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“Notes on a Small Island” will include three tours
After you have arrived and settled into the beautiful Braye Beach Hotel, familiarising yourself with your surroundings, you will be invited to meet for a short evening stroll before dinner.
Taking in the history of the old harbour at Douglas Quay, you will take a leisurely walk past the 19th century railway line as it winds its way past Craby Harbour and beyond, to the magnificent Breakwater, built as a harbour of refuge and observation. With the sun setting, the sea air will have whetted your appetite for dinner, served in the stylish Braye Beach restaurant, boasting unparalleled views across the sandy bay.
After dinner, relax with a coffee in one of the downstairs lounges, displaying the vaulted ceilings which were once the 18th century cellars used to store the products of trade and piracy!
Before retiring, your guide will invite you to take a selection of literature, carefully researched and prepared for you to read at your leisure, which will set the scene for the next day's tours.
After a good night’s sleep, enjoy a full English breakfast before meeting for the second tour of the weekend, appropriately entitled FAUNA & FUHRER
Day Two
FAUNA & FUHRER This aptly named tour will take you on a short bus journey to the gates of the Lager Sylt Concentration Camp, built by foreign workers during the Occupation of Alderney.
Although most of the former camp has been raised to the ground, your guide will expertly and sensitively recount the experiences of those slave workers who were forced to work and live under Nazi rule.
During the tour, guests will be able to view pictures, read for themselves accounts written by former slave workers of their experiences, and maybe begin to understand why the Alderney people want to erase the memory of such atrocities which took place on their beautiful island.
Guests will then be transported to the windswept south-west coast to view the dramatic Les Etacs or Gannet’s Rock, home to more than 2,000 pairs of nesting British sea birds, with a wingspan of more than 6ft!
The dramatic 18th century Casquets lighthouse, scene of many a shipwreck, can be seen with the naked eye on a clear day, and the Island of Burhou, lying in the notorious Swinge, is the nearest thing to a desert island, with a small cottage and hut offering shelter to selected visitors.
The bus will then take the scenic route past Neolithic graves, Victorian forts and German fortifications to the start of the third tour, taking in the history of St Anne's.
TINKERS, TAILORS, SOLDIERS, SAILORS, RICHMEN, POORMEN, BEGGARMEN, THIEVES
With no time constraints, this leisurely walking tour will take in stories of the people who helped to shape and change Alderney’s history.
Tales of the German Occupation of Alderney are woven around eye witness reports of destruction, despair & devotion as the walking tour winds its way up into the cobbled streets of St Anne’s.
Devious characters from Alderney’s past, including the elusive and sometimes reclusive “Man in Black” will be introduced, as well as stories of heroic soldiers who fought for our freedom, in the Wars.
With a distinctly Cornish feel, the quaintness of St Anne’s will reveal itself by proudly displaying its uneven cobbles, back alleyways and roughly plastered 17th century farmhouses. Your guide will allow you to step back in time and understand how the rich became richer through the lucrative Privateering era, but then had to rebuild its community when wars were over and times were hard.
We might stop for a break at a local watering hole, before eventually returning to the hub of the community life within the town centre.
Free time will be wisely spent checking out the unique shops, bakery, or public houses or even hiring bikes or taking a taxi ride to other parts of the island, before the end of the day. For those of us who have to leave, a short stroll down the hill back to Braye Beach will enable us to pack our bags and head for home.
For those guests choosing to spend a further night in Alderney, just enjoy the relaxed way of life. Speak to the locals, ask questions, glean additional information, visit other places of interest, but above all, just do everything “Alderney Time!”
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