Guernsey, February 2017

Another visit to Guernsey for a few days to see our son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren. and here's some of the photographs we took.

We had the early part of the first day to ourselves so went into St Peter Port where I took some photographs, including this alternative view of the lighthouse and Castle Cornet.

Later that day, in the afternoon, here's grandma helping Eliza with a jigsaw puzzle......

......and here's Edward and daddy reading a book before bedtime.

The next morning we went with Anna and the children to St Peter Port, and here's Edward charging round Jojo Maman Bébé on one of their scooters.

After lunch we went to Cobo Bay where we met Anna's sister Louise and here's Eliza and Edward on the beach with their cousins Barnabas and Eden.

And here's Barnabas leading them on a trek across the rocks.

They also had the loony dog which would chase after a ball that had been thrown for it, then instead of bringing it back would furiously start digging a hole to bury it in. You can see here the clumps of sand being thrown up behind the dog.

Another game on the beach - wait for an incoming wave and then run away before it submerges your feet.

On the Saturday we went to the Guernsey Museum in Candie Gardens and here Edward's taking a ride on daddy's back as we trek through the streets of St Peter Port on our way to the Gardens.

This is the uphill path in the Gardens leading to the Museum.

We'd gone to see an exhibition on loan from the Natural History Museum in London of some marvellous images from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2016. The above photograph is of the an item in the Museum's collection which is a bust of Victor Hugo by Auguste Rodin.

Outside the Museum this plaque on the wall commemorates the fact that The Beatles performed here in August 1963 - the month that their single 'She Loves You' was released, the record that really started the Beatlemania phenomenon.

Later that day the children spent some time on the swings in their garden......

......and grandad got rather too close to Edward's foot.

Eliza was much more sedate.

The brief visit was over all too soon, and here's a last look at St Saviours Reservoir and Vazon Bay as we took off from the airport.

Guernsey Revisited

Another place we were taken to by Paul and Anna when we visited Guernsey was Hauteville House, the house where Victor Hugo lived when he was in exile there, and Anna posted some information about it and a photograph at the time. Although I'd read Les Miserables when I was at school, the only thing I really knew about him before this visit was the extremely short and to the point exchanges between himself and his publisher when he was on holiday at the time Les Miserables was published. Apparently he sent a telegram asking what the reaction to the book had been and it contained just a single character: "?". His publisher replied in a similar vein:"!", to indicate the enormous success of the book. There's a Victor Hugo Guernsey website which gives details of his life and in particular details and photographs of Hautville House. Below are a few of the photographs I took of the house.

Hauteville House in Hauteville, St Peter Port - which also houses an honorary consul to the French embassy at London. Anna apparently trying to keep out of the picture.

The Billiard Room

View from the house over Castle Cornet towards Herm and Jethou with the outline of Sark visible on the right-hand side

The Red Room

The back of Hauteville House from the garden

Hauteville House, in the centre of the picture, from Castle Pier