Changing channel

DESCENDING low over the foam-girthed coastal rocks on the approach to the efficient little airport in Guernsey, I turned to my neighbour on the Jersey European Airways fight from Gatwick to ask if she had been to Guernsey before. ''Actually no,'' was the reply, ''but I have been to Jersey.''

For me it was my second visit; the last more than 15 years earlier, but whenever I put the same question to other arrivals I invariably received the same reply, ''No, but I've been to Jersey.'' Thus the first time visitor to the second largest Channel Island can be forgiven for acquiring the notion of Guernsey being the poor relation of the better-promoted Jersey.

The fact is that Guernsey is different from ''the other island'' as its citizens, tongue-in-cheek, refer to Jersey; a fact enthusiastically confirmed by those visitors I met who holiday on the island year after year, appreciating Guernsey's more simplistic, less sophisticated and happier approach to life.

It has to be said that Guernsey is a haven for the family with young children as well as the more mature adult of 40 and over. Though the capital, St Peter Port, is a lively, bustling place, rave-searching youth will find their syncopated and psychedelic paradise only in Jersey's equivalent, St Helier.

The most westerly of the Channel Islands, it is 20 miles north of Jersey and has 28 square miles of picturesque landscape, the rugged coast dappled with rocky islets and indented with sandy bays, many forming safe and secret beaches ripe for discovery. Wild flowers in spring and summer abound.

The chief port as well as capital is St Peter Port which, with its terraced narrow lanes and cobblestones, has the appearance of a Mediterranean resort. The granite houses beneath mellow red-tiled roofs rise in tiers almost from the water's edge making striking contrast to the squat grey stronghold of Cornet Castle which stands over the boat-crowded harbour.

The parish church of St Peter Port marks the foot of the pedestrianised High Street, an obvious landmark, and an attractive feature of the town are its old market halls manned by friendly stallholders selling local produce, particularly seafood.

In company with the other islands, Guernsey has its own independent government under the British Crown, the administration being carried out from the Royal Court House in Rue du Manoir, an impressive but not overpowering building not far from Hauteville House, the exteriorly unexciting residence of Victor Hugo. His house is owned by the city of Paris who run it, staffed by French students, as a museum with everything just as the celebrated writer left things after 15 years in exile there from his native France, Belgium and even Jersey.

Being so close to France, Guernsey's ambience holds a definite Gallic flavour manifesting itself not only in names of its roads but also in the quality of the cuisine to be found everywhere. This remarkably happy ambience is difficult to describe; it is one that does not exist anywhere else outside the Channel Islands. However, the language and familiar shop names confirm the fact that Guernsey is firmly part of Britain. With Normandy and Brittany so easy to reach there is every opportunity for a day's excursion to St Malo, Dinard and elsewhere on the French mainland.

The island holds many attractions for its visitors, not the least of them being an unbelievable aura of peace and tranquillity. Yet elegant and comfortable hotels, together with St Peter Port's first rate shops, are always within

reach even from the solitude of those secret bays and lonely clifftop paths that overlook the breathtaking scenery. Getting lost on Guernsey is a time-honoured and hardly worrying predicament; signposts are rare and the roads narrow - but keep on going and you'll invariably come to the sea.

Having been the only part of the British Isles occupied by the enemy in Second World War Guernsey - as well as Jersey and the other islands - contains many concrete reminders of that period when they formed part of Hitler's much-vaunted Atlantic Wall. Some of the bunkers and underground complexes have been transformed into fascinating museums.

And because they were saved from bombardment the remaining structures are much more complete than those found on the Normandy and Britanny coasts. One such is the former German Naval Signal Headquarters, its underground ramifications in process of being restored using, where possible, original items of equipment - a labour of love by volunteers with a sense of history. Other, less intriguing, bunkers have been utilised as the most solid of foundations for new houses.

The Bailiwick of Guernsey, unlike that of Jersey, covers a

collection of nearby residential islands - all visible on a reasonably clear day - and all easily attainable. The nearest is Herm, 20 minutes away by an hourly ferry,

a 500-acre away-from-it-all island holding just one of everything - hotel, pub and shop, but no traffic. Alderney does allow a few cars but has a speed limit of 20 miles an hour though walkers can circuit the island within a day's hike.

Sark, the most feudal of the Channel Islands, is a veritable Garden of Eden with no cars but plenty of horses - and bicycles - with which to surmount the hilly, rocky terrain. And little Jethou - privately owned and closed to visitors - is no more than an extension of Herm.

The word ''Guernsey'' derives from the old Norman ''Grenezay'' meaning ''Green Isle'', and the hinterland is certainly that. The islanders are fond of reminding visitors that England is a possession of theirs since the time of William II, Duke of Normandy, who was crowned William I of England in that most renowned of years, 1066.

And since we Brits are fond of proclaiming continental Europe as well as the United States as our dependencies, this puts Guernsey at the very top of the hierarchy.

If it were true, I declare the world in general would be a better and happier place.

n Further information from the States of Guernsey Department of Tourism, PO Box 23, St Peter Port, Guernsey, CI, GY1 3AN.