We love Sark, we’ve been every year since our kids were two years old but this year seemed special as it was our main summer holiday. We always find there’s so much to do and each time discover something new. Our children are now aged five and there’s still lots we haven’t yet done such as the Venus Pools and exploring the many caves and bays, just means we’ll have to go back again next year!
Whether your visiting for the day or staying for a few nights, there’s loads to do. Here’s a quick round up of some of our own adventures but you’re sure to find many of your own.
Some of Our Favourite Things to do in Sark:
- Toast Rack up Harbour Hill
- Bicycle, Tag Alongs and Trailer Hire
- Horse and Carriage Tour
- George & Morgan Guille’s Island Boat Trip
- Swimming Pool at Caragh Chocolates
- The Window in The Rock
- Rock Pooling at L’Eperquerie
- La Seigneurie Gardens
- Picnic at Sark Henge
- Hunt for Sark Rocks
- Visit the Sark Pubs!
- More things to Do in Sark!
You might also find these useful:
Ferry to Sark (from Guernsey)
The ferry from Guernsey is booked through Isle of Sark Shipping. You can turn up on the day and purchase tickets but it’s advisable to book in advance if you can and collect your tickets before your travel date from the office at White Rock Quay (next to the White Rock cafe). Prices for Summer 2020 are from £19.90 (mid-week) for Adults and £10 for children (3-14 years), Under 3’s are Free. Isle of Sark Shipping also run regular offers through the Summer where children can travel for free on certain dates or for just £2 on day returns. Visit their website for details or call the office on 01481 724059.
Luggage – If you have luggage you want transporting to your accommodation you’ll need to pick up some green ‘Jimmy’s carting’ luggage labels from the Sark Shipping office. Put the labels on your bags then take your luggage down the gangway and leave on the quay (a member of Sark Shipping will be around to show you). It can get quite busy at the top of the gangway so try to drop your bags off early to avoid a fight through the crowds. TIP! Don’t take your best set of luggage – it can get very dusty in Sark so pack accordingly!
Toast Rack up Harbour Hill
When you arrive off the ferry in Sark you’ll walk through the tunnel then you’ll see Harbour Hill leading upwards. Here you’ll see Sark’s trusted ‘hill transport service’ waiting to transport passengers up the hill, a tractor drawn bus also known as the ‘toast rack’. Cost is £1.20 per adult, 60p per child. The kids love the bumpy ride up the hill and there’s dust flying everywhere… it’s a true Sark experience!
There’s also a path running adjacent to Harbour Hill which meanders through woodland areas. It’s a lovely walk but we tend to walk down it and take the toast rack up (it’s just good fun). If you do decide to walk up the hill, take the pathway off to the left of the path instead of walking up the road itself or you’ll get covered in dust when the tractor goes by!
Bicycle Hire, Trailers and Tag Alongs…
There are two bicycle hire shops in Sark, A to B Cycles and Avenue Cycles. It is advisable to book in advance, especially if you want to hire kids trailers and tag alongs. We hired a trailer for both children last year which they LOVED! The trailers are great as there’s loads of storage in them for packing a picnic, swim things, etc.. Having been spoilt with trailers last year, the kids couldn’t wait to jump into them again this year. Jessica isn’t very confident riding a bike yet so we ummed and ahhed about ordering trailers or tag alongs. It was the storage in the trailer that swung it for us and as we weren’t sure they would both fit into the one, we booked two. I have to say, I found the cycling hard work pulling a trailer with a five year old and in hindsight I would have booked an electric bike. We’ll definitely be booking their own bikes or tag alongs next year!
Below is the price list for A to B cycles. All tag-alongs and trailers are classed as a singular item, electric bikes and tandems are the price of 2 items and child seats are an extra £1.
Horse & Carriage Tours
We’ve taken a horse and carriage tour twice now as the kids really enjoyed it the first time they went aged 3 and the following year aged 4 (we didn’t book this year). There are often carriages lined up at the top of Harbour Hill on the Avenue although this year we only saw one there. You can pre-book a carriage to meet you for a tour which is highly advisable. We have booked the Stocks Hotel carriage tour previously, the carriage was waiting for us on The Avenue then we took a leisurely one hour tour, stopped off at Pilchers Monument, La Seigneurie and La Coupee before arriving at Stocks Hotel for lunch. The kids had a quick tour of the Stocks stables and fed Willow the horse a carrot. It was all very lovely.
If you fancy a horse and carriage tour we’d recommend booking in advance:
George & Morgan’s Island Boat Trip
We did George’s round Island boat trip for the first time this year and it was really enjoyable. I’ve renamed the trip from George’s Boat Trip to ‘George and Morgan’s Boat Trip’ as George tends to sit back and enjoy the ride these days whilst son Morgan steers the boat and provides all the commentary! The tour is 2 1/2 hours so be sure to pack drinks and snacks for younger children and jumpers as the wind can pick up out on the water.
Morgan is a natural commentator and his love of Sark shines through with tales of his own childhood, scrambling over rocks, exploring caves and bays… There’s heaps of wildlife to be seen although many species of birds (including the puffins) tend to leave the Island by mid July. Seals and dolphins are a common sight and on a higher tide the boat may also peek inside some of the many caves and coves around the Island’s shoreline. It was fascinating to see the Island from the other side and we also sneaked into Brecqou Harbour for a quick peek (Shhh…)
Of the 12 people on our tour, 6 were children, 5 of which were asleep as we arrived back into Creux Harbour – it certainly takes it out of them! Jessica (age 5) said it was one of her favourite things to do… she does enjoy a bit of wildlife spotting 🙂
Swimming Pool at Caragh Chocolates
Sark’s best kept secret! If you fancy a swim without having to book a lunch head to Caragh Chocolates (on the right heading towards Little Sark just before you hit La Coupee). You can’t see the pool from the front of Caragh’s, it’s hidden around the back but just ask in the Chocolate Shop and Cafe if you can use the pool. The cost is £5 per adult and £3 per child. You do not need to order food from the cafe to use the pool, but whilst you’re there why wouldn’t you? They serve snacks all day and there’s plenty of picnic benches and parasols on the lawn outside the shop and cafe. The hot chocolate is delicious!
The swimming pool is a decent size and there are several lounge chairs and two picnic benches around the perimeter. There’s a toilet but no changing room. There’s also a plug on the wall just outside the loo if you need to charge your phone. The pool opens around 10am daily but if the staff are busy with guests at their accommodation it may not open til around 10.30-11am. We found mornings the best time to visit if you’re staying over. Good to tie in with a trip over to Little Sark as it’s on your way.
The Window In The Rock
This was possibly my favourite walk. Heading towards the North of the Island, go past the entrance to La Seigneurie on your left hand side (you’ll also pass Beau Sejour on your right – fab place to eat!). Just after La Seigneurie there’s a track to your left. It is sign posted ‘Window In The Rock – Footpath Only’ but you can cycle down the short slope to a cycle park where you’ll need to leave your bikes.
Walk to the bottom of the short slope and the path to the Window In The Rock leads off to the right but there’s a path over to the left that leads down a track to a beautiful open area with a duck pond and an old well. It’s literally 2 mins off the main path and leads back up towards La Seigneurie (if you’re heading to the Window In The Rock from La Seigneurie Gardens, this is the path you will take). It’s worth a look, it’s really pretty.
Head back up to the main path and follow the signs to ‘Window In The Rock’. It’s a lovely walk down the steps through a wooded area. The path brings you out onto a cliff path and we couldn’t resist a photo opportunity at the ‘Hold On To Children’ sign! The Window In The Rock is 75 metres just after this sign, but really do make sure you hold on to young children – it is a sheer drop through that gap in the rock! From the cycle park, the walk takes approx 15 mins to get to the Window (that’s with 2 five year olds).
Just by the ‘Hold On To Children’ sign there’s a path that heads down the cliff to Port du Moulin bay below. We headed down this way as we’d spotted a Geocache site in the vicinity (if you don’t know about geocaching yet, there’s a whole new family adventure waiting for you!). We walked for about 5 minutes and the track started to get a little steeper. Oliver (age 5) lost his footing on some loose stones and declared he didn’t want to go any further so we turned back up the path. Older children will have no problem if you want to explore this part of the Island some more. It’s very beautiful and the views are stunning.
Rock Pooling at L’Eperquerie
We didn’t really know much about The Eperquerie Landing and hadn’t been before but Morgan had mentioned it on George & Morgan’s Boat Trip and the lady at the Sark Visitor Centre had also mentioned it as ‘a great, easy to get to location’ for rock pooling with young children. So we packed up the kids bike trailers with buckets, nets, crab lines and water shoes, and off we went…
We headed North of the Island. From the Island Hall crossroads head towards La Seigneurie and go past La Seigneurie on your left. You’ll then pass the turning on the left for The Window In The Rock. If you have time, stop off here on your way back, it’s a lovely walk with stunning scenery.
Keep going straight, when the road bends towards the right at the end, keep going straight down the slope ahead of you. Stop at the sign and barrier, park your bike and take the path through the fields. The views from here are spectacular and the children enjoyed running around trying to catch butterflies with their nets (there are LOADS of butterflies!). The first pathway off to the right isn’t signposted. You can get to L’Eperquerie this way but according to a passing tractor driver, it’s probably for the more adventurous! So we carried on along the path a few more minutes until we came to a signpost and took this pathway. The walk to this point from parking our bikes was about 5 minutes.
The scenery here is breathtaking. You can see the little cliff path running along the edge of the cliff, I was thankful we took the second path! We walked for about 3 minutes along the path, wide enough to walk hand in hand with a child. Jessica insisted on wearing sandals but trainers would have been more appropriate as the path does have patches of loose stone but nothing to prevent young children walking this path.
We soon came into a clearing overlooking Eperquerie and the views from here are so stunning you might want to sit down on one of the two benches just to take it all in. There’s a cannon here and you can see the remains of the old fort walls. There is also the best climbing tree EVER! The kids played on the tree for ages.
If you look over the cliff edge you can see the Eperquerie Landing down below. It looks quite far down and as we were umming and ahhing about whether to take the kids down that far, a couple with a dog came walking by. It was only a few minutes later (whilst we’re still dithering whether to take the children down or not) that we saw the couple at the bottom already so figured it must be quite an easy walk. And sure enough…
The walk was really easy and we reached the bottom in no time. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but it’s certainly not a pool for swimming in, although the dog we’d seen earlier was having a good old splash around and thoroughly enjoying himself. Thankfully we’d packed water shoes and quickly changed our footwear before scrambling over the rocks to reach the pools. The middle photo below are the rocks you need to scramble over to reach the pools. I was expecting whinging and whining from Jessica (age 5), she’s a proper princess, but she absolutely LOVED it! Scrambling rocks is still to this day her most favourite thing to do!
We spent a good hour and a half exploring the rock pools. Oliver tried catching crabs on his crab line and caught two little fish and some shrimps instead. Jess enjoyed the scrambling and fishing in the rock pools. And I think Ian (hubby) had more fun than the kids! It was a great little adventure.
Remember to take: bucket, crab line, fishing net, bait (bread), drinks, snacks, suncream, sun hats, water shoes.
La Seigneurie Gardens
La Seigneurie House and Gardens isn’t far from the Island Hall. We visited last year when our children were 4 years old and they really enjoyed it. The maze was a particular highlight for them as they tried to find their way to the ‘castle’ in the centre of the maze. We were there for ages! The gardens are really well kept with lots of different flowers and plant varieties. It’s very pretty. The admission cost is £6 for adults and £2 for children. There’s a little gift shop and Hathaways cafe is located just by the entrance (you’ll need to book!). You can also walk through the back of the grounds down to the pathway to the Window In The Rock.
Sark Henge
Sark Henge is a group of nine ‘one-eye giant’ stones built in 2015. You can read about it’s history here. We knew roughly where it was but hadn’t been before so we set off to go find it.
If you’re coming from the top of Harbour Hill towards the Avenue you reach the first crossroads (there’s a visitors board on the left). Turn left here, or if you’re coming through The Avenue towards Harbour Hill, turn right at the crossroads by where the horse and carriages park up. You go downhill here, the road takes a sharp left, it’s downhill a little more, then it’s uphill. Go past the houses on the right and as you reach the top of the hill out of the shade of the trees there’s a farmhouse on the right. Look out for the quirky dog on top of the fence (pic below). There’s a little gap in the hedge just after the farmhouse that leads on to a track through the field to the left of the farmhouse. Go straight on through the field to the brow of the hill at the far end. At the end of the field you’ll be on top of the cliffs overlooking the East coast of Sark. Stunning scenery from here. Follow the track over to the left and at the brow of the hill you’ll see Sark Henge over the far side of the field.
It’s a fabulous spot for a picnic. Absolutely stunning views. We also found Sark Rocks hidden around here – another adventure to get involved with!
Hunting for Sark Rocks
Scattered around the Island are lots of painted pebbles and rocks. These have been scattered by Sark Rocks for children (and adults) to find and re-hide. We found several around the main attraction spots and also a few in various other locations around the Island. If you are lucky enough to find one, take a picture and post it on the Sark Rocks Facebook Group. The Facebook group also offers clues and tips on where to find the rocks so join the group before you go! They’ve just hidden a fresh batch of painted rocks for people to find, some even have their own QR codes which will take you straight to the Facebook page.
Sark Pubs!
The main pubs in Sark are The Bel-Air Inn and The Mermaid Tavern. The Bel-Air is a friendly pub located at the top of Harbour Hill with a beer garden and some children’s garden play equipment. They serve food but currently only pizza and paninis. It gets very busy on a Saturday with day trippers, especially an hour before the boat is due to depart as the ‘toast rack’ down the hill departs directly in front of the Bel-Air to return passengers to the ferry. So if you’re staying over with children, aim to avoid the Bel-Air on a Saturday afternoon before the boat departs (landlord Mark Pontin will offer the same advice!).
The Mermaid Tavern is in the lane by A to B Cycles. Walk up from the Bel-Air towards The Avenue and turn right at the crossroads. Take the 2nd right and the Mermaid is on the left about 50 yards down the lane. They have outdoor seating, seating inside, a pool table, dart board and a juke box. Light meals and snacks are available and opening times are 10am-10pm (subject to staff availability).
The Maple Bar at the Island Hall is open for food and drinks but currently only on Friday and Saturday’s until around 9pm. They have a pool table and darts and table tennis is available in the room downstairs. There’s an outdoor balcony area overlooking the cricket pitch and kids are welcome to run around the field outside.
And if all that isn’t enough to do… here’s a few more things you can try –
Butterfly Spotting – The Sark Visitor Centre sell laminated sheets of ‘Bugs & Butterflies of Sark’ to spot whilst out and about. They also have ‘Coastal Birds of Sark’ (great if you’re going on George’s Boat Trip) and ‘Wild Flowers of Sark’. Available to purchase at the Sark Tourist Centre at £1 each.
Walk across La Coupee to Little Sark – I have to admit it makes my tummy churn walking over this pathway, it’s not for those with a fear of heights! But if you can manage the (very) short walk across you’ll find yourself on Little Sark and the views are amazing. TIP! If you’re planning to head to Little Sark to the Sablonnerie Hotel, it’s closed until 2021.
Swimming at the Venus Pools – You will have to cross La Coupee to get to the Venus Pools as they are located in Little Sark. We’ve not done this adventure ourselves as we’ve been told it’s quite a scramble to reach the Pools. My friend went with her teenage daughter and they really enjoyed it. They also found the giant deck chair on the way there!
Adventure Sark – Hire kayaks or go on a kayaking tour, coasteering or caving with Adventure Sark! Tel 07781 130403.
The Observatory – There’s a really cool little observatory in Sark. We’ve only seen it during the day and haven’t yet had chance to visit during the night hours but I believe it’s fantastic. Great for families with older children. It’s located behind Clos a Jaon campsite, there’s a pathway through the field opposite the Church.
Sark Events – Sark also host regular events. There was a scarecrow festival whilst we were there with various local businesses putting on fabulous displays. Sark sheep racing is popular, lawn mower racing and cricket matches at the Millennium Field. You can view Sark’s event list here.
Our Top Tips when visiting Sark during Summer 2020…
Pre-book Restaurants – Book up early, even for lunch (we couldn’t get into Hathaways at 12.10pm for a sandwich!) Many restaurants are still short staffed or opening limited hours so book lunch and dinners in advance so you don’t get caught out. Beau Sejour was fabulous for dinner, we went twice, super friendly staff and the steak and chips with pink peppercorn sauce is delicious!
Not everywhere is open – The Harbour Cafe (at the bottom of Harbour Hill) and La Sablonnerie Hotel on Little Sark are still closed. Stocks Hotel are no longer offering ‘Dip n Dines’ or ‘Tour & Dines’ to non residents. Aval de Creux and Petit Champ Hotels have been closed for a long time (pre Covid-19).
Grocery Shop – The main ‘supermarket’ is on The Avenue. They stock Waitrose essential brand so it’s not expensive. They’re opening on reduced hours through the Summer and are closed all day Sunday so don’t get caught out (like we did) by checking their opening hours online! If you’re stuck for a bottle of wine, The Mermaid and The Bel-Air are licensed to sell ‘take-outs’.
Pre-book Bikes – Pre-book your bikes, especially if you want tag alongs or trailers.
What to Take – No-one really dresses up, evening wear is casual. There’s no real need for hiking boots unless you plan to cliff walk all day, but trainers or comfy shoes are a must. Water shoes were great for scrambling over rocks. If you’re self catering take a few basics just to make sure the kids are fed. You can buy spades, crab lines and nets there if need be although many self catering places provide these for you. Take a torch if you’re planning on being out after dark.
Sark Dust – It can get very dusty in Sark so pack accordingly and leave your best set of luggage at home! Maybe book your pedicure for when you get back 😉
Chill Out – Remember you’re on Sark time, no-one rushes! Just go with the flow and don’t get wound up if you’re waiting a little longer than usual.
Happy Exploring!
