Les Ormes - The MD's blog

The MD's blog

New Self Catering Units

Summer 2012 will see 4 new self catering units at Les Ormes.

The Alamo, a large 5 bedroom 12 person unit will open in time for June half term. The Alamo is a unique building. It was built by the Germans in WW2 as a target range for Meschesmitt planes to align their guns, a bit like a rifle range. It was built using the granite from the farm fields surrounding it and was made to look like a farm house (sort of!). After the war is was used as a store area. In the early 1970's when Les Ormes was a camp site it was used as the camp shop. By the mid 1990's Les Ormes opened the golf course and had ended camping. It was then used as a store and part of the green keepers shed.

The Alamo has granite and mounded earth on three sides facing the sea to the west. These will remain and the infill and east facing side will create the self catering unit. The two storey unit will have a roof terrace so guests can overlook the 9th golf hole and beautiful Rocco Tower in St Ouen's Bay.

This unit will be ideal for large families either three generation or two families together. It will be great for family gatherings.

As part of this project the Gravel car park will be paved with suitable lighting. The paving will have a special membrane to prevent any car oils seeping into the ground. This will give more spaces.

Les Ormes Farm located in a very quiet area about 200m away from the main Les Ormes buildings and on the side of the golf course will see one three bedroom and two one bedroom units ready for June half term. These buildings were built new in a contemporary style 5 years ago as staff units. The larger unit will sleep 6 and the smaller ones 2+2.

Bookings are being taken for these units now on the Les Ormes website www.lesormesjersey.co.uk

Our advice is always book early as you will save enormously on air fares. Once we get to the New Year the summer units fill up very quickly.

Guernsey or Jersey Holiday

Last week as a family we were in Guernsey our sister Island.

The children were all taking part in ECSOC being the Elizabeth College Music Week. This has to be one of the best music weeks there is. My lot had an amazing week led by passionate skilled music teachers leading in three brillant performances at the end of the week. Outstanding in delivery and administration; no wonder Gill Freeman has ended up with an MBE. So 1:0 to Guernsey.

But not so quick. We stayed at La Collinette Self Catering handy for music and central. The two bedroom unit was "okay" in that it did the job. But miles away from the standards we have at Les Ormes. Not as clean (always my first priority), no washing machine in the unit and TV v small. I am always looking for tips on how we can do better here but came away with none. That's not to criticise La Collinette as it was fine. If you do plan a two week break in the Channel Islands with one week their St Peter Port is a good spot to stay in. So 1:1.

St Peter Port is clearly nicer than St Helier. So staying centrally makes sense but watch the hills walking about. I found St Peter Port and its suburbs quirky, I love to wonder the streets looking at the buildings and seeing how they link to the past. 2:1 to them!

My wife and I walked a part of the Island everyday whilst the children were at music school. First day was the coastal area to the west of town. We had a great day partly along the cliff past and then inland along their tranquille lanes. Interesting water holes for man and beasts. We preferred the inland wanders as the coastal cliffs are similar to Jersey. Rather Jersey has a much better round Island walk. Have to call this one a draw as we really enjoyed our walking.

Beaches Jersey wins hands down. We saw no beach that compared to Plemont or Beauport or St Brelade. No surf beach to compare with St Ouen. Jersey just has the best beaches in the world. " 2:2.

General transport links are easily won by Jersey. Their airport has runway issues with no jets and v limited routes. We have Easyjet to Liverpool and Glasgow. BMI Baby, BA, Blue Island, Flybe to virtually every UK airport and also Aer Lingus to Dublin. If you book early you can easily get here for £100 return. 3:2 to Jersey.

Jersey has far more to do with Durrell, adventure activities, but Guernsey seems simpler and less buzz. A draw on this one as really different offerings.

I think the two Island's contrast well and would make an ideal two centre holiday maybe using the Condor Ferries. Jersey overall has more to offer, better accommodation, transport, and more to do. So we win it for a one week break but if you can do two weeks a week on each Island would be great.

South West Coastal Path

Just back from a week walking from Falmouth to Lands End with my wife and three children.

We set off from Falmouth and headed for Helford. Gentle going with a couple of very average beaches. Helford passage was lovely. We headed inland to Mawnan Smith and stayed at Gold Martin a good B&B and ate in the local pub which was also good. On the second day we paid a fortune (£18) to cross a couple of hundred metres of water before heading towards Coverack. Due to high tide in the next creek which would have involved a long detour we went cross country for part of the way which was actually really interesting. We stopped at Porthallow and the pub for lunch which was okay but the bar man was fairly miserable.

From there we headed on to Coverack. Lovely fishing village and a great B&B (Arlwyn). We ate in the warm evening sunshine by the harbour wall. Next morning we had our only rain; a full five minutes of our whole trip. We stopped at Kennack Sands a nice beach for a break. Just outside the beach was the ugly eye sore of endless static homes; so glad we don't have these here in Jersey. On to Cadgwith which is a fascintaing little fishing village; wish we had planned to stay here. But on we moved to Lizard. By this stage we were starving but delighted to stumble across http://www.annspasties.co.uk/ strangely located down the side of a house. Best pasty I've had and ideal walking food.

Lizard town itself was a bit dull. We stayed in the Top House Inn which was fine. Sue wandered down to the lighthouse in the early morning and watched the seals on the rocks. We moved onwards to Mullion Cove a very pretty spot and stopped in a cafe.

One of the sad things of Cornwall is the sheer cost of cafes. Way more expensive than here in Jersey with on the whole poor quality. When I think of Colleens Cafe at Greve de Lecq or Plemont Cafe here in Jersey which are outstanding and we have a much higher cost base.

Our next stop was lunch at Poldhu beach cafe. This goes down at the worse of the lot. £4.75 for two pieces of white bread toasted with a bit of ham and tomato inside and no garnish. We moved on to Gunwallow beach and excitedly took our shoes off to walk along the beach all the way to Portleven. But big mistake as big pebbles and sharply rising incoming dumping sea. We had to quickly climb the cliff and return to the path. Eventually we made it to Porthleven, my favourite spot on our coastal walk. Very friendly Harbour Inn with good food and whilst noisey as it was in the centre still great.

Next day in the distance we saw Penzance our target. We stopped at Praa sands, a lovely beach on the way but strode onwards. At Marizion we had our pasty stop. Again a good one. And then straight to Penzance and our first real town since Falmouth several days before.

We were staying at the YHA so being early and to avoid the sun we went to the local cinema and watched the afternoon viewing of Harry Potter in our smelly clothes. Family review of the film was a little disappointing but a nice break. The cinema itself I thought was great with clearly lots of history.

We walked up to the YHA to our family room. I'm a great YHA fan having used them for many walks in the Lake District and elsewhere.

Next morning we got a Taxi to Mousehole and then the long quite tiring hilly walk to Lands End. This was my favourite days walking with lots of interest. Emma (11) flagged a little before being revived at the great cafe at Porthcurno. Portcurno with the Minack Theatre also had a great beach. Revived we knew we were nearing the end so our speed increased. The last couple of miles reminded us of Grosnez here in Jersey. Similar granite cliffs and gorse. Infact much of the walk was like our north coast with similar rock formations. But being totally biased our coastal path is far nicer and with Bonne Nuit beach and Bouley Bay we win hands down.

The end of the walk was a total disapointment. How can such a beautiful part of England be so ruined with tacky bits and bobs. To see so many Europeans wandering around one can only think what was going through their minds. Still as a family we had a great week together avoiding machines, getting some exercise and seeing places we had not been too.

Being in the holiday business I'm always comparing what we have to where I go. And Jersey stacks up very well. Our cafes are great, our beaches are the best, our coastal walking is at least as good as the South West Coastal Path, our accommodation is not overpriced, and Jersey people do make vistors welcome. We had a great time but as we flew in over St Ouen's Bay looking over to Corbiere Light house, over Rocco tower, over St Ouen's beach and into land Jersey takes some beating.