Scilly - an introduction

28 miles south-west of Land's End, Scilly manages to be both very Cornish and yet a world apart.  4000 years ago, this was a single land mass - could it have been the fabled Lyonesse?  Now, of 55 islands (and an awful lot of rocks) five are inhabited (six if you include Gugh at high tide).  The largest is St. Mary's, the best known is Tresco, the others are St. Martin's, St. Agnes and Bryher.  The Scillies acknowledge Prince Charles as their overlord - as Duke of Cornwall - though Tresco is leased to the Dorrien-Smith family.  The air is clean, beaches are silvery and, although the highest point is only 165 feet, somehow it seems quite hilly.  Daffodils are grown for flowers and bulbs;  wildflowers grow in profusion.  There are very few roads, even on St. Mary's, but everywhere is walkable.  Atlantic waters look idyllic but rocks, reefs and sand-bars make navigation treacherous and over the centuries there have been many ship-wrecks.

The beach at Hugh Town, St. Mary's, looking to the harbour	Appletree Beach on Tresco

Travel to Scilly

The Islands are part of Cornwall and only 28 miles off its coast, so travelling there from Cornwall is straightfoward though expensive.  However, if you are coming from the United States, don't expect onward travel to be simple.  There are no direct connections with any of the transatlantic airports.  You will first need to get to one of the southern airports that has flights to Scilly.  You have three choices of transport to the Islands.  We took the Skybus from Newquay in Cornwall to St. Mary's where we stayed.  Skybus also operates services from Land's End, Bristol, Exeter, Bournemouth and Southampton.  British International runs a Helicopter service from Penzance to St. Mary's and Tresco.  The Scillonian operates between Penzance and St. Mary's.  Travel between the islands is by boat;  regular launch services link all the islands with St. Mary's.  Travel on each island is by foot or by taxi;  you cannot take your own car there.  For more information go to Isles of Scilly Travel website

M V Scillonian III	De Havilland Twin Otter Skybus

Where To Stay

Acommodations are a mixed bag.  Five hotels rate three stars from the AA, three of them with red stars and two or three rosettes.  Star Castle used to have a 3 star rating but is not now rated by the AA.  On St. Mary's (the main island) there is a multitude of guest houses, bed and breakfasts and rental cottages and apartments of widely varying quality.  St. Martins Hotel, St. Martin's - AA 3 red stars 3 rosettes.   Probably the best hotel on the Isles, not too child-friendly.  Hell Bay Hotel, Bryher - AA 3 red stars, 2 rosettes;  lovely garden The Island Hotel, Tresco - AA 3 red stars, 3 rosettes; close to gardens New Inn, Tresco - AA 2 stars, 1 rosette, 78%; pub with rooms, near harbour St. Mary's Hall, St. Mary's - AA 3 star, 82%;  town house hotel Tregarthens Hotel, St. Mary's - AA 3 star 75%, near harbour, good views Star Castle, St. Mary's - No AA rating, converted Elizabethan fort For other rated accommodation - including around 60 B&Bs, 120 self-catering and a couple more hotels - go to Isles of Scilly official website

Old Town Bay from Old Town churchyard

Landscapes of Scilly

Nowhere on the islands is more than 3/4 mile from the sea so views are as much seascape as landscape.  Mostly the underlying rock is granite, so you get strangely weathered outcrops along the coast.  Sheltered bays dot the coastline, like Old Town Bay (left) pictured from Old Church.  Thanks to the Gulf Stream, unexpectedly exotic plants grow everywhere.  Hedges are mostly of exotic trees and shrubs - pittosporum, escallonia and veronica.  Many rare wildflowers like sea thrift, dwarf pansy, mesembryanthemum and early adder's tongue grow alongside profusions of bluebells and white allium.  Small high-hedged fields are filled with commercial daffodils, many of which have escaped to colour the fields.  Heather and gorse cover the low moorlands.  Birdwatchers come from long distances to see the puffins, terns, kittiwakes and the many rare migrant visitors.

A hazy view from Tresco	Strangely Weathered Rocks on Peninnis, St. Mary's

Flowers - Wild and Cultivated

One of the great delights of Scilly is its flowers.  From around Christmas time fields are full of dafodils, grown for export to the mainland and for bulbs.  Later the wildflowers come into their own, turning the islands - especially St. Mary's - into a carpet of colour.  We were there in April and caught the last of the daffodils and some of the best of the wildflowers.  Of course, it does help if you are walkers as many of the best are off the beaten track.

Bluebells and white alium on the Lower Moors nature trail	A field of daffodils on Peninnis on St. Mary's

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Antiquities - Prehistoric

The massive number of burial chambers, mostly passage graves, on the islands gave rise to the alternative name 'Isles of the Dead'.  Once, archaeologists and historians believed that important burials had been brought here from the mainland.  Now, the accepted theory is that, dating from an age when most of the Isles were part of one larger land mass, they were all island burials.  Most noteworthy is Bant's Carn bronze age burial chamber, on the north coast of St. Mary's, and the adjacent remains of Halangy iron age village.  Porth Hellick burial chamber is on the east coast.  There are more burial chambers on St. Martin's, Bryher and Gugh and menhirs (standing stones) on most islands.

Bant's Carn Burial Chamber	The massive Porthellick Barrow on St. Mary's

Antiquities - Medieval and later

You will find medieval abbey remains in the Abbey Gardens on Tresco.  There are Elizabethan and Tudor forts on St. Mary's and Tresco, notably the Garrison on St. Mary's, and a Cromwellian castle on Tresco, above which stand the remains of King Charles Castle.  The Museum in Hugh Town has finds of all periods.

Abbey remains in Tresco's lovely garden	Cromwell's Castle on Tresco's west coast

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St. Mary's

St. Mary's is the largest island.  Hugh Town, with its large harbour, is the main centre of Scilly population and shopping  - and one of the few places where you will find more than the occasional motor vehicle.  On the north side of Hugh Town is the harbour from which the Scillonian and the island boats operate.  On the south side is quiet Porthcressa beach.  To the west, the vast Elizabethan Garrison covers the whole of a hilly peninsula;  its central defence is now the Star Castle Hotel.  Views from the ramparts are superb.  The main body of the island, to the east of Hugh Town, is only lightly inhabited and there is glorious walking, both along the coast and inland.  In the centre of the island, well worth visiting are the tiny hamlet of Holy Vale, Longstone Heritage Centre (with a good cafe) and peaceful Carreg Dhu Garden.  From the south coast, nature trails lead inland from Old Town Bay and Porth Hellick.   Antiquities abound, mostly around the coast - see separate item.  Away from Hugh Town places of refreshment are few, so you may need to plan your walking carefully.  If you are a golfer, the 9-hole course north of Hugh Town welcomes visitors and offers lovely views north towards Tresco.

The Garrison, Star Castle on the top of the hill	Colourful furze on the cliffs of Peninnis

Carreg Dhu Garden

We found this delightful place - it seems that not many do - when on a walk that took us round half the coast of St. Mary's and back through the centre of the island.  Our route took us through a nature reserve and up to Holy Vale where the garden and Longstone Heritage Centre are.  Carreg Dhu (black crag) was started in 1986 by Richard and June Lethbridge as a free community garden, relying on volunteer help.  It is a delightfully colourful and tranquil spot, where visitors are welcome to do a little gardening.  Well worth the mile walk from Hugh Town.

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Tresco Island

Best known of the Isles, thanks to its famed sub-tropical garden - but there is more than just the garden.  Whilst the other islands are owned and managed by the Duchy of Cornwall,  Tresco is leased by the Dorrien-Smith family who run it as a business with garden, hotels, rental cottages and heliport (doubling as cricket field).  Launches run from New Grimsby harbour to and from St. Mary's, Bryher and St. Martin's.  Population is only 180 so many of the islanders have two or more jobs.  Long curving beaches are of silvery sand.  A ten-mile path does a full coastal circuit.  Along the way are a ruined Tudor castle and blockhouse and a small Cromwellian castle.  Climb the spiral stone stairway of the castle, not just for views but to see the steps going nowhere halfway up.  Wildflowers abound but there are few daffodils.

Silver sands of Bathing House Porth on Tresco	View from the Dorrien Smith monument on Tresco

Tresco Abbey Garden

Augustus Smith came to Tresco in 1834 and built a house by the ruins of an abbey.  He then planted a great shelter belt so he could create the amazing garden seen today.  Disaster struck in the form of violent Atlantic gales in 1987 and 1990 but time has healed and the gardens are as magnificent as ever.  The Gulf Stream and man-made micro-climate enable plants to grow here that grow nowhere else outside in the British Isles.  There are Proteas and Rocheas from South  Africa, Red Lobster Claws from New Zealand, spiky Puya from Chile, Iochroma from Peru, Agaves from Mexico and Hedichium from India, all flourishing.  Layout is formal with long terraces running east-west and cross-walks running south down the slope but the profuse planting makes the whole feel informal.  There is a 'shell' summer house and some statuary - the Dorrien-Smith children and a Gaia figure - and Valhalla, a museum of ships figureheads.  Amazingly it is all maintained by five gardeners - and curator Mike Nelhams multi-tasks as air-traffic control, meeter-and-greeter, guide, airfield fireman, and coastguard.

Palms below Middle Terace	Jane, a journalist and curator Mike Nelhams in the shell house

St. Martin's, Bryher and St. Agnes [more on these after our next visit]

St. Martin's   Launches run from St. Mary's and Tresco.  The best hotel on the islands is here, St. Martin's on the Isle at Lower Town, where there is also a pub, the Seven Stones Inn.  Main settlement is Higher Town where there are shops, cafés and an art gallery.  Bryher   Launches run from St. Mary's and Tresco.  Hell Bay Hotel has a garden created by the Tresco Abbey gardeners.  Just one pub and one cafe, the latter oddly at Kitchen Porth.  St. Agnes   Launches run from St. Mary's only.  Guest-house, rental cottages, a shop, a café and an excellent pub, the Turk's Head.

Bryher is across narrow Tresco Sound from Cromwell's Castle	View from Tresco towards St.Martins