‘Utopia is where the chefs are French and the police are British’

REMEMBER THE JOKE…..? (Nevermind that the lovers are supposed to be Italian …probably a myth anyway…)…….

Guernsey, a pretty little island, closer to the French coast than the British one, doesn’t claim to be Utopia but it might well fit that joke.

It actually feels half French, half English and, many of the restaurants are French, from classic bistros with names like Le Petit Bistro to top class places including L’Auberge.

French novelist Victor Hugo who was exiled here for 14 years described Guernsey as “little bits of France dropped into the sea and picked up by Britain”. Renoir was so inspired by the “shimmering light” at Moulin Huet that he painted 15 canvasses here.

Nowadays, on summer weekends, the French sail their yachts over for an evening in St Peter Port, (maybe the resemblance to their very own Honfleur attracts them…) with its buzzing waterfront, eclectic shops and superb dining from moules marinières to chateaubriand.

And so to the police ? Are they British ? No, but they feel as if they are : almost identical uniform including the famous British bobby’s helmet, a sense of fair play and polite too.

Of course, they speak in English.