Discover

This 18th-century guard house and powder magazine which sits beside the seawall was reconstructed in 1765 and is the oldest defence in St Ouen’s Bay, now painted white.

Earlier names for the building include St. Peter’s Guardhouse and Magazine and the Middle Battery but it was better known as La Caumine à Marie Best. It is possible that the original building had a thatched roof, as the Jèrriais word caumine translates to thatched cottage. In 1815 Marie Best and her children took refuge in it during a smallpox epidemic. After Marie died in 1832, the building fell into decay and in 1925 was sold by the War Department to Mr. William Gregory. Captain John Ashton Hilton acquired it in 1932 and in 1975 his widow, Mrs Marie Geneviève Hilton, donated the ‘White House’, together with four vergées of land to The National Trust for Jersey. The name “Le Don Hilton” means “the Hilton Gift”

Enjoy

The National Trust rents Le Don Hilton out for occasions such as weddings and for overnight stays, though the facilities are minimal. Enjoy a weekend of barbecues with friends, surfing and swimming or just wrap up warm and watch as the sunsets over the bay.

Protect

National Trust Rangers manage this site which is a Site of Special Interest (SSI). The site is part of the St Ouen’s Bay coastal strip which forms a continuous dune habitat linking the south to the north of the Bay. Plants found at the site include Jersey Thrift Amreia Arenaria and Hare’s-tails grass Lagurus Ovatus.

Please join the Trust today to help us care for these special places for ever and for everyone

https://www.nationaltrust.je/membership2021/