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The real Jersey shore: Gourmet grub and wonderful walks in a Channel Island haven

Coming in to land at Jersey airport, my wife and I were momentarily puzzled by the shiny silver fields. As we came closer, the penny dropped: they were the island's famous potatoes tucked up against the chill. Just as well, because spring can be bracing here.

We chose a short break in Jersey because we thought it would be easy - which it is, only a 45-minute flight from Southampton. We also fancied some hearty coastal walks, offset by a lot of pampering and good living.

Guardian: Mont Orgueil Castle has watched Grouville Bay - and for any sign of invaders - since the 13th century

Home for a couple of days was to be Longueville Manor, a converted 14th century mansion with 30 bedrooms and suites: the standard bearer for boutique, upmarket Jersey. The island also has more than 200 restaurants to choose from.

Although this south-east part of Jersey, St Saviour, is surprisingly built up, once inside the stone garden wall, Longueville majestically banishes the outside world: to the rear are 16 acres of landscaped gardens and woods.

  More... More Channel Island escapes in our UK section Jersey is a jewel worth fighting for The joy of Jersey: A Channel Islands getaway

This third-generation family hotel has absolute confidence in cosseting. So with a quiet room inside those solid walls, a bathroom in our junior suite big enough to sub-let, and an exhaustive and superior breakfast, we felt ready to face whatever the island and the elements threw at us.

After that breakfast, we started slowly: first stop, the famous Durrell Wildlife Park towards the north of the island. Primates are the speciality, thanks in part to founder Gerald Durrell's passion for Madagascan lemurs and orangutans.

Marmosets played in the trees over our heads and we were just in time to hear a talk on orang-utans, including how to persuade one to have her tummy shaved for an ultrasound scan.

Jersey is only nine miles by five, so you would expect it to be easily navigable. Think again. The roads were originally designed around the island's apple orchards, so I was told, which explains why they are so infernal. And the tourist maps seem to have been designed with future invaders in mind - a past obsession (see later).

Next stop, magnificent Mont Orgueil, to the east.

Monkey business: You can encounter orangutans and ring-tailed lemurs at Gerald Durrell's wildlife park

The castle embodies the island's loyalty to the English Crown. It was built in the early 1200s when Jersey had to decide between the English, in the shape of King John, or the French.

With its fabulous and dominant position over Gorey Bay, it guards against the dastardly French coming to reclaim the island.

The local's pride in that choice is apparent inside. Among many fantastic exhibits, in what is surely one of the great castles, are a number of hologram portraits of the Queen.

We just managed to stay ahead of an invasion of French schoolchildren by losing them among the perilous stairwells. Then we headed to Gorey Bay for a fresh crab baguette at a cafe on the front - £8 (don't expect bargains on this tax haven) but extremely tasty.

While the French never retook Jersey, Hitler had more success, occupying the island in 1940 and expending vast amounts on making it defendable.

To feel the full force of this, see the Jersey War Tunnels, mined out of the hills by local workmen and forced labour and intended by the Nazis as a hospital during the anticipated battle for Europe.

Now it is an expensively realised, and genuinely poignant exploration of our wartime history, from the heartache of Jersey's divided families to the inhabitants' near starvation.

These days, there is absolutely no danger of that. Longueville's kitchen is renowned - although the Sunday when we put it through its paces seemed to be the head chef's night off.

Suma's, back on Gorey Bay, once the hotel's sister restaurant, was more hip and inventive, with a fantastic sea view and mouth-watering fish.

Our programme the next day went at a pace: a quick tour of nearby Samares Manor, the island's most famous garden, harbouring warm-climate exotics that British gardeners can only dream of. Then off to meet Remi Couriard, a Blue Badge guide, in St Brelade's Bay.

Showing its true colours: Jersey has plenty of glorious shoreline - including Portlet Bay

'Stop me if I'm boring you,' said this eccentric ball of energy, before fascinating us for hours, marching from Fishermen's Chapel across the sand to 'the Neolithic killing fields'. These are found high above the cliffs where prehistoric Frenchmen herded mammoth off the edge to kill them.

Newly educated and exercised, we were ready for more R&R. Although Longueville doesn't have its own spa, it's a short hop to the ayurvedic Ayush Wellness Spa on the way into St Helier.

The built-up town doesn't have a lot to recommend it, but it's worth leaving time for the extraordinary fish stalls at Beresford Market.

And, if you do, have lunch around the corner at Banjo, a classy former gentleman's club serving brasserie fare. Ask for three sorts of oysters — including sensational Jersey native oysters.

Before we left, the sun came out and we enjoyed our promised walk along the unspoilt northern coast. We looked in on La Mare, the island's first commercial vineyard and producer of a heavenly appley confection called Black Butter, and a superior cream liqueur.

Oh, and those potatoes! Be sure to taste a plate of Jersey pearls... tiny little beads of local goodness. Delicious!

Travel Facts

Longueville Manor (01534 725 501; www.longuevillemanor.com) has three-night B&B breaks in June from £390 per person, including champagne on arrival, a three-course dinner on two evenings and car hire.

For more information visit Jersey Tourism at www.jersey.com.

Blue Islands Airways offers direct all-inclusive flights to Jersey from £98 return (www.blueislands.com).




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