A Treat

As the Gorse Fox has already mentioned, lunch was booked. We did, however, have an hour or two to kill before we got the bus. We decided that we would visit Les Cotils. This sits high above the town and is afforded some fantastic views across the harbour and the channel beyond.

It seems to be an hotel and a Christian Retreat. It certainly bore the semblance to what could once have been a seminary (though the Gorse Fox has no evidence for this). It stands in 12 acres of grounds and incorporates an award winning "Chelsea" garden from a few years ago. Perhaps we read a little too much into the advertising. The 12 acres were predominantly lawns and the award winning garden was quite small and in need of some attention. Oh well, if we hadn't gone to visit we wouldn't have known and may have kicked ourselves for missing it.

We looped back down into the town and along by the harbour. We stopped off at various shops before settling in CoCo for a coffee.

The bus left the terminus on the dot of 12 and took about 25 minutes to weave through the countryside and drop us by the Doyle Monument, right next to The Auberge.

The views we still as good as we had remembered. Whilst we were in hazy sunshine, SPP was still in cloud and the skies above the harbour looked menacing. We made ourselves known and selected a table outside. The garden seemed a lot smaller than it used to be. When we commented on this it was explained that they had extended the indoor seating in 2005 and that had taken about half of the garden.

We sat and enjoyed the peace, the views, and a bottle of wine over our lunch. The Silver Vixen chose the lobster again - this time with a salad. It was beautifully presented and she thoroughly enjoyed it. The Gorse Fox decided to star with Chorizo and Squid salad, followed by a thick, succulent, ribeye steak. It was just perfect. Even now his mouth is watering as he thinks back to lunchtime. The Auberge really is a very special place both geographically and gastronomically.

We walked up to the Jerbourg Hotel and waited for the bus. It doesn't retrace the route it takes to get you there, but on the way back it dives down into some of the bays to the south before looping back to SPP.

Back in SPP we wandered up the hill to the Old Victorian Shop (which also serves as the HQ for the National Trust for Guernsey). This is a perfectly preserved town house and shop maintained as it would have been in the 1800s. It was not huge so didn't take too long to visit - but it was interesting and several things that were on show were familiar from the Gorse Fox's childhood.