Scilly

Isles of Scilly

We, my wife and I, recently visited the Isles of Scilly for 7 days.

It is a truly amazing cluster of islands off the Cornwall coast, which can be reached by ferry or plane. The islands are part of the U.K. and part of Cornwall. Some are inhabited, and some too small or difficult to occupy.

The main island where we stayed, St Marys, offers some incredible walks and beaches to enjoy. That is more or less where the enjoyment stops.

For example, there were a number of establishments ‘advertising’ local only or residents only. How very bizarre for an island that fairly exists on tourism. Of course, they have the mundane excuse that it is to do with covid, and not mixing with ‘carriers’ from the mainland, but considering the archaic rulings still in full force on the islands, they were not going to all get infected. Every establishment still had the full mask mandates going on as well as social distancing. Clearly they only have mainstream media there and have all been firmly terrified by the gov propaganda.

Nevertheless, we did encounter some amazing locals on the islands, which resulted in actually making our holiday memorable and most enjoyable. So, not taking anything away from the generally great locals, there were some very questionable scenarios encountered, but I suspect this is the norm where industries, particularly tourism, have been savaged by governments in the interest of ‘the new normal’!

The Do’s

-Do the St Marys 1.5 hour tour with Island Rover Minibus Tours. Very well worth the £9 each

-Visit as many Islands as you can, but definitely do the two island boat trip with Calypso

-Go to Juliet’s Garden Restaurant (https://www.julietsgardenrestaurant.co.uk/) on St Marys)

-Fay Page jewellery store/factory on the tiny island of St. Martin’s (https://www.faypage.co.uk/)

-Definitely seek out and book a two island trip with Calypso Boating. Very well worth the £30 PP

-Make sure you visit Tresco and give yourself enough time to leisurely enjoy the unique garden and further explore the beauty of this privately owned island.

-Vist St Agnes, but don’t expect too much, but a visit to the local pub, Turks Head is worthwhile, although they were not serving food when we were there.

DO NOT…

-Visit, book or waste any money on the Bell Rock Hotel ‘famous’ dinner. (St Marys)

Shocking prices, yet we booked after being turned away for days, to be told we can come in at 6 promptly, but must be gone by 7PM. At £34 per head, plus drinks, I’ll not be dictated to. However, against my better judgement, we cowered to get a decent meal. Ha! From the service, to the actual meal, to the attitude, all I can say is disgusting! They don’t deserve to be in business, I don’t care how long you’ve been running!

-Don’t bother to try and book at The Beach, St Marys as they were only open for lunch, and always fully booked. Evening dining could have resulted in this place at least doubling their income, but I guess they didn’t need the business.

Another very weird thing I noticed, were many EU Development Fund stickers around. They were all in good condition, so I don’t think they were old! Did we really leave the EU??