Camping on Sark

Camping just isn’t camping without a decent view of the stars on a clear night and a slot-token shower unit. Which is what you can expect at La Valette campsite on the east side of the Isle of Sark – the smallest of the four main Channel Islands, about 80 miles off the English coast and about as far from city lights as you can get in the UK…
 

Photo © Richard Hammond.

The campground overlooks the sea, there’s fresh produce available from the farm and the four minutes of hot water for the shower comes courtesy of a solar thermal unit and a £1 token. Cars aren’t allowed on the island, but though it’s only three miles long and a mile and a half wide, you need a bike to explore all the coves and bays over a long weekend, else you can hire a horse and carriage. The award-winning La Sablonnerie Hotel on Little Sark is connected to the island by a dramatic steep-sided isthmus. After an evening at the restaurant, I had a magical trip back to the campsite over the narrow strip of land guided by the light of the moon. · A night at La Valette costs £6.50pp (sercq.com, 01481 832202). Weymouth-Guernsey ferry £39.50 one way as a foot passenger (condorferries.co.uk). Ferry to Sarkcosts £22 return (sarkshipping.info). This article, by Richard Hammond, was first published in the “Guardian”:http://travel.guardian.co.uk/article/2007/may/05/saturday.green1.