Discover Lost Jersey - Part 8

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!

This is the final posting. Clicking on the Label "Discover Lost Jersey" will get all the other posts in this series.

Butterfly Farm

Head north-east on 0103 to Haute Tombette for the Jersey Butterfly Centre which Arthur Rolland created after seeing the large butterflies of Seychelles. The family glasshouses were the first in Jersey to convert to the growing of carnations for bloom. which are still the main source of income, but after seeking the advice of the older Guernsey Butterfly Farm, the Rollands now have Jersey's first walk-in display of Iepidoptera, the major tourist attraction — unless people come for the tea—room, or the pet tarantula and python. (It‘s not actually a tarantula. a species which originated in Taranto: Italy; it's more a hairy-legged bird-eating spider from the tropics.) Whatever the attraction, visitors come by the coachload, so drive carefully on the narrow lanes.

This was one of the favourite "rest and recuperation" spots for coaches to stop. It had a small cafe serving snacks, nothing major on the gourmet front, and I'm not sure "tea room" fits something rather basic - but nice enough for a stop when out with our children. We never got to see the butterflies, although we did visit the butterfly farm in Guernsey. Sadly both attractions vanished when their owners died.

Jersey Diamond

Would you like to see the Koh-i-Noor Diamond? You can't. as it's in the Crown Jewels — but Jersey Diamond, overlooking Gorey Pier, has copies of many famous stones and is the island's leading gemmologist. It is also involved in the Living Legend.

Jersey Pottery. 

Pottery is much more mundane than diamonds. But the workshops of Jersey Pottery draw large crowds to Gorey Village, across the parish boundary in Grouville. The business began in the early 1950s with 12 people. and now has around 70 on the payroll, producing a range of around 300 items of merchandise including unlikely objects such as picture frames and clock cases, in an equally wide price range.

We used to pop to the Sail Loft Cafe for snacks and cooked food quite often. This was another popular venue for coaches, and the visitor could wander round the grounds watching pots being made, and being painted. There's still something called "Jersey Pottery" but in a gross violation of trade description, it is actually made in the UK for sale in Jersey. 

Happy memories of my youngest son's birthday party when they painted clay ties (to be fired later as a souvenir for each child), and had a birthday tea after - we brought the cake, but the excellent party food was supplied by the venue. Other odd memories involve my first taste of sushi, and dipping it into a plentiful amount of wasabi sauce  (which I didn't realise was very very hot!) before eating it - apparently, according to my son, who still laughs at the memory - my face suddenly went bright red, and I downed two large orange juices in quick succession.

Agricultural and Occupation Museums, Hougue Bie

But there‘s more to the Hougue Bie than just this mound. The Agricultural Museum has a display of farm machinery from the 19th cent onwards. outside which is a cluster of staddle stones, looking like giant mushrooms but used for supporting stocks of com. A stock? Before combine harvesters were invented, an armful of cut com was a sheaf, twelve of which stacked together made stock or shock.

The Geological Museum has rock samples from the island. Starting with shale. at 700,000,000 years. the oldest. The Archaeological Room looks from Palaeolithic man to the brief Roman incursion, and the Occupation Museum specialises in the 9-fi (2.7m) revving boat that Denis When used in his escape from St Aubin's Bay in 1941. Three nights later a British destroyer picked him up on the edge of a minefield near Portland Bill. He was the only islander to escape.

The geology and archaeology museums are still there, but the agricultural implements, plus an old Jersey railway carriage, found a better home at Pallot's Steam Museum where they can still be seen. The Occupation museum is now not so much a historical telling of the occupation as a memorial to the names and stories of those who died under the occupation - slave workers, islanders etc. It is a very powerful experience.