Candie and Castle Cornet get ready to open doors to public

The museum and its adjoining Cafe Victoria is set to reopen on Thursday 2 July and staff are currently busy preparing for this and installing a new exhibit, while Castle Cornet and its museums will reopen on Saturday 18 July ready for the school summer holidays.

The castle’s cafe will, however, remain closed.

This all comes as Guernsey moves into phase five of its exit from lockdown and it also coincides with the launch of VisitGuernsey’s staycation campaign, encouraging those who have had their original 2020 summer holiday plans shelved because of the coronavirus.

Acting head of heritage services, Helen Glencross, said it would be fantastic to be able to reopen the doors again to the public.

‘Our visitors are what makes the museum, they are what makes the site what it is,’ she said.

‘So it’s really exciting to be able to see them enjoy what we have to offer again.

‘It won’t be business as usual because we won’t have the tourist season, but it would be nice to hopefully see locals appreciate the sites during a staycation, to get out and explore again.’

The new exhibit, A Journey into the Hidden Natural World, which will be a photographic ensemble of microscopic images of organisms and structures in both the aquatic and terrestrial worlds by photographer Michael Crutchley, will open the show and welcome visitors back.

Both sites will be open on a reduced basis due to staff restrictions for four days a week, Thursday to Sunday.

This will be reviewed intermittently.

Education, Sport & Culture president Deputy Matt Fallaize added Fort Grey and the German Navy Signals HQ will remain closed.

‘We would rather not be keeping Fort Grey and the German Navy Signals HQ closed for the rest of this year,’ he said.

‘But we could not justify the cost of opening them when the potential for income would be so small owing to the much lower number of visitors.

‘Covid-19 will significantly reduce the income of the Museums’ Service this year.

‘We felt it was prudent to mitigate some of these losses by focusing efforts on re-opening Castle Cornet and Guernsey Museum.’

ESC has also announced it has extended the Discovery Passes which were purchased in the final quarter of 2019 so that they remain valid until December 2021.

Guernsey Museum closed its doors when lockdown started while the other sites did not open for the season at the end of March as planned.

n Further details will be announced on the Guernsey Museums’ Facebook Page and via their website www.museums.gov.gg.