Channel Islands for work

[Chlordiazepoxide]

I am a nurse, who still loves my job but kids have grown up and I have been offered a job in Gurnsey or Aldeney. There are also options in Jersey and I have seen one in Isle of Man that I am hopeful about.

I live in a small village in the Pennines but close to Manchester.

I have rented out family home, am single and want to enjoy my 50's.

Any advice on where to choose. I have never lived really rurally before will it be too much of a change. I am scared but excited too!

Hi, I’m in Guernsey. I love living here. Wouldnt describe it as especially rural, mode coastal. We have a wonderful coastline and quite an outdoorsy lifestyle. What things do you enjoy doing?

Walking, animals, AA meetings!!

There is fabulous walking here, the cliff paths are stunning whatever the time of year. Some people struggle with the winter when it can get really windy and stormy due to the island being quite exposed. The summer is a great trade off to that though.
Things you don’t have here are shopping malls, big cinemas, bowling alley, we don’t have McDonald’s, kfc or anything like that too!

I think 🇬🇬 is the one, I feel really drawn to it. Have you always lived there. Will I struggle to adapt?

I spent two years working in Jersey for a bank, they were two of the happiest years of my life! I covered Guernsey and the Isle of Man so also spent a lot of time there.

Personally, I liked Jersey best, it’s a bit bigger and more to do, I found Guernsey a bit too small and limited, but both are beautiful places, stunning walking and warm, friendly people.

I didn’t like the IoM, it’s a bit Blackpool for me.

Alderney is tiny! Unless you really like rural/isolated living I don't think it's for you.
Guernsey has lots of beautiful walks, beaches and cliffs. You can also swim throughout the year if you are hardy.

I was born in Guernsey! It’s a very friendly place, and for the size of the island there are a huge amount of activities / groups etc to meet people.
Alderney is very small. There are less than 2000 people living there and travel in / off Island can be challenging sometimes.

When things were normal. Are flights to Manchester regular and cheap?!

I live in Jersey and I love it, wouldn't change it for anything. There is a great community here, summer is the best - very outdoorsy and the beaches are fab. And we are expecting a new hospital to be built at some point in the near future.

Guernsey!

I know sorry. I'm dyslexic and stared at the word for ages!

If flying back up north is important to you then Jersey has better / cheaper links. Easyjet fly to Manchester and Liverpool, and in the summer Jet2 fly to Leeds Bradford.

Guernsey doesn't have any low-cost airlines going in or out. Aurigny fly to Manchester I believe but far more costly than Easyjet.

I have experience of both Jersey and Guernsey and love both but Jersey just edges it for me.

I’m a student nurse currently and once I qualify I’m heading to Jersey. I love Jersey. Although speaking to my sil who is a nurse, the general hospital is struggling a bit at the moment. But I usually go over at least 5 times a year and it just feels like home to me. (Probably helps that my dbro and dd live there)

Guernsey has the most amazing food I have ever tasted but not much to do out of tourist season. My other dbro lives there and loves it.

I haven’t been to Alderney (yet) but the housing/work situation seems very attractive as they have much less restrictions. Not that I suppose that would matter in Jersey/Guernsey as you’ll be going there ‘on license’.

I work with someone who spent ten years living in Guernsey and she seemed to have loved it. She learnt to fly and sail and island hopped a lot which I suppose would lessen the claustrophobic feel of living on a tiny island. Anywhere in the Channel Islands travel is affected by the weather. The ferry service has become more reliable over the last couple of years but any adverse weather and that stops. Flights can be affected by fog which has been fun when you personally hate flying and you’re circling hoping for a break.

I lived in Jersey for 10 years, my husband is from there and our son was also born there. I wouldn’t exactly call it rural as a whole, you can live rurally there but you’re never far from town (St Helier) as the island is only 9 miles by 5 miles. There’s lots of lovely walks there, especially the seaside cliff walks, and paths through some small forests as well. If you surf it is amazing for that. The seafood is stupendous, and I really miss going cockling there. I can’t comment on flights as I gather things have changed a lot in that respect since we left 7.5 years ago, but I do remember ferries are VERY expensive. The cost of living in Jersey is also very high.

There’s a lot of people there for a small place (over 100,000) and in the end that was part of what drove us to move back to Canada. It’s not my cup of tea, I love visiting but wouldn’t move back, but we are a mountain family anyway. Definitely visit if you can a get a feel for it, I know loads of non-Beans that love it there and have been there for ages 😊

Alderney is a very small island. Guernsey is not rural in the normal sense of the word, but like two small towns with other housing in smaller communities. A grandparent came from there so we visited a lot during childhood.

Lots of social activities, little traffic congestion, though expensive to live, and very 'grey' with fog and damp weather in the winter.

I've NCed for this as I probably know @Swimbikerunmummy!

Guernsey is beautiful but it is quiet. I've not been to Jersey but I've been told that the main town is much more built up/modern than St Peter Port.

In normal times there's direct flights twice a day to Manchester, not super cheap though.

Settling in is a tough one, some people slot in straight away but I took a while to adapt and make friends. It was a huge culture shock for me coming from a global city, perhaps if I'd been in a town or village first it wouldn't be such a change.

Winters are quiet and most shops are closed on Sundays.

Plenty of walks, the cliffs are stunning.
High levels of pet ownership here, and horse riding if that's your thing. I'd guess there's AA meetings too.

Alderney is tiny tiny. You can walk round it in an afternoon. There is a cinema but it’s in a church hall and only sometimes (I don’t know if it’s still going). MIL lives there, I haven’t been there for years as she preferred coming to the UK. Expensive food, not much to do, not many people. The hospital/nursing home has very nice staff.

I lived and worked on Herm for four years, would have stayed longer, but came back to the UK when my father was taken ill - not easy to get back to the UK in a hurry or emergency.

Echo what many have said about the stunning Channel Islands coasts, tempered by small geographical size of the islands and a possibility that you might find them stifling and, yes, when I was there, virtually everything was closed on a Sunday.

Lower taxation than UK, but offset a little by higher prices for many goods which are imported.

It is a lifestyle choice that would not be for all and I wouldn't describe either Jersey or Guernsey as remotely rural - not by my definition anyway!

Please bear in mind that Alderney is known as '2000 alcoholics clinging to a rock'.

Good luck, but think carefully and, if you can, visit first to assess for yourself - not a decision to be made lightly, in my view

I didn’t like the IoM, it’s a bit Blackpool for me

It's really not. Well possibly is if you never stray further than central Douglas. Plenty of facilities and amenities in main towns and villages or the opportunity to live more rurally if that's what you want.

I've been to the Isle of Man dozens of times for work. It's great for walking, the glens are absolutely stunning. Lovely beaches too.

Day to day living may be more affordable than the Channel Islands, which I believe are very expensive (IoM is quite expensive but not unreasonably so, although it would obviously depend on salary and cost of housing).

In normal times there are multiple cheap flights every day from Manchester and Liverpool to IoM - this was affected by Flybe going bust but once things are back up and running again, someone will put a good service on because those routes were always well used.

When I bought flights it was around £80-120 return, but that was usually at short notice and on a 'business day return' from Manchester, so probably could get it cheaper if you planned ahead and took less popular flights.

We visit Jersey yearly (except this year).
It is bigger than Guernsey so has more facilities (including a ten pin bowling place and MacDonalds).
Jersey also has it's world famous Zoo founded by Gerald Durrell.
St Helier has most mainstream shops you would recognise from the mainland.
There is a lot of friendly(?) rivalry between Jersey & Guernsey.

The weather is distinctly better than where I live on the South coast (so will be way better than where you are OP).

I'd go for it. If you hate it you can move back.

Guernsey is currently winning as my contract is 3 weeks on 10 days off, which I think psychologically will make it easier for me to adapt and I can easily get the ferry and drive hone. (Well not that easily but I will have the time to travel and still can see friends at home)

Aahhh big move but very exciting!

Getting to France, how easy is that?

Getting to France is pretty easy in the summer with ferries almost daily but from Guernsey sometimes you'd need to go via Jersey and change ferry.

Day trips are far less feasible from there than from Guernsey but overnight/weekend trips should work fine.

Sorry, PP should say that day trips are less feasible from Guernsey than from Jersey!

I live in Jersey. Be prepared it's very expensive to live here. But there is a fair bit to do

@Chlordiazepoxide no i wasn’t correcting your spelling I was voting for guernsey 😁

It’s a great island and lovely place to live. Plus jersey has so many covid restrictions whereas Alderney and guernsey are covid free so life is as normal.

Alderney is tiny, I really wouldn’t recommend unless you want your business to be common knowledge and the locals to consider you a second class citizen incomer! Way more incomers in guernsey so a lot more friendly.