In what was going to be the last island in my friend John C's quest to visit every inhabited island in the British Isles, we made one more visit to the Channel Islands. This time to visit the private island of Brecqhou, an island we had been unable to visit in our previous visit last year.
We flew into St Peter Port on Guernsey and stayed at the same hotel as on our previous year's visit, the Fleur Du Jardin. It is a nice hotel, staffed entirely by Filipinos with a great restaurant.
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| Brecqhou from Sark |
We had seen Brecqhou from Sark on our trip there in the previous year, but had been unable to get permission to visit. This time we were given access by the island manager to at least set foot on the island. His rather cool and unwelcoming email said that if we presented ourselves at the dock at 9:00 am the island's launch would take us to the island. We could stay for 10 minutes only, take no pictures and there would be no refreshments.
Brecqhou is owned by the infamous Barclay Brothers, twin billionaires, owners of the Daily Telegraph and the Scotsman and a number of other businesses including the Ritz Hotel in London and the rights to the Woolworths name after it's bankruptcy. They bought the tenancy of the island in 1993 and proceeded to build an impressive castle like home, roads and a stone jetty. They truly transformed the island from a relatively barren rock to their own luxurious and idyllic island retreat.
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| The Brecqhou Chief |
We arrived at the dock at 9:00 and there was a rather nice boat, the Brecqhou Chief waiting for us. It was around a 25 minute ride out to Brecqhou where we were met by the island manager, Aiden. Rather than the cool reception we were expecting we found Aidan to be charming and welcoming. He loaded us into his golf cart and took us on a tour of the island.
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| The approach to Brecqhou |
Everything on the island was built in the 1990's and it must have been quite a construction project. The jetty and road up to the house must have taken a considerable amount of stone. The house or the mansion was very impressive. Below is a picture of it I found on the internet.
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| The Barclay's Home on Brecqhou |
We did a complete tour around the island, the main house, the ancilliary housing for the maintenance and upkeep personnel, the heli-pads - two of them, the chapel, the lakes and gardens and the crucifix on the highest point of the island.
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| The lake and gardens |
After a delightful hour or so with our host, we were delivered back to the jetty and we boarded the boat back to St Peter Port. Aidan made it clear to us if any of the Barclay family were in residence we would not have been allowed to visit but fortunately for us they were all in their other homes in Monte Carlo and London.
With our main goal completed before lunchtime on our first day we had more time to kill on the Guernsey. We did a leisurely scenic drive around the island taking in the beautiful coastline and beaches and stopping for coffees and cream teas along the way.
We paid a visit to the La Valette Underground Museum. This was an underground military storage and hospital facility built by the Germans during their occupation of the island in WWII. Lots of cold and damp corridors in what was likely not a very comfortable hospital.
The next day we made a trip into St Peter Port as I wanted to visit the Victor Hugo house. Hugo was exiled from France and spent most of his exile in Guernsey. He had a house in St Peter Port and he furnished and decorated it in his quite eclectic style. He wrote Les Miserables and many other works during his period on Guernsey. Unfortunately I did not realise you needed to book a tour of the house and sadly I could not join a tour in the time I had available. Looking through the windows it looked to be a very interesting house.
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| The beautiful interior of Victor Hugo's House |
I had a mid afternoon flight back to Manchester. Another island to my collection and John's 223rd.
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