No no, not THAT type of jersey!
I’m not after a jumper, I’m after some Spillers’ tips. We don’t have a holiday booked yet during the school summer break. Lifelong Gerald Durrell fan DsMam has always wanted to go back to Jersey with the kids, as the last time we went was before DsSis was born. (Technically, Jess has been there: Julie was six-or-seven months pregnant with her at the time!) The trouble is, an awful lot of things have changed over the last dozen years, and therefore we’re starting our search again from scratch. We don’t know anybody out there; we don’t know anyone who goes there for holidays; and even my wife’s old school friend the travel agent has long-since sold her business. That means we’re randomly throwing ourselves at the mercy of the mainstream tourist-fleecing holiday companies, and so far it’s looking prohibitively expensive. Tentative forays into independent internet searches are producing some very dodgy results …
… so that’s where you lot come in. Does anyone know of any independent / private cottage or caravan rentals on the island which are clean, green (don’t really want to be crammed into the fourth-floor attic of a St.Helier B&B) and not too dear? Discussions of any vaguely relevant experiences in the last five years or so welcome. Tips of any hidden gems-to-seek-out or pitfalls-to-avoid will be gratefully received.
If you don’t want to discuss them openly on this thread, you’ve all got my email and/or telephone details.
I took young Munday last August; we stayed at the Hotel de Normandie in St Helier. It is billed as a family hotel and was OK but a bit out of centre and limited parking. Right by the beach, though, and as I don’t have a car the parking wasn’t a problem.
It was all a bit tired, pleasant enough and had a virtually empty pool but that was probably because it was all in need of a refurb. You can see for yourself on the web.
Anyway, not a place I would recommend for you although my experience was tainted by the fact that young Munday spent most of the holiday in St Helier hospital so I didn’t really see much of the hotel. Other hotels were incredibly expensive (this one was expensive enough) and I think you are wise to consider self catering. There are lots of sites on the airport side of the island, they look very nice on the web. Not cheap but once you get into the shops prices are pretty much comparable with mainland UK for food, etc.
Good luck!
PS; I too am a lifelong Durrell fan but we never got to the zoo – never got anywhere, in fact, though the hospital had a view of the sea from the Ladies’ loo …
Thanks Ali.
Please don’t take this the wrong way, but your experience is exactly what I’m trying to avoid. DsMam has a very low tolerance threshold with holiday accommodation that isn’t absolutely pristine.
Yep, she would HATE it.
Come to Hamburg instead – there’s a really big zoo here! I’ll even lend Julie my copy of ‘My Family And Other Animals’ for the duration
Debby,
Thanks, but as Julie’s just pointed out with a grin: that’s not quite the same, is it?
And Happy Birthday, btw.
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