Lorraine Nicolle is starting her pottery lessons again. (0662460)

ACCORDING to the latest Lonely Planet Best in Travel Book, it is not only in Texas where the stars at night shine bright.

In fact, Texas doesn’t get a mention, but Sark does, having been voted one of the top places in the world to watch the stars, along with Stonehenge, the Caribbean, Hawaii’s Big Island and Abu Simbel in Egypt.

Featuring as one of the world’s top locations will come as no surprise to anyone either living here or who has visited, other than on a day trip.

In fact it was one of the first things I noticed when I first came on holiday almost 20 years ago.

In common with many others to whom I have spoken, it took me a while to work out why I noticed the difference between stargazing just a little over a dozen miles away in Jersey and doing the same thing here, until I realised that the absence of street lights and vehicle headlamps just might have something to do with it.

Going out in the dark – or, in the summer months, coming home in it – is a feature of life in Sark and invariably produces positive comments from our guests, for whom going for a meal in the evening usually means either a taxi home or someone can’t have a drink because they are driving.

Doing the same here gives them the opportunity to take notice of what’s above them and it doesn’t take very long before they too learn that more often than not a torch is surplus to requirements for much of the walk.

Sark Tourism’s Penny Prevel wrote a little guide some time ago to teach schoolchildren what to look and listen out for – the smell of honeysuckle and its attraction for hummingbird hawk moths, as well as pipistrelle bats, are just a couple of examples – and I think she should make copies available to hotels for their guests.

Hopefully, all this will attract those interested in astronomy and Jeremy La Trobe-Bateman is just one of a number of Sark residents interested in the subject. He has a six-inch telescope – don’t ask me the technical details – and is willing to make it available to visitors who share his hobby.

As those who travel know, Lonely Planet produces popular guide books – often just that little different from other publications – and this welcome publicity (and the island has had enough of the other sort over the last few years) will do Sark no harm at all.

One sure sign of winter approaching is the clocks going back to GMT. Another sign for Sark residents is the notices going up announcing that Lorraine Nicolle is starting her pottery lessons again.

She runs Lorraine’s Pottery – visitors will find it immediately behind The Avenue’s Island Stores – and produces all manner of things, most practical but some decorative, and is always willing to make precisely what the customer orders.

She’s also no mean silversmith.

She is currently working on something I asked her to make – a set of tiny cups and saucers which will enable us to reflect on our Norman heritage at the dinner table by serving a cupful of Calvados between the first and second courses and toasting Le Trou Normand. It makes a nice talking point for dinner guests.

The email address for comment is fallesark@sark.net. Benefits of tidal power uncertainPLANS to harness the island’s tidal power resource have dominated the agenda this week.

A well-attended public meeting about the project, which detailed plans to bring the scheme forward by two years, confirmed people’s enthusiasm to harness electricity offshore from Longis Bay.

However, making sure the people of Alderney benefit from this truly mind-blowing plan quickly came to the fore.

After Gordon Fitton, chairman of the Alderney Commission for Renewable Energy, suggested the island could expect to earn between £3m. and £7m. a year, one member of the audience said the figures were too low and only a tiny fraction of what the developers would earn.

Mr Fitton did not divulge the exact details of the agreement the States signed with developer Alderney Renewable Energy in 2005, but said it was difficult to say how much the island would earn at the present time.

Quite frankly, one would require a crystal ball to have any idea of what Alderney is going to gain from the scheme in future, if anything at all.

Tidal turbine technology is in its infancy, a pilot scheme is months away from even beginning and a cable to transport the power generated from the sea to the island still needs to be sourced, bought and built. And this is all before anyone has even agreed to buy what may or may not be produced.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all in favour of tidal energy. It is magnificent, not to mention mesmerising, that Alderney seems to be in a position to provide millions of people with environmentally friendly energy from a potentially limitless source.

However, I can’t help but feel there’s a sting in the tail and I’m not sure whether the sting will cause a tiny scratch or prove fatal.

There is a worry that the States has been outmanoeuvred by richer and more knowledgeable folk. That is not a dig at the island’s politicians – it is simply a concern shared by numerous people on the ground. Quite frankly, the feeling would remain whoever our 10 politicians were.

It is likely the States will agree to advance the project by two years at its next meeting on 10 November, especially after prominent members Richard Willmott and Colin Williams suggested they were in favour of the scheme during Tuesday’s meeting.

I just pray the advice the States has received from ACRE and ARE is sound.

I also pray the States and ACRE have made sure the island receives its deserved pound of flesh if our tides turn out to be tinged with gold.