Jersey: Wine and fudge

29 August 2010

Once Lauren and Suzy had had their fill of the shiny and the sparkly, we took the bus to La Mare Wine Estate, where Helen and Steve had got married two days before.

While there was sadly no sign of hors d’oeuvres being handed out, as during our previous visit, we took the tour of the vineyard, which culminated in a wine tasting. We were taken around the estate and shown the vines – with little baby grapes hiding among the leaves – and where the wine was made.

The tasting took place in a function room, with a video showing … something. I don’t know, it was a month ago and I was drinking wine and cider on an empty stomach. I’d be surprised if anyone remembered the content of the presentation. Once we were shown the where the brandy was made we moved on to see the chocolatier at work and tasted their special black butter fudge.

Lauren after white, rosé, red and cider

After spending a few pounds on traditional Jersey fudge we had lunch in the restaurant. No roses and peacock feathers on the table this time, and no speeches either. And for a very long time, no food either and eventually we had to chivvy them up – we have a plane to catch! It all worked out though and we had our food (very nice ham and cheese roll for me) and took a taxi to the airport.

We left Jersey and flew back to the mainland on the same little propellor plane, but this time we had a window by our seats – bonus! Aerial photography is that much more difficult when you’ve got a propellor turning up in every shot though.

When we reached the English coast the pilot told us we were over Bognor Regis. That white complex by the coast is the Butlins holiday resort. I love seeing the patterns of settlement and as we passed over Worthing Lauren even spotted her grandparents’ road.

- Shoreham -

- Preston -

- Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club at Withdean Sports Complex, centre right -

Back at Gatwick airport we avoided the big queues at passport control, being shepherded down through “Arrivals from the Channel Islands”, barely needing to even show any ID to anyone. Welcome home.