Tag Archives: Guernsey

Beaucette’s Restaurant

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A popular dish
Lobster, straight from the sea that morning
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2021 –

Beaucette Restaurant reopened under new management in 2021, as Saltwater

2012 – 2021

During these years, the restaurant was known as The Restaurant at Beaucette Marina, and opened for business in June 2012, under the management of Chef Patron James and his wife, Valerie.

The restaurant became one of Guernsey’s best, benefitting from stunning views across Beaucette Marina and beyond to Herm, Jethou, Sark, Alderney and France, and, if you peek to the right a bit you can see ‘the other island’, Jersey.

The restaurant had undergone full refurbishment with a large outside decking area for Al Fresco drinks and dining. With Valerie’s eye for detail, the restaurant’s nautical theme was kept and enhanced with splashes of red, ‘my favourite colour,’ added Valerie.

Whilst Valerie looked after the front of house, Chef James commanded the kitchens.

Chef James
‘A splash of red – my favourite colour,’ says Valerie
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‘Good cooking is all about flavour, presentation and consistency. Often you’ll find chefs have books detailing their dishes, but my book is in my head,’ said James.

‘We’d cook everything from scratch, including all the sauces, stocks, biscuits and tuiles, cakes and desserts. All would be made in my kitchen so we know they’re fresh, vibrant and most important of all, they’d taste right. Fish came straight from the sea around us, and our meat and vegetables were all sourced locally.’

Chef James’s background is all food-focussed. Having left school James went straight to work experience in a hotel kitchen.

‘I loved it. From there I worked in a number of restaurants and under some great chefs, including Steve Halstead. For eleven years before opening The Restaurant at Beaucette Marina, I was chef at the busy Oatlands Courtyard Brasserie.’

In the kitchen, James had a Head Chef, three trainee chefs and a washer-upper. All were encouraged to be creative and bring fresh ideas, ‘which we’d all test and taste before allowing the changes or adding new dishes to the menu,’ added James, ‘and we’d do whatever we could to help – plus it’s fun creating something new!’

The menus

Valerie and Chef James created Table d’hôte and À la Carte menus for lunch, and a separate À la Carte menu for dinner.

‘If a party wanted something special created, they’d only need to ask,’ added James. ‘It’s fun creating something different!’

Piers and Lin
from the Taste Buds of
Play d’eau
Fleming 55

You can get in touch with us any time by using our Contact Form

Chef James and wife Valerie
The Restaurant at Beaucette Marina
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Living aboard Play d'eau

A Fox becomes a Donkey

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The Fox…
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Since we’ve exported our cars from the UK to Guernsey* we’ve had to re-register them. They are now the proud bearers of Guernsey number plates – just numbers, no letters.

Now, in the realm of ‘inter-Channel Island’ rivalry, those who live in Guernsey are known as Donkeys (Anes) whilst those in Jersey are known as Toads (Crapauds).

So, our Volkswagen Fox has become a Donkey!

Re-registering was so simple. It started with a trip to the island’s reclamation plant to have the cars weighed, followed by a visit to the Island’s Transport department.

Within 10 minutes or so, the paperwork and process was completed, and we had new log books. All delightfully quick and painless.

Lin

…becomes…
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from the Saloon of
Play d’eau
Fleming 55

* The Channel Islands are part of the British Isles, but not part of the UK, nor the EU.

The Donkey GBG for car number plates
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…a Donkey!
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Living aboard Play d'eau

We have arrived!

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Arriving in Guernsey’s St Peter Port harbour on the Commodore Clipper ferry from Portsmouth
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We’ve arrived! We’re in Guernsey, on Play d’eau, beginning to live the dream we’ve held for so many years – we’ve come ‘home’.

Having boarded the 9am slow ferry from Portsmouth on 22 March 2013, we docked in the beautiful harbour of St Peter Port, Guernsey, at 4pm to start our new life as liveaboards on Play d’eau in Beaucette Marina..

The ferry crossing was in an Easterly F7 with wind over tide for much of the way creating an emotional spume strewn sea state, but as soon as we’d cleared the Alderney Race and entered ‘Channel Island territory’ the wind died down, the sea settled and the last two hours were lovely with the sun trying to peek through the cloud.

We drove off the ferry, handed in our landing cards, cleared customs, ready to begin the next chapter of our lives.

Piers and Lin
from the Saloon of
Play d’eau
Fleming 55

Living aboard Play d'eau

Leaving the UK

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Lin, waiting in a cold E’ly wind, for the ferry to depart Portsmouth
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Today, we are leaving the UK bound for Guernsey, the start of a long held dream.

For many years, Lin and I have been cruising the Channel Islands, often finding ourselves saying, ‘It feels like coming home.’ On one occasion we looked at each other and asked, ‘What are we actually saying?’ ‘This is home,’ was the answer. And so the planning began.

In 2011, we sold Orchard Gate, the house we’d lived in for 34 years in the small village of Upper Bucklebury near Newbury, Berkshire, and moved to a rented house in Dorset to be closer to our software house business (Double First Ltd) whilst planning our move ‘home’.

Our thoughts were to sell or give away everything except the precious items and family heirlooms. That meant we also had to look at every box of papers and ‘things’ we’d inherited over the generations and which we’d so often said, ‘One day we must go through all these.’ This took many months and was so rewarding. Maybe someday we’ll write about Luces, the perfume business my grandfather owned in Jersey and how he used to win the gold medal prizes for his Eau de Cologne in the competitions held in Cologne, Germany. Maybe we’ll write about Lin’s Dad and his time in the Navy seeing the horrors of war at 18 years old, and his involvement (and the real story) of the raid on the sub-pens at St Nazaire, France.

So the process began. Furniture went to auctions and charity shops. The local dump had many visits, eBay took their share in PayPal revenues, and R and R removals of Guernsey collected the items we wanted to keep. Finally, on the 22 March 2013, Lin and I packed the last of our belongings into our Volvo V50 and headed for Portsmouth to catch the 0900 Condor Clipper slow ferry to St Peter Port, Guernsey.

As we drove into the cavernous hold of the ferry for the 7 hour crossing, we said good bye UK, hello Channel Islands.

Piers and Lin
from the saloon of
Play d’eau
Fleming 55

Driving onto the Commodore Clipper
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The Commodore Clipper ferry from Portsmouth was about to take us ‘home’
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Living aboard Play d'eau

All aboard

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Play d’eau at dawn off the Belgian coast
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It’s the start of a new adventure for Piers and Lin aboard Play d’eau – we’re moving aboard our recently refitted Fleming 55 as full time liveaboards based in Beaucette Marina, Guernsey in the Channel Islands.

Please keep a eye on this site for messages about our experiences and adventures in the months and years to come.

Piers and Lin
from the Saloon of
Play d’eau
Fleming 55