ONE holidaymaker just keeps coming back to Guernsey – although she does not know why. Vera Howkins is so enchanted with the island that this week, at the age of 88, she made the latest of more than 70 trips.

‘I have always had a fascination with Guernsey, I can’t really describe it but it seems to have a kind of magic,’ said Mrs Howkins.

‘I have been so much now that it seems to be part of the thread of the tapestry of my life.’

She first came to the island at the age of seven when her father brought the whole family with him on a fishing holiday.

The visits continued through her childhood and they became friends with several people in the island, including former Sark resident Harry Baker, whose family they still visit now.

Mrs Howkins, who lived in Oxford, visited the island every year up to the outbreak of war, including 1939.

‘I was here when the army was called up.

‘The men were parading round the streets and were sent off to war.

‘It was really scary. Of course, we went back to the UK but were unable to find out about anyone in Guernsey, which was very sad.’

As soon as she could, following the end of the war, she came back to Guernsey.

That was 1949 and that trip was made with five-month-old daughter Alison, who is now married and visits the island with husband Mike Biden.

The next generation of Guernsey family holidays had begun.

‘When we were coming to Guernsey in the 1950s, people in England would ask us why.

‘To them, it was as if we were going to Russia,’ said Mrs Biden.

‘I really like coming here.

‘I can’t really say why but I suppose it feels like going home while being somewhere different.’

But Mrs Howkins warned that Guernsey could be losing some of its appeal.

‘People used to ask me why I didn’t go to Spain, which would have been cheaper, but I didn’t want to go to Spain. I really like Guernsey because of the wild flowers, the wildlife and the cliff walks.

‘I fear that Guernsey will lose some of that character. Guernsey is becoming like everywhere else and offering what other places offer. The traffic has increased, the glasshouses are unused and the local language has petered out.’

Despite these reservations, Mrs Howkins is still delighted to return. ‘I cannot stay away. I’m not sure what it is; it is something intangible, it’s got a distinct atmosphere.’