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GALLERY - MINI BREAK TO JERSEY & GUERNSEY |
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At 9.30 we got on to the coach for the short trip to the Jersey War Tunnels. These were truly interesting. [A web site on them is at jerseywartunnels.com.] A clever feature was that, in place of a standard ticket, we were each given an Identity Card which was a copy of one actually used in the war (see E15M3A below). We had plenty of time to look around the tunnels and other exhibits and also have a light lunch at their canteen.
At 1pm, Audrey (our coach driver) came back to take us to La Mare Wine Estate [Their web site is at lamarewineestate.com.] Our guide there was Steve who told us what they did, showed us the vines, took us around the distillery, and led us through tasting some of their wines, ciders, and other drinks. It was another glorious day so it was very pleasant walking around the pleasant grounds.
Audrey collected us at 4pm to take us back to the hotel. Road works closures led her to take us a lovely way back down 'Le Chemin des Moulins' (aka 'Waterworks Valley'). Together with the round-the-coast trip the day before, we felt that we had seen a large part of the island. The narratives provided by Audrey & Mark (the day before) gave us a good introduction to the island's history, its economic ups & downs, its use of housing to control immigration, and other aspects of island life. It was a surprise to many of us how much attention the islands (for the same applied to Guernsey) were giving to the Liberation from German Occupation in 1945. It seemed more than might have been expected for a 70-year anniversary. However, the fact that the Channel Islands were the only parts of the British Isles to have been occupied in the War appears to have become a major element of their identity.
Photos contributed by: Peter & Jackie BG. Contributions sought from others.
| Reference | Description | Images : maximum size : 600 pixels in either direction |
| E15M3A | The tickets used for entry to the Jersey War Tunnels were based on a real Identity Card (Identitaetskarte) as issued to locals by the Germans during the time of the Occupation. | ![]() |
| E15M3B | In one of the tunnels. | ![]() |
| E15M3C | In one of the exhibition rooms off one of the tunnelrs. | ![]() |
| E15M3D | An Enigma Machine. Note that the keyboard layout is not quite the same as the modern QUERTY. | ![]() |
| E15M3E | A wall of the canteen was given over to providing information on the people who were arrested, imprisoned, transported, etc., by the German occupation force. This enabled us to find out more about the people whose ID card featured on our tickets (see E15M3A above). | ![]() |
| E15M3F | At La Mare Wine Estate, being given an introductory talk by Steve before he took us for a tour around the 'brewery'. | ![]() |
| E15M3G | After the tour, Steve provided us with some tastings - starting with cider (which was the island's main produce for many centuries) followed by a glass of white, rosé & white wines, and finishing with a blend of apple brandy & Jersey cream that was similar to Bailey's Cream. After the tasting we were, of course, led to the Estate Shop where we had opportunity to purchase those drinks along with other produce such as their chocolate and 'black butter'. | ![]() |