, in stages with my friend Julia and this was our third year on the trail. We both love the wild mountain scenery, the feeling of escaping our busy lives and the physical challenge of the walk.

Happy Memories? Watching the scenery change on the train journey from Geneva alongside Lake Lausanne and on the St Bernard Express, feeling on top of the world on the Grand Col Ferret at the border between Switzerland and Italy, staying at the fantastic Rifugio Walter Bonnati, undoubtedly the nicest refuge we’ve stayed in so far, having a picnic on the mountain overlooking Courmayeur and surveying the route we had just walked, the excitement at the start of the Tour des Geants in Courmayeur.

Where did we stay? A number of small hotels and mountain refuges; Gite Bon Abri in Champex Lac, Hotel Col de Fenetre  in Ferret, Rifugio Elena, Rifugio Walter Bonatti , Hotel Bouton d’Or in Courmayeur

Want to read more?
The Tour de Mont Blanc Diaries Day 1 – Champex Lac to Ferret and a walk in the woods
The Tour de Mont Blanc Diaries Day 2 – Ferret to Rifugio Elena and over the pass into Italy

September – Girona, Spain for TBEX

Why Girona? I attended the TBEX Travel Bloggers’ Conference being held in Girona where it was great to meet some of my  blogging friends in person and hear the speakers on different aspects of blogging.

Happy Memories? Staying in an apartment with Barbara Weibel, Isabel Romano and Laurel Robbins and just a floor down from Janice Waugh, Simon Falvo and Sarah and Terry Lee made for some great late night chats and bonding, eating pretty Pinxchos in a side street cafe with new blogging friends, wandering along the river with the tall pastel houses and criss-crossing bridges, the historic food by El Celler de Can Roca at the TBEX opening night party, the day out at Vall de Nuria in the Pyrenees after the conference

Where did we stay? A comfortable apartment in the old town of Girona booked through Wimdu

Want to read more?
Staying in the heart of Old Town Girona with Wimdu – video
A Sunday Stroll in the Pyrenees – Vall de Nuria
Case study – Costa Brava Marketing campaign – podcast interview with Jaume Marin

And what about the family?

Of course for many of these trips I was with various members of my family, but they also did some travelling on their own that they wrote about for me on the blog;

My husband Guy spent much of August on a school trip in Namibia looking after a large group of teenage girls, where they did some community work in a local school, went trekking and had close encounters with the desert elephants and other African wildlife.

Read more about Guy’s Namibia Trip
Not that old zebra crossing joke again!
An encounter with the desert elephants of Namibia

My oldest son, William had a fun snowboarding trip in Andorra with a group of friends from university, which was spent mostly snowboarding, drinking and doing what students do on holiday. Read William’s article on Snowboarding in Pas de la Casa – a student’s guide

My daughter, Sophie-Anne wrote about her moving visit to Auschwitz with the Lessons from Auschwitz educational programme, designed to ensure that young people understand what happened and don’t let history repeat itself in the future. Read Sophie-Anne’s article on What every schoolgirl should know about Auschwitz – video

I hope you enjoyed my travels in 2012 and that you may feel inspired to visit some of these places yourself. I’ll be sharing my exciting travel plans for the spring of 2013 with you very soon.

This article by Heather Cowper is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com - Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

You’ll also find our sister blog with tips on how to build a successful travel blog at My Blogging Journey

 Don’t miss out – subscribe to Heather on her travels

Victor Hugo – Decorator extrordinaire at Hauteville House on Guernsey

Before I visited Guernsey, I only knew Victor Hugo as the storyteller behind Les Misérables, one of my favourite epic musicals – I’m addicted to a rousing chorus of “Can you hear the people sing?”. You may have also watched the Disney cartoon, The Hunchback of Notre Dame without realising that it was based on the Victor Hugo novel, Notre Dame de Paris. In France Victor Hugo was and still is considered a literary superstar and visiting Hauteville House, Hugo’s home on Guernsey opened my eyes to the  genius that created this extrordinary house. Hugo himself said, “I missed my vocation, I was born to be an interior decorator”.

In October 1855 Victor Hugo, the celebrated French poet and novelist arrived on Guernsey braving heavy seas, wind and rain. For the three years before he had lived on Jersey, having left Paris in a hurry due to his political satirisation of Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte in his pamphlet “Napeleon le Petit.” Now, because of his outspoken political views he had been expelled from Jersey too.

Settling on Guernsey, the success of his poetry in Contemplations allowed him the money to purchase this former corsair’s house set high on the hill with views over Castle Cornet and the harbour of St Peter Port. Into Hauteville House he poured his creative energies and over the next couple of years transformed it into a rich and exotic showcase, packed with antiques and gorgeous textiles. Like a magpie he raided all the local antique shops for French tapestries, Turkish carpets, Chinese silks, Delft tiles and old sea chests which were deconstructed and recreated by local craftsment to suit his vision.

Victor Hugo eventually returned to France and after his death Hauteville House was bequeathed to the City of Paris who open it to the public. The house is one of the major attractions of St Peter Port and is especially popular with French visitors. Arriving at 11am I discovered that visits to the house are only as part of a timed tour and as these quickly fill up the next available tour was at 12.30. Entry to the garden is free, but as it was raining heavily, I decided to descend the hill and have a look around Castle Cornet until it was time for the tour. At the start of the tour we gathered in the small hallway, like being in the waiting room with a small kiosk to buy books and postcards, but otherwise not much different to Victor Hugo’s day when a servant would have been at hand to take your hat and coat. The plain, flat fronted house gave no clue to the richness inside, or to the large, country style garden at the back with roses, trees and fountains.

From the dark, oak pannelled hallway we moved into the the billiard room, dominated by a large table where the rich, red walls were covered with family portraits. Two of the portraits were of Victor Hugo’s favourite daughter Leopoldine, who drowned at the age of 19, when her boat overturned on the Seine and was lamented in many of Hugo’s poems.

The next room on the ground floor was covered in Aubusson tapesties combined with more carved wooden pannelling and our guide invited us to count the number of doors in the room. Of course there were those that we entered and left by, but also the central table made out of a door and the door to the concealed photographic dark room that was used by his son, Charles Hugo. Victor Hugo loved these tapestries for their decorative effect and paid no attention to their value, cutting them up to fit the rooms or making deliberate holes in them to let in more light.

On the ground floor was also the dining room, covered with white and blue Delft tiles. Above the fireplace the tiles were arranged in an oversized H motif, signifying both H for Hugo and H for Hauteville House with a carved wooden throne built into the space between the two windows. On the back of the chair are the words, ABSENTES ADSUNT, The Absent are Present and on the wall above the door is found the Latin motif, EXILIUM VITA EST which can be read as either Life is an Exile or Exile is life.

Everwhere in the house are decorative and literary motifs that encapsulate Hugo’s belief system but the significance of which would not be obvious to the casual visitor. The H in the dining room also signifies Hugo’s main preoccupations; Homme, Héros, Humanité, while in the hall are the words AMA. CREDE. which he explained in a letter to his mistress, Juliette Drouet;

“Oh! that our spirit should always return to this: believe; and our heart always to this: love. Love – Believe. This is what I wrote above the door to my house. I am also writing it on the door to my heart, which opens onto love, and on the door of your heart, which opens onto heaven.”

Our tour moved upstairs to the first floor where there are two sumptuous receptions rooms that run together to make one large space for entertaining. The Red room is hung with opulent red damask with enough gilt statues, chandeliers and silk hangings to give the impression of a very expensive tart’s boudoir. The blue reception room was only a little more restrained, but equally beautiful with Chinese silk hangings, covered with gold beading, which covered the walls and the ceiling, as there was a craze for all things oriental in Europe at the time. Hugo wrote in his diary;

“Bought the entire lot of Chinese silks from an English officer who took part in the exhibition and who had taken it from the Summer Palace of the Emperor of China”

Up another floor onto the second floor and the oak gallery was covered with pannelling including the four poster bed of Victor Hugo’s bedroom although he rarely slept there, with the sides and lids of old carved sea chests decorating the walls.

My favourite room was at the very top of the house where Victor Hugo had made a conservatory in the sky, with views across the bay, using some of the same Delft tiles and tapestry covered banquettes that are seen elsewhere in the house. This room was called the Crystal room or Lookout and a circle of glass on the floor lets light down to the floor below. This room, which was freezing in winter and so hot in summer that the silver of the mirrors bubbled, was Victor Hugo’s favourite place to work. He would sit working at a small writing table by the open windows, even in the freezing winter. It was in this small space like a sea captain’s cabin that Hugo wrote some of his great works such as Les Misérables and Les Travailleurs de la mer (Toilers of the Sea). At the other end of the room is a small bench seat covered with embroideries and velvet where Hugo normally slept, with a little hidden cupboard for his basin of water. From up here, Hugo could gaze out to sea but also over to his mistresses house in the same neighbourhood.

Once we had completed our tour of Hauteville House, we were free to explore the large, country-style garden with views over the bay, herbaceous borders, yew hedges, climbing roses and fountains. From the front of the house, you would never guess that this garden lies behind the house and it’s ideal to look around, while waiting for your tour, if the weather is fine.

I really enjoyed discovering Victor Hugo through Hauteville House; his life on Guernsey; the outspoken political views that led to his exile; his marital arrangements with both a wife and mistress who seemed to be very much part of the family and his wonderfully exotic decorating style. He was was in my mind not only a literary giant but a decorator extrordinaire.

More to see on Guernsey

A meander around St Peter Port and our stay at Albany Apartments
Guernsey, The German Occupation and Potato Peel Pie
Family Impressions of Guerney – French, English, neither or both?

Visitor Information for Guernsey

Hauteville House
Hauteville House is managed by the City of Paris and entry is by timed guided tour. The house is open April – September  on Monday – Saturday, 10am-4pm. To book your timed tour arrive at the house and reserve the next available tour or contact  Hauteville House on +44 (0) 1481 721911 or e-mail hugohouse@cwgsy.net . The House address is 38 Hauteville St Peter Port GY1 1DG and is a short walk up the hill from St Peter Port harbour.

Guernsey Information – You’ll find more things to see and do on the Visit Guernsey website , on the Visit Guernsey Blog and @VisitGuernsey on Twitter and on the Visit Guernsey Facebook Page.

Accommodation on Guernsey – We stayed at Albany Apartments, a family friendly self catering holiday apartment in St Peter Port and we also stayed at St Pierre Park Hotel, a pleasant, 4 star hotel with golf course set in parkland beside a lake. Check hotel options and compare prices for Guernsey hotels.

Getting to Guernsey and Around – We flew to Guernsey with Aurigny Airlines who fly to Guernsey from Bristol and other UK destinations. You can also book flights with Blue Islands Airlines and take the ferry with Condor Ferries from Poole or Portsmouth. We picked up our hire car from Hertz at the airport, who are also able to deliver your hire car to your holiday accommodation.

Reading for Guernsey – You may like to explore the works of Victor Hugo, such as Les Miserables or the Hunchback of Notre Dame. A good general travel guide to Guernsey is the Landmark Visitor’s Guide to Guernsey, Alderney, Sark & Herm

www.flickr.com heatheronhertravels’ Guernsey & Sark photoset

Photo Credits: Some photos from Guernsey Images by Chris George, others by Heatheronhertravels.com

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com - Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

You’ll also find our sister blog with tips on how to build a successful travel blog at My Blogging Journey

 Don’t miss out – subscribe to Heather on her travels

Guernsey, the German Occupation and Potato Peel Pie

Of course I knew that Guernsey was occupied during the Second World War, but somehow I imagined that the local people led a cosy existance, shielded from the hardships of war. Once I visited Guernsey I realised that the opposite was true and that Guernsey had an incredibly tough time during the German Occupation. All over the island we noticed evidence of the German coastal fortifications; the look-out on the headland at Jerbourg point; the slit built into garden wall as we walked back down the lane to Sausmarez Manor; the concrete bunkers on the northern shore covered with grass and wildflowers, next to sandy beaches that were covered with barbed wire during the war.

In June 1940 a bombing raid on the harbour at St Peter Port was followed by the landing of German troops on Guernsey, the British Government having decided that the Channel Islands would not be defended and for the next 5 years the people of Guernsey lived under occupation. After D-day the Channel islands could not be resupplied from France and during the final year of the occupation, the population faced near starvation until relief came in the form of the Red Cross ship Vega. Finally the Germans surrendered on 9 May 1945 and every year on this day the people of Guernsey celebrate their Liberation day.

Visiting the German Occupation Museum

As my kids and I are all history enthusiasts, we were keen to visit the German Occupation Museum at Les Houards, and learn more about the wartime years on Guernsey. The low, whitewashed building was unassuming and looked from  the outside like any traditional farm house.  On entering we found that the museum exetended into a much larger building with a series of rooms, packed with glass cases of uniforms, military and household objects and artefacts from the Second World War. We watched an interesting video about the history of the occupation and wandered around trying to make sense of what we were seeing.

Each of the rooms were arranged in a theme and there was a slightly home-made air about the museum, as if all the interesting bits and pieces that everyone on Guernsey had been storing in their attics had been brought out to tell the story of what they had lived through. One of the room sets showed a family scene where the father was on a radio listening to news from the mainland while the mother was keeping watch at the window to make sure they were not discovered, as it was a serious offence to have a radio. Another room gave information about all the food substitutes that had to be used for  everyday staples like tea, coffee and tobacco, while vegetables were cooked in sea water in the absence of any salt. The diet seemed to consist mainly of root vegetables and even fishing was heavily restricted as the Germans were afraid that anyone with a boat would try to escape back to England as some had done early in the war.

Upstairs, the museum opened out into a street scene with people queuing to collect their rations outside a shop, and there was even a large fishing boat to tell the story of how the fishing was controlled by the Germans. The Museum gave a fascinating insight to life during the German Occupation and you could easily spend a couple of hours or more watching the videos and looking at all the information. Downstairs there was also a nice little tea room where you could finish your visit with a cup of tea and a cake. The German Occupation Museum would make an ideal rainy day option or be combined with a walk along the coastal path near Petit Bot Bay and Saints Bay.

Personal accounts of the occupation

Ask anyone brought up on Guernsey and they will have some tales of how their family weathered the war years. Children were evacuated, those who opposed the German forces were imprisoned or deported to French or German internment camps, fishermen were not allowed to fish and towards the end of the occupation the population were literally starving. I spoke to Gill Girard, a guide on Guernsey who told me her family’s story.

My grandmother and her children got evacuated but my grandfather was left behind. He had a little business in St Peter Port that he was closing up and the boats didn’t come back – he had every intention of following my grandmother but he got stuck here. I still have letters that they wrote when they were trying to communicate with each other during the Occupation. My husband’s mother and father stayed here during the Occupation as she had her first child at the time of the evacuation. Fortunately they lived on a farm so they were able to secrete root vegetables away and they weren’t quite as hungry as some people. My father was a headmaster so he ended up educating the children who were left here during the Occupation.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie society

I often try to find holiday reading about the places I visit, so I took the novel “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” with me during our trip to Guernsey. This novel has been taking the book clubs by storm and brings to life the war years on the island through a series of letters from different characters who lived through the occupation. The heroine, Juliet, is a wartime journalist, living in London who strikes up a chance correspondence with a Guernsey farmer, Dawsey, who is a member of a literary club on Guernsey. As Juliet decides to write an article about the wartime experiences on Guernsey, she receives further letters from other members of the group, who had met one evening to share a meal of a secretly slaughtered pig, but had come up with the cover story of a literary society as an excuse to avoid arrest after the Germans stop them on their way home after curfew.

The potato peel pie came about because they wanted to share a meal each time they met, but with little available they made a pie of root vegetables using potato peel as a pie crust. Through her correspondence with the  members of the literary society, Juliet finds out about life under the German Occupation and she also hears stories of her alter ego, a woman named Elizabeth who was the pivot of the group and had a child with a German doctor working on the island. Juliet eventually visits Guernsey and settles there, falling in love both with the island and with Dawsey. Check this article if you’d like to make your own Potato Peel Pie.

The book is planned to be made into a film directed by English director Kenneth Branagh who visited the island in spring 2012 to look for locations. It is hoped that some of the filming will take place on Guernsey during 2013 with Kate Winslet in the leading role of Juliet. If you’d like to find more about the locations mentioned in the book, Gill Girard runs guided tours on this theme and you could take a look at this Google Map that covers the locations mentioned in the book, and there is also an information leaflet  that you can pick up at the tourism office in St Peter Port.

More Guernsey locations to find out about the German Occupation

If you’d like to find out more about the wartime occupation of the Channel Islands you can check the website of the Channel Island Occupation Society. You may also like to seek out some of the other wartime locations that are open to visit and you can find more details on the Visit Guernsey Website

Close to St Peter Port

La Vallette Underground Military Museum, La Valette, St Peter Port  GY1 1AX
This military museum is housed in air conditioned tunnels that were built by the Germans to store fuel for U-boats and illustrates Guerney’s military history, including World War 1 and the German Occupation.

German Naval Signals HQ, St Jacques, St Peter Port GY1 1SN
This was the Headquarters of the German Naval Command on the Channel Islands. The Signal HQ was responsible for all radio traffic to and from Germany and the other Islands, until the German surrender in 1945.

South and South-West Guernsey

German Occupation Museum, Les Houards Forest, GY8 0BG
The museum was opened in 1966 by Richard Heaume, a founder member of the Occupation Society giving a flavour of  life on Guernsey during the Second World War, with an authentic occupation street and a collection of WW2 relics from Guernsey.

German Military Underground Hospital, Les Eperons La Vassalerie, GY6 8XR
Underground tunnels covering 7000 square Metres that were used for the military hospital, hewn out of solid rock by slave workers of different nationalities for the German forces 1940-1945.

Peinmont Observation Tower, Pleinmont Headland, Torteval
A five-story naval observation tower used by Germans 1942-45, with the navy using the top three levels for their batteries and the two lower levels were taken over by the army. Nearby is the Batterie Dollmann Gun Pit, with a restored battery gun pit that houses a 10 tonne French gun

 North Coast of Guernsey

Fort Hommett Gun CaseMate, Fort Hommet Headland Vazon Castel
One of 21 ‘Fortress’ bunkers built in Guernsey that was operational in 1943-45, build to house the German Guns, four of which were installed here at Fort Hommet.

More tales from our trip to Guernsey

A meander around St Peter Port and our stay at Albany Apartments
Our Spring Break on Guernsey and Sark – Podcast
Family Impressions of Guernsey – French, English, neither or both?

Visitor Information for Guernsey and St Peter Port

Guernsey Information – You’ll find more things to see and do on the Visit Guernsey website , on the Visit Guernsey Blog and @VisitGuernsey on Twitter and on the Visit Guernsey Facebook Page.

Accommodation on Guernsey – We stayed at Albany Apartments, a family friendly self catering holiday apartment in St peter Port and we also stayed at St Pierre Park Hotel, a pleasant, 4 star hotel with golf course set in parkland beside a lake. To check hotel options and compare prices for Guernsey hotels visit Hotels Combined.

Getting to Guernsey and Around – We flew to Guernsey with Aurigny Airlines who fly to Guernsey from Bristol and other UK destinations. You can also book flights with Blue Islands Airlines and take the ferry with Condor Ferries from Poole or Portsmouth. We picked up our hire car from Hertz at the airport, who are also able to deliver your hire car to your holiday accommodation.

Reading for Guernsey – I highly recommend the novel, the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society which is planned to be made into a film in 2013. For walks on Guernsey, we used my Cicerone guide to Walks on Guernsey and a good general travel guide to Guernsey is the Landmark Visitor’s Guide to Guernsey, Alderney, Sark & Herm

www.flickr.com heatheronhertravels’ Guernsey & Sark photoset

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com – Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

You’ll also find our sister blog with tips on how to build a successful travel blog at My Blogging Journey

Don’t miss out – subscribe to Heather on her travels

Next Page »