Enchanting isles

Head for the horizon and fall under the spell of that distant shoreline with Kathy Stott

Islands have an allure that draws visitors like a magnet. Just one glimpse of that distant, hazy shoreline is enough to get you looking up the local ferry timetable.

And you know that, in most cases, you won’t be disappointed. How satisfying it is to look back to the busy mainland from your sandy sheltered cove, as you bask in the sunshine, far from the madding crowd.

The attraction lies in that other-worldliness of island existence. Like some adventurer of old, you set out for the horizon with a frisson of excitement as you know that, on your chosen destination, people go about things in a subtly different way.

Whether miles offshore, or attached to the motherland by an umbilical bridge, the island will have evolved a dialect, architectural style and customs all its own.

Islands are there to be intimately explored. A week, fortnight or even a month will be not be sufficient if you aim to immerse yourself in their charms. And once they’ve cast their spell, you’ll be hopelessly addicted to adding more names to the list of those you’ve already ‘bagged’.

The two largest islands lying off the coast of France – one Mediterranean the other Atlantic – offer contrasting environments in which to whet your appetite and get you started on your own, personal island quest. Both cater for a wide range of outdoor pursuits, but if your taste is for long, lazy days on the beach then you will be equally suited.

Corsica has become increasingly popular as a holiday destination in recent years and can now be easily reached by either air or ferry from the mainland. Famous as the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte, it lies one hundred miles off the Cote d’Azur on an ancient trading crossroads linking the eastern and western Mediterranean. The island, closer to Italy than France, has been fought over down the centuries and settled by waves of incomers who have each brought their own influences to bear.

Within its 3,000 square miles, this ‘Island of Beauty’ offers fertile ground both to seasoned Francophiles seeking a contrast to the mainland, and less demanding holidaymakers.

Although governed by France since 1768, modern-day Corsica remains fiercely independent and has achieved a degree of local autonomy from Paris, electing its own assembly.

The capital, Ajaccio, is situated on the west coast overlooking a magnificent bay. It is impossible to escape the island’s most famous son here. Memorabilia adorn the Maison Napoleon where the emperor was born and there are more reminders in the Musee Fesch, which is home to one of the most important collections of Italian art outside the Louvre. Further up this coast are the popular resorts of Calvi and Ile Rousse with their attractive beaches and scuba diving.

At the heart of the island lies the small town of Corte, one-time capital, the home of Corsican nationalism whose 15th century citadel was, until 1984, a base for the French Foreign Legion. To the north, at the base of picturesque Cap Corse, is the bustling port of Bastia, where ferries ply to and from the French and Italian coasts. The delightful island railway links this historic trading centre, via Corte, with Ajaccio.

Five hundred years of Italian rule have left their mark on Corsican cuisine which features pasta, pebronata sauce and vegetable suppa. The luxuriant island vegetation provides an abundance of ingredients, ranging from sweet chestnuts - used to enhance soups, appetisers, desserts and cakes - to wild herbs which, combined with oil from the olive groves, lend that distinctive Mediterranean flavour to local dishes. The inland forests shelter wild pigs whose meat is used for charcuterie, hams and sausages while the island’s sheep and goat population contribute to locally produced cheeses, notably brocciu and Bleu de Corse. The surrounding sea yields a rich harvest for the table while vineyards, clinging to steep valleys which descend from the interior, produce a robust, red wine to accompany the feast.

The landscape supporting this cornucopia is, perhaps, Corsica’s biggest attraction. More than six hundred miles of coastline, featuring fine, sandy bays and rocky coves, give way inland to towering peaks and impenetrable ravines where ancient villages perch on defensive ridges, a testament to the island’s turbulent history.

Much of the interior is protected, lying within the bounds of the Parc Regional de Corse which takes in some of the scenic highlights, including the Scandola nature reserve and Restonica gorges. Forests of cork oak, chestnut and pine offer welcome shade, while open spaces are commandeered by maquis (macchia), a tough Mediterranean scrub redolent with aromatic culinary herbs. It’s no wonder that this wild interior is popular walking country, accessed by a network of well-established tracks and footpaths including the GR20 which traverses the island, north-west to south-east.

By contrast, the Ile d’Oleron, offers a flat, man-made landscape whose fascination lies in the twice daily ebb and flow of the tide.

Lying close to the Atlantic coast of the Charente-Maritime department, at the mouth of the river Seudre, it is France’s second largest offshore island and - with its smaller and wilder sister, the neighbouring Ile de Re - Oleron supplies much of the French market with oysters.

From the mainland, the island is reached via a road bridge. Clearly visible is the principal town of Chateau d’Oleron and its citadel. Clusters of small, brightly painted, wooden huts, or cabanes, hug the numerous tidal creeks, evidence of the island’s thriving oyster trade, though many have now been sensitively converted by artisans to house craft workshops.

One main arterial road bisects its 70 square miles, running up through St Pierre in the centre to the Phare (lighthouse) de Chassiron which stands guard over its north-western tip. From this vantage point there are spectacular views out to sea of the ancient fish lochs, whose low walls emerge as the tide recedes and once trapped all manner of seafood for the table.

To the south-west of this road lies a jumble of hamlets, pine forests and dunes backing the long, sandy beaches swept by Atlantic rollers. On the upper side, the pastoral interior is criss-crossed by tidal creeks which meander through increasingly marshy land to the muddy oyster beds of the north-eastern shore.

But to travel by car in Oleron is to miss one of the island’s greatest delights; a well-developed network of cycle tracks. This provides the ideal opportunity for intimate exploration of some of the backwaters, where pastel-coloured hollyhocks run riot around the cottages and you’re never far from the scent of seaweed.

No stay on Oleron would be complete without a visit to the Port des Salines where new life has been breathed into the dying art of the saulnier. After a complex process of evaporation, salt is painstakingly raked by hand from a series of shallow lakes into glistening pyramids during the summer months. A single storm can set the harvest back by weeks, but if all goes well, the salt is then graded and bagged up for sale to the public in the on-site shop.

It would be equally remiss of the visitor not to sample the seafood on offer at the many markets and roadside stalls. Chateau d’Oleron’s indoor market has a particularly fine selection of stalls, where the vendors are only too happy to discuss the finer points of oyster production with you. Several times a week in peak season this market spills out into the surrounding streets to offer a wide range of tourist goods and foods in season, including local cheeses, produce and seaweed breads.

The rich sights, smells, tastes and sounds excite all our senses. It’s a reminder, in our busy 21st-century lives, of the intimate connection between food and landscape – a connection all the more evident on islands. Perhaps it is this that lies at the heart of our love affair with these places.

The 2005 Chez Nous directory features accommodation on both Corsica and Oleron. For details visit www.cheznous.com or to request a brochure call 0870 607 5316.