It was lovely to wake up to clear skies this morning, especially as the girls were asking to go to a park (we used to live walking distance from a park but you don’t see so many of them in Guernsey). I remembered having seen a park in Vale, near Pembroke Beach, so we headed off to track it down and explore the North of the island.
I had seen a picture in a walking guide of what I thought was an underground cave called Le Déhus (also known as Dehus Dolmen) and I knew Tilly and Lottie would enjoy looking inside. Having previously tried to find it with no luck, we used Waze and it took us straight there. No wonder we missed it, it is in the middle of a residential street and all you can see from the road is a mound of grass and a small gate in a stone wall. We saw bikes laid against the wall which prompted us to stop. There is space for one car to park next to Le Déhus and a little further down the road a space for another car.
Le Dehus
From reading the information board outside we learnt that Le Déhus is a passage grave featuring the ‘Le Gardien du Tombeau’ carving on the underside of one of the capstones. You may be thinking a passage grave sounds like the last place I would take my kids however, the girls really enjoyed it, think low ceilings, limited lighting and side chambers with large stones to sit on, they were making up spooky tales within minutes!
There are a few lights inside that you are requested to turn off when you leave so it’s not pitch black and you can see perfectly well without a torch. The ceiling is very low so adults will need to duck to get inside.
We only spent about 5 minutes inside Le Déhus then the girls climbed onto the mound of grass directly above and had fun dancing around, throwing themselves onto the grass etc, they just loved being higher up than us! I am glad we found it as it was good to see and if you are passing it makes a nice quick stop off.
We then drove to Vale Common with me convinced I knew where the park was but turns out I didn’t have a clue! This was actually a good thing because whilst driving down one of my ‘dead certs’ the road actually led to Fort Le Marchant. Wow, a great place for kids to explore for so many reasons…safe rocks to climb (as in rocks not on the side of a cliff), windows looking out to sea, a gaol and small stone passages, to name just a few.
Fort Le Marchant
Accessibility is not as easy as some places, there is a large area for parking before you get to the fort (you can see it in the distance), you then follow the dirt/grass track. The girls loved running up the track, stopping to climb the little clusters of rocks and declaring themselves ‘’king of the castle’’. There has been a fort on the site since 1680 however, the majority of the Fort has been demolished, of what remains, the girls found the gaol particularly fascinating, though they decided they didn’t want to stay the night! The girls moaned when we said it was time to leave as they enjoyed running around, jumping off little walls, looking through the stone windows and climbing the rocks.
We got back in the car thoroughly wind swept and ready for a final attempt to find the play area. After a lot of wrong turns we eventually found it and I now know it is called Les Amarreurs Playground on Les Amarreurs Road.
Les Amarreurs Playground
With great play equipment for children of all ages, the girls thoroughly enjoyed it. Particular favourites were the large slide built into the side of a hill, monkey bars, wooden climbing area and the circular metal climbing frame. This is a great playground to try if you fancy a more traditional park with enough equipment to keep the kids entertained for quite a while. There is also a kiosk on the far side of the playground that I’m sure will be opening soon along with benches, picnic tables and pubic toilets.
By the time we had been at the playground 15 minutes the wind was picking up, I was cold and ready to get home for a cuppa. Not sure were the girls get their energy from, they were again very reluctant to leave the playground but once they got in the car they seemed shattered.
What started out as a search for a playground became so much more, we discovered places we didn’t know existed and we’ll certainly return. When I got home I looked up Fort Le Marchant on the internet and discovered the following advice ‘Be aware of the colour of the flag that is flying as a rifle range is also located here and a red flag indicates the range is in use.’ We had no idea and certainly didn’t look for a flag! We’ll be taking more notice when we re-visit.
