Discover Lost Jersey - Part 6

I came across an edition of "Discover Jersey" , a guide book written in 1993 by Terry Palmer - that's 28 years ago. While the basic history remains the same, the tourism sites have seen a massive fall, and I thought it would be interesting to explore this guide - and my memories of those places, if I visited them, over the next weeks. The latter are in italics. How much we've lost!

Battle of Flowers Museum

The hamlet of L'Etacq. west of the Shire Horse Farm. has a cluster of places of interest, beginning with the Battle of Flowers Museum on CH4 — but if you come from the south be careful of the very tight hairpin bend. Florence Bechelet made her first decorated float in 1934, and went on to establish her reputation by winning many prizes over the years. 

In 1971 she opened this museum to the Battle of Flowers. and now a dozen of Florence's floats are on permanent display.

Mar- Nov daily 1000-1700,

The Battle of Flowers. 

The first battle was in 1902 on Victoria Avenue - the A2. coast road — to mark Edward VII's coronation. and it was an instant success becoming an annual event except for 1914—18 and 1940-50. Local businessmen revived it in 1951 and the first Miss Battle was elected in 1953. and the event is now the high spot of the tourist season in Jersey, held on an August Thursday amid a week of celebrations.

I never visited this at the time, and much regret that.

L’Etacq Craft Shops

Several craft shops cluster around the centre of L'Etacq, with a shared car park nearby. The Pottery. Leatherland, and L’Etacq Woodcrafts are workshops that sell their produce at the door; the woodcarvers also have an unusual [me in fashioning knife handles and walking-sticks from cabbage stalks. Not just any cabbage — they use the jersey cabbage, which can grow 6ft (2m) tall in a season. If you want to try it at home. you can buy seeds here

I do remember the Woodcrafts shop very clearly. It was nice for the unusual presents, and the three shops tucked away in this little enclave gave rather a nice feel to the end of St Ouen's Bay. There was also ample parking across the road.

After it closed, the site was re-opened as Treasures of the Earth, and in the process of sorting out some IT matters, I was also given a guided tour. As well as the different gems, they also had fossils of varying sizes, and my girlfriend Annie purchases a particularly large and rather good ammonite.

Goldsmiths and Microworld

You have a choice of route. The B35 leads south to the top of Five Mile Road. where Jersey Goldsmiths has its showroom at the point where the road bends,

Would you care to see what £1,000,000 in gold bullion looks like? Then step inside — free The bullion is on display in a reinforced glass cabinet and looks surprisingly small. no more than would fit into a large holdall. But if it really IS 24 carat gold. you'd never get away with it as its 19.32 times heavier than water — a cubic foot weighs 1,206,51b; a litre, 19.322kg. If you just want to see craftspeople at work on jewellery. that‘s possible as well.

Open year round: Jun-Aug Mon-Fri 1000-2200, Sep-May 1000-1730, plus Sat 1000-1730 all year.

Jersey Goldsmiths later moved to the Lion Park, and now is closed. Jersey Pearl occupies the current site and I've visited a few times as they have a rather nice café area either for a light snack or a meal.  

Around the bend and down the straight. Lewis Tower is immediately on the right, its World War Two bunker holding the Channel Islands Military Museum. Here are militaria and documents from the British and the German forces. on display daily 1000-1700

This is still active and open! As it was mentioned in the guide book alongside the others, I thought I'd give it a plug. Well worth a visit. Apart from the Jersey War Tunnels, most of the older Occupation museums have closed or changed. Hougue Bie is now a memorial with names of those who died here, including the slave workers. Well worth a visit but not a traditional all round Occupation museum which it once was. The St Peter's Bunker Museum is closed, as is the Occupation Museum on the Esplanade in St Helier. 

Microworld

The museum is behind the Chateau de Plaisir, a modern two storey building holding a night-club and restaurant — and Micro World, an incredible exhibition of miniature carvings. Spaniard Manuel Ussa spent years peering through magnifying glasses as he carved his marvellous miniatures. Adam and Eve embrace in a bower — all shaped from the point of a pencil. A minuscule horse balances on the head of a real, but dead. ant. The Sphynx and the Great Pyramid are cut from a single grain of sand. and Tower Bridge balances in the eye of a needle.

Ussa had to stop carving every time his heat beat. as the vibration would ruin his work. which is so detailed that visitors have to look through microscopes.

Open daily. May-Sep, 1000-1730.

I'd never visited until my wife at the time had a relative visit Jersey, and they wanted to see it. It was quite amazing and as you can see, you needed a high resolution magnifier to appreciate the tidy but perfectly formed artefacts. The whole building - which was also open in part as a charity shop for Holidays for Heroes - was closed, demolished, and is now housing.