When you arrive into the car park at The Devil’s Hole, you wouldn’t know what awaits you. Apart from the name – it looks usual enough. The Priory Inn – one of Jersey’s oldest pubs – is the first thing you come to which is a very rustic and inviting place serving island specials such as Fish and Chips, Moules-frites and Seafood Linguine – Jersey Liberation Ale on tap to guzzle and refreshing crisp wines to sip.
After dinner, or before if you would prefer, a narrow, winding walk past babbling brooks, purply-blue hydrangeas, wild nettle bushes – and the tall, imposing figure of a devil statue, shortly lead to an open space revealing the mouth of a large cave surrounded by cliffs that are home to a family of grazing goats and a vast ocean view.
Continue walking and you end up at an observatory platform where you can peer down into the Devil’s Hole at the turquoise waves calmly simpering or wildly thrashing on to the rocks, all the while knowing that the devil statue awaits you back at the top, his cloven hooves submerged in slime-green algae.
So, why is this little beauty spot on Jersey named so starkly The Devil’s Hole? Well, it all began one stormy night (as most menacing tales do) when, after a shipwreck, the figurehead of the vessel was washed up through the hole in the rocks. The figure was claimed by locals, given arms and legs and began to resemble that of a devil. The mysterious quality of this figure turned the site into a tourist attraction and though the devil figure has changed over the years, the one that now stands there still maintains an air of mystery and is quite creepy when you peer through the bushes and see it.
Ona clear day, you can see across to the other Channel Islands and if it is really clear, even France. Devil’s hole is also stunningly beautiful at sunset as the sun descends over the ocean, creating captivating rays and sparkles.
I wholeheartedly recommend making the time to visit The Devil’s Hole should you find yourself on Jersey. The ocean and cliff views are spectacular and if you go at the right time of day to see them, watching the goats grazing on the cliff sides is a wonderful sight.
I stayed in St Mary’s, which is about half an hour’s walk from The Devil’s Hole last time I visited Jersey so on my last day, the flight not until the afternoon, I made an extra special effort to set my alarm for a walk down to see the devil and the ocean before heading home. It was a perfect way to spend my last morning as the air was fresh, the sea was blue and the whole scene was serene and peaceful.
To read more about what I think of Jersey, feel free to check this post out which details more about this beautiful island.
