Festivals: "Not a day goes by without music, dancing and singing." Alderney Week and the Northern isle, through the eyes of its newest French guide, Agnès Perry
Since moving from the island of Guernsey to Alderney four years ago, French tour guide Agnès Perry hasn’t missed a single Alderney Week. One of the largest cultural gatherings in the Channel Islands, the Bourgeuil native guides us to the island - and its festival.
"Some islands are worth it"
“We leave the Cotentin coast behind, bid farewell to Cap de la Hague with a mixture of respect and apprehension, and set off to brave the Raz Blanchard... And then, suddenly, there she is, Alderney.”
This Hugo-like prose in Le Rocher, the only French newspaper in the Channel Islands, is written by one of the islands’ most Hugolienne French guides. French audiences have heard her on France's national radio, Radio France, describing the purchase of Hauteville House by a certain exiled writer; or read her name in Ouest-France, France's most-read daily paper, sharing Guernsey's newly-weds tradition of decorating menhirs; or met her at conferences organised by the Victor Hugo in Guernsey Society.
Now it's also forts, bunkers and the Channel Islands' only train she shows to journalists and visitors. A tour guide specialising in Victor Hugo, in 2022, together with her Guernsey-born husband Colin, Agnès Perry left the second-largest island for the third. Fulfilling a 30-year dream, the Perry couple had first wanted to move to Alderney in the 90s, when a plane share and Colin's pilot license saw them hopping over to the Northern isle on weekends; "So, it was on the radar for a while!"
Raised in Bourgeuil, between Anjou and Touraine, in the wine region, Perry is now the Channel Islands' most veteran French tour guide, having lived longer in the islands than in France. "Growing up in the middle of the land, I'd never lived by the sea before, but now I'm used to thinking about the tide," she says.
And what a tide. Alderney is separated from the French coast by one of the fastest tidal currents in Europe – the Raz Blanchard – which makes the profession of tour guide precarious to say the least. Due to sea conditions, the first crossing of only seven in the entire 2026 season from Diélette, with Manches Iles ferry service, was cancelled, depriving 26 walkers of their island tour. “We’re hoping for more regular services; the French do want to come."
Alderney Ferry Services, meanwhile, which operates a Cherbourg crossing for 12 people maximum, announced it was forced to increase its fares this season, after Alderney's government did not subsidise the service. "We’re very lucky to have them, they’re doing the best they can to keep us connected with Guernsey and Cherbourg, it's a big commitment." Off-season media crews to Alderney find themselves chartering their own boats, as Normandy's regional television channel France 3 Normandie who filmed a mini-documentary featuring Agnès Perry on Alderney did last year. Today also occasional Alderney Railway Station Master, Agnès Perry is an unofficial ambassador for Alderney in France - and the ins and outs of island life.
Alderney's cost of living: "it’s a juggling act"
While buying or renting property is cheaper than Guernsey, Alderney has to import not only its food, but also its fuel and electricity, since, unlike the two biggest islands, Jersey and Guernsey, Alderney is not supplied by cable from France. In July, the States of Alderney announced a temporary fuel subsidy of £200,000 to soften the impact of global oil price spikes on island. Having to import all the island needs, fresh food, frozen food, building materials, carpets, has a cost. "It adds to the food bill every week." she says. "A lot of people have several jobs, in winter, people transfer their efforts somewhere else, it’s a juggling act."
“There’s still a real sense of community."
Discovered by many a neighbouring islander for the first time during lockdown, when quarantine restrictions limited Channel Islanders to staycations, Alderney today is similar to how Guernsey used to be. “There’s still a real sense of community. Life is less complicated, less hectic. There’s less pressure at work, and you can also devote time to volunteering.”
The Northern line on the Northern isle
From the library to the museum, to the tourist information centre – the island relies on volunteers. Perry herself works at the museum and occasionally steps in as stationmaster for the Alderney Railway, the only train in the Channel Islands and the first nationalised railway in Britain when it opened in 1847.
With its vintage London tube carriages, passengers can step aboard the Northern Line and head North on the Northern isle. Built to carry stone from the island's Mannez Quarry to the breakwater at the harbour, when a train famously overshot the end of the breakwater, the incident made it into a Thomas the Tank Engine story. Today the train can be privately chartered starting at 200 pounds. "We’ve got some very clever, dedicated engineers here who don’t count their hours to keep it running.”
This island counts two radio stations, for its population of 2000, but hasn't had a newspaper delivered in three years: “it costs too much, so they gave up on it." On Sundays shops remain shut. "We’re still very traditional. You’ve got to do your shopping before 1 o’ clock during the week."
The feedback from French visitors is how friendly Alderney is.
“If there’s a traffic jam, which very rarely occurs, it’s usually because someone’s stopped to talk to someone on the pavement, so there’s a queue of cars behind them. But it’s known here, you don’t get impatient. If people are having a chat, you give them a couple of minutes to say what they have to say.” Alderney's appeal is also its nature. "The island is fairly wild, the cliffs, the meadows, the coastline, beautiful sunsets by the sea, when you go inland, there’s a lot of nature to discover, if you’re curious enough."
"The island is buzzing... "Not a day goes by without music, dancing and singing."
Alderney's summer highlight is Alderney Week - the largest carnival in the Channel Islands, where every year the island's 2000 population doubles for a week of parades and parties, run by volunteers.
Alderney Week festivities ©Agnès Perry
Established in 1908, always held on the first full week of August, this year Alderney put on around 70 events.
The programme includes a flower parade winding through the town’s cobbled streets, followed by a funfair and the island's infamous Man-Powered Flight competition from Douglas Quay, "featuring homemade flying machines that often rely more on sheer courage than aerodynamics."
“We never miss Alderney week; we always make sure we’re there for that week in August," says Perry. "The whole island is transformed for a week of public festivities, most of which are free and open to everyone. Not a day goes by without music, dancing and singing. The fireworks must be the most beautiful fireworks I’ve ever seen – you’re really right up close. We are immensely grateful for the enthusiasm of the many tireless volunteers who put their heart and soul into ensuring the success of ‘Alderney Week’."
Alderney from France : Cherbourg with Alderney Ferry Services, Mondays and Fridays ; via Saint-Malo - Guernesey : also ferries & flights between Guernsey and Alderney. From Brest via Jersey with Finist’Air.
