A Pedestrian Tour through the Islands of Guernsey and Jersey

Description

Foreword by Raoul Lempriere. Walmesley wrote this travellers’ guide in 1821, at a time when, just after the Napoleonic Wars, the Channel Islands were becoming known as a quiet retreat for inexpensive retirement and a destination for educated tourists.  His account of his own ‘tour’ is more observant than most and more appreciative of the islands and their people.  It is refreshingly different and detailed.

The text provides contemporary source material for the historian, with penetrating comments on individuals, families, houses, gardens and estates.  His own sketches of well-known places are instantly recognisable, despite the changes of the intervening 170 years.

The islands are revealed as still essentially rural and unsophisticated, but with a growing local ‘aristocracy’ with many of whom William exchanged visits on friendly terms; providing him with the insight to be able to convey so much of the character of these islands at that period.

It will delight residents and visitors alike.