All Journal stories Staying on Sark
The Sark JournalA self-catering week on Sark
A self-catering week on Sark means the days are genuinely yours: what you eat, when you eat it, when you leave the cottage, all of it left to you rather than a schedule.
Choosing the house
Sark is about three and a half miles long and a mile and a half wide. That size does most of the work in choosing where to stay: even a cottage at the far side of the island stays a walk, not a journey, so the decision is less about location than about what the property itself offers.
Across the island鈥檚 roughly 370 properties, a number are let out for self-catering weeks, from a cottage built for two to something with room for a larger group. Some sit close to the Village, others further out among the fields and lanes, but nowhere on Sark is really remote from anywhere else.
Buying food on Sark
Sark has two grocery stores. One, on the Avenue, carries the everyday range: bread, milk, general groceries, fresh produce, meat, fish and prepared food, plus an off-licence. The other deals mainly in the day鈥檚 catch, lobster, scallops, crab and fresh fish, and is often sold to order rather than sitting ready in a chiller.
There is no cash machine anywhere on Sark. Several shops and caf茅s will give cashback against a card purchase, usually with a five pound minimum, so it is still worth arriving with a little cash for the small, daily buys a self-catering week involves.
Getting the shopping home
Sark is car free. The island is small enough that walking remains a real option, even with bags.
There are also four cycle-hire businesses in the Village, offering ordinary and electric bicycles in a range of sizes. Panniers on a hire bike are worth asking for if your cottage sits any distance from the shop; nobody wants to walk home carrying two bags of shopping and a bottle of wine.
What the days begin to look like
Self-catering leaves the day open to your own schedule, and on Sark an unplanned day rarely feels empty.
The Venus Pool is one reason why: reachable only for about two hours either side of low water, a swim there is something you plan around the tide table rather than fit in on a whim, one fixed point in an otherwise open day, without anyone imposing a full schedule on you. La Seigneurie Gardens, with their Victorian glasshouse, kitchen garden, maze and monastic fish ponds, make an easy half day for families, for an admission charge at the gate.
If your week happens to land on one, the island鈥檚 own calendar adds to it further: the Harbour Carnival, a Lawnmower Race, a Foraging Weekend, the Church Fete, or Starfest, the island astronomy society鈥檚 annual celebration of the night sky.
Eating out
Self-catering does not mean cooking every meal.
Sark has caf茅s, inns and restaurants, including the island鈥檚 oldest pub, which has been serving since the early 1900s. Opening hours shift with the season, so check what is open during your stay rather than assuming. Our guide to eating and drinking on Sark covers the island鈥檚 restaurants, pubs and tea gardens in more depth, useful if a night out is part of your self-catering week.
Our Getting to Sark guide explains the ferry, luggage system, connections through Guernsey and what to pack.
