Facts and Figures

Interesting Facts and Figures about Jersey and the Channel Islands

For one small set of islands, Jersey and the Bailiwick of Guernsey certainly have an incredible number of interesting and often surprising features!

1 = 1.2 Sounds impossible, doesn't it? We have one of the world's largest tidal ranges, which means that the sea goes out a very long way every day. When it does, the island grows by a fifth! Jersey has over 45 miles of stunning coastline The Channel Islands are actually made up of seven different islands: Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, Herm, Jethou, Brecqhou and Lihou. Jersey is officially the sunniest place in the British Isles.
14 Miles We're only 14 miles from France - just a short hop compared to the 100 miles that seperate us from mainland Britain. We're a unique mix of French and English influences. It's what makes us different. You can wash those oysters down with a nice cup of tea. And while many placenames and roads are in French, we drive on the left.
About 50% According to the market research company TNS, almost half of mainland Britons don't know that our currency is sterling. A further 17% thought we were in the eurozone. Jersey and the Bailiwick of Guernsey both issue their very own bank notes and coins, although UK currency is widely accepted on the islands. The islands also have their own phone and postal systems. Norman French, along with English, is still the official language of the Guernsey Courts.
9 Miles That's how long we are - just 9 miles from end to end. And 5 miles wide. You wouldn't think of it. The island seems much bigger - you'll be amazed by what we manage to pack into our 45 square miles.
15 mph Take it easy, you're in Jersey. In fact, when it comes to our Green Lanes we really like to slow things down with a 15mph speed limit for the comfort of walkers, cyclists and horse riders. And on roads throughout the island the maximum speed is 40mph (but more often 30mph).
Around 1,700 That's the number of conservationists Durrell Wildlife has trained in Jersey and 120 countries. Durrell has become a focus for wildlife conservation worldwide. Some other impressive numbers: Durrell has put 30 species well on the road to recovery and works on 40 different conservation projects in 17 countries. There are around 300 births every day at the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust.

1 = 1.2

La Rocco Tower, St Ouens Bay Sounds impossible, doesn't it? We have one of the world's largest tidal ranges, which means that the sea goes out a very long way every day. When it does, the island grows by a fifth!

Jersey has over 45 miles of stunning coastline

The Channel Islands are actually made up of seven different islands: Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, Herm, Jethou, Brecqhou and Lihou.

Jersey is officially the sunniest place in the British Isles.

14 Miles

We're only 14 miles from France - just a short hop compared to the 100 miles that seperate us from mainland Britain. We're a unique mix of French and English influences. It's what makes us different. You can wash those oysters down with a nice cup of tea. And while many placenames and roads are in French, we drive on the left.

About 50%

Currency

According to the market research company TNS, almost half of mainland Britons don't know that our currency is sterling. A further 17% thought we were in the eurozone.

Jersey and the Bailiwick of Guernsey both issue their very own bank notes and coins, although UK currency is widely accepted on the islands. The islands also have their own phone and postal systems.

Norman French, along with English, is still the official language of the Guernsey Courts.

9 Miles

That's how long we are - just 9 miles from end to end. And 5 miles wide. You wouldn't think of it. The island seems much bigger - you'll be amazed by what we manage to pack into our 45 square miles.

15 mph

Take it easy, you're in Jersey. In fact, when it comes to our Green Lanes we really like to slow things down with a 15mph speed limit for the comfort of walkers, cyclists and horse riders. And on roads throughout the island the maximum speed is 40mph (but more often 30mph).

Around 1,700

That's the number of conservationists Durrell Wildlife has trained in Jersey and 120 countries. Durrell has become a focus for wildlife conservation worldwide. Some other impressive numbers:
Durrell has put 30 species well on the road to recovery and works on 40 different conservation projects in 17 countries.
There are around 300 births every day at the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust.

Sark is closed to day trippers on Sundays!
Jersey’s airport is rather smarter than the Island’s original one, which was located on the beach at St Aubin's Bay!
Brecqhou is privately owned and closed to public. The island also has its own fiscal system--i.e. the owners can establish their own levels of income tax!
Guernsey’s capital St Peter Port is very busy with over 80 cruise ships visiting each year!
The Channel Islands boast over 300 restaurants.
Many of the older houses in the Channel Islands have a witch’s seat in them, which comprise stones that jut out of the houses' gables. The islanders believed that by providing a seat for passing witches to rest on would prevent them from falling foul of evil spells!
Jersey was a favourite holiday destination of the Father of Communism, Karl Marx.
Herm is home to the smallest prison in the world. It has room for just one person!
The Little Chapel on Guernsey is the smallest chapel in the world. It was made by a French monk and is decorated with broken china and shells.
There is a prehistoric forest buried beneath the surfers' beach at St Ouen’s Bay.
The people from Jersey and Guernsey think they are descendants of fairies, known on the islands as “pouques” (pronounced “pooks”)! The last reported sighting of a fairy was in the early 1900’s!
The majority of Sark is 350 feet above sea level and so the steep transfer from the port up to the town is usually done on the “tractor & toast rack” – a tractor and trailer that people sit on. The Channel Islands boast over 100 species of crab, 240 different varieties of seaweed and over four million oysters in their waters!
The Channel Islands were the only part of the British Isles occupied by the Germans in World War II.
Herm boasts an incredible “Shell Beach”, which is composed of millions of shells brought to the island by the Gulf Stream. It is one of only a handful across the world.
Jersey and Guernsey were the home in exile of French playwright and author, Victor Hugo who completed Les Miserables on Guernsey.
Some of the islands’ flora and fauna are found nowhere else in the British Isles.
The islands are self-governing and have their own parliaments.
Alderney is home to the only railway in the Channel Islands.
The Channel Islands are all smaller than Greater London!