hey're arguably one of the most beautiful – and certainly most scenic – tourist destinations in the United Kingdom. Yet they're also so far off the radar of many Americans, they're never visited. Which is almost a tragedy, because they're not only intriguing, they're also a microcosm of England itself. Add in they were occupied by the Nazis' in WW2, and you've got even more reasons to visit. Wait a minute, I hear you say, England was never occupied by Germany in WW2. Well, yes it was and no it wasn't. We'll get to that in minute. Finally, how about this for American tourists; the US State of New Jersey was named after one of the Islands. If so, how come there's no State of Guernsey in America?

The Channel Islands are series of islands about 30 miles off the French Coast of Normandy, and only seven are inhabited: Jersey, Guernsey, Aldeney, Sark, Herm, Jethou and Brechou. Jersey and Guernsey are what's called Bailiwicks and are remnants of the Duchy of Normandy. They're NOT part of England geographically speaking, but Great Britain is responsible for their defense and international relations. In WW2, and reasoning the Islands would be a strategic "jumping off point" from which to later invade England, Hitler's armed forces landed on June 30th, 1940. Liberation came on the last day of WW2 – May 9th, 1945.

One of enormous Anti-Invasion Machine Gun Towers built by the Nazi Todt Organization in WW2 in the Channel Islands. This one is in Guernsey, and it's still there today. Photo courtesy Guernsey Tourist Office

Originally called "New Netherlands," New Jersey got its name from Channel Islanders from Jersey when they were among the Settlers' of the original 13 American colonies. On arrival in the New World they wanted something British – New JERSEY.

The top tourist islands are Jersey and Guernsey. The former is probably more in style with many tourists as many Islanders' view Guernsey as refined and upper class. Be that as it may, to me the most intriguing island of all seven is Sark. Called a "Royal Fief" based on Norman law, it only has about 600 people on its 2.10 square miles.

The only form of transportation allowed (even today!) on Sark is by horse and buggy, or tractor. Photo courtesy SARK Tourism

What made it intriguing to me as a small boy when our family visited on holiday is that NO cars are allowed on Sark. The only forms of transportation are tractors and horse drawn wagons. Adding even more to its mystery is that in 2011 it was named as a "Dark Sky Community" becoming the first and only "Dark Sky Island" in the world.

From a tourism perspective – at least in my view – I've often thought it's a letdown that the "Dame of Sark" is no longer alive because in her day she added a sort of Agatha Christie aura to the island. "Dame" is the British female equivalent of "Sir" for men. The Dame of Sark was one Sibyl Hathaway. She died on July 14th, 1974, but back in the late 1940s she was very much alive, very regal and almost – even to me as a child – someone from another, long ago era. She reminded me of Miss Havisham in Charles Dickens "Great Expectations" who described her as "a cross between a waxwork and a skeleton, and since she spent so much time AWAY from the sunlight, it had aged her beyond her actual years."

##########################

Next time, in Part 2: How the Dame of Sark refused to obey the orders of the Nazi troops who occupied the Channel Islands in WW2.

Related Articles:
The Aran Islands; The Long Good Bye to Ireland; A 1944 WW2 'Cover Up' At England's Slapton Sands; A Return to the Emerald Isle; North Wales Has A Place For You!