This tour is available as a full day or a half day tour. Like all of my tours, it is private to you, and you are not joining a larger group.
On this tour, discover that Jersey was not always an island. In fact, it was only about 7500 years ago that Jersey was connected to France by a low ridge of hills stretching towards the south-east before being cut off by rising sea levels after the end of the last ice age. Indeed, this was the last of about twenty occasions in the last three million years that sea levels have risen and fallen dramatically. It is very difficult to imagine the incredibly long periods of our geological past, let alone how the landscape may have looked at any given time.
For example, if we imagined that the age of the Earth (4.5 billion years old) was 24 hours, these are some of the relevant times:
age of the oldest Jersey rocks (600 million years old) – about 3 hours 12 minutes ago
The volcanic rocks of Jersey were being formed (about 585 million yeras ago) – 3 hours 7 minutes ago
the period of ice ages affecting the World (the last 3 million years) – about the last 1 minute
time that humans have been around (let’s say half a million years ago) – 10 seconds ago
the time that Neanderthals were using the cave at La Cotte in Jersey (250 to 40 thousand yeras ago) – from 5 seconds ago to about one second ago.
On the tour, we will look at geological time and imagine where Jersey was (it was “moving” on its tectonic plate around the oceans) and what you would have “seen” at the relevant time.
In the more recent period of geological time, the changes in sea level have exposed and eroded Jersey’s rocks to create the landscape with which we are familiar. The flora and fauna here, both land and maritime, are in many cases rare elsewhere as a result of that past and the Island’s geographic position benefiting from the warmer air of the Gulf Stream.
We will visit and view areas of the Island which were until relatively recently land and which now are covered by the tides twice a day.
Depending upon time available, we may be able to visit some of the wilder areas of the Island to view the Island’s flora and fauna. At certain time of the year, orchid meadows are in full bloom. Whilst the Island does not have a wild population of large land mammals, the waters surrounding the island are home to large pods of dolphins and some seals which can sometimes be spotted from the shore. Overhead, on water and on land, birds of all species take advantage of the diverse environments that the Island offers and offer great spotting opportunities for nature watchers and again, subject to time, we may be able to visit the superb Wetlands Centre and watch the birds from its easily accessible viewing hide.
Our Jersey Natural History tour is part vehicle based and part walking so that guests get the benefit of seeing many parts of Jersey’s landscape in the relatively short period of the tour. It will suit those who enjoy the outdoors but who perhaps cannot manage long walks to reach the sites.
The prehistory and archaeology of Jersey are also fantastic! From the Neanderthals, through the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages, Jersey has many ancient sites which will inspire awe and wonder. Why and how did our ancestors built and leave us with reminders of their presence thousands of years ago. What was Jersey like before the Gallo-Roman period two thousand years ago when people had a much closer connection to the natural environment.
As we travel around the Island taking in its natural beauty, we will discover the roots of Jersey’s modern history in the Norman period when as part of the Duchy of Normandy, it was ruled by monarchs who were not only the Dukes of Normandy, but also the kings of England. And when King John of England lost continental Normandy, but managed to retain the Channel Islands, a new front-line was drawn on the European map which was a battlefield or threatened with invasion for the next 650 years.
This period of conflict had a lasting impact on Jersey in that it needed to be governed in a way which took account of these threats. It was important that the Island’s population should retain their allegiance with the English Crown. Our laws are correspondingly different from those in Britain, as the Channel Islands had never been incorporated into any county or part of England or later Great Britain. That later fact, together with our unique history, our loyal but resilient citizens, and our geography, have created the Jersey that we enjoy today.
History Alive’s and Jersey Military Tours are devised in a way to give our guests an overall and enjoyable experience which means that we won’t always follow the same route or stop at all the above locations. This also gives us the ability to make changes either to take advantage of, or to mitigate against, factors such as weather or other delays which might affect timing. On full day tours, we stop at lunch times where refreshments/food can be purchased, and on all tours, we will stop as necessary for refreshments and comfort breaks.
Our Tours are a combination of a coach tour and exploring the sites on foot, so please refer to the Level of Fitness required to enjoy these Tours on the relevant tour page. For that, and for what’s included in these Tours and Prices, as well as Pick-Up points for the Tours, please see the Information sections on the relevant tour page.
