From those in the Know
A Local's Guide
Discover the Magic of the Isles of Scilly through our ambassadors and loyal visitors who share their top tips and insider knowledge, along with their enthused passion for our tiny corner of the world. So, whether it’s an inaugural trip, or you’re practically a local, start exploring Scilly through the eyes of others and their wondrous island-hopping voyages: walking the isles, dining in style, discovering a cosy bolthole, finding the perfect beach or whiling away the hours, learning something new.
There’s always something alternative, fun and exciting to discover on this tiny archipelago, set in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
Artist Richard Pearce’s life is so closely bound with the sea it’d be no surprise to find saltwater running through his veins. He hears, watches and paints it in all its many moods, he lives just metres from the jagged-toothed rocks of Bryher’s storm-lashed west coast, and over the years he’s picked…
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Living on an island for all or much of their lives, Keith Buchanan and his wife Carol have boating in the blood. They sail a 54-foot ketch, Carol used to row in one of St. Mary’s eight wooden gigs, and Keith has been crafting canvas sails on the part of the quay in Hugh Town on St. Mary’s known as…
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Oriel Hicks lifts the lid of her dog-eared cardboard box with as much excitement as the rest of us might display when opening a box of posh artisan chocolates. Her eyes light up as she reveals its contents: scores of slightly irregular squares of coloured glass, tightly packed like After Eights…
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What’s for supper at Salakee tonight? Duck legs with duck-fat roasties and wilted chard? A Dexter beef brisket slow-cooked with garden carrots? Or perhaps a simple frittata of sunshine-yellow eggs and just-picked spinach? Join Kylie and Dave Mumford and their toddlers in their cosy kitchen at…
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“Try this,” says my companion, handing me a fairy-sized spoonful of velvety, slightly jelly-like, golden honey. “You taste the world.” I drop it slowly into my mouth. It’s spicy, complex yet soothing. Then a hint of eucalpytus gently strokes my palate. I’m with bee buff Jilly Halliday, whom I’ve…
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It happened by delicious accident. In July 2018 Holly Robbins and James Faulconbridge made a day trip to St. Martin’s during their first ever visit to Scilly. Wine fans both, they dropped in to see the island’s tiny vineyard, run for the previous 22 years by Graham Thomas and his St. Martin’s-born…
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Few visitors to Scilly will not have met John Bourdeaux, one of Scilly’s best loved artists, with 50 years of potting under his belt. His handsome granite barn studio on the outskirts of Old Town, surrounded by daffodil fields, is a must-visit on any tour of St. Mary’s. But that lustrous career was…
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Stroll alongside the fields at Carron Farm on St. Martin's in spring and you may spot the first tender grassy shoots of a crop that at first glance looks like wheat. Actually, the plants are a lot more exotic - sugarcane. It’s cultivated by islander-farmer Andrew Walder, who has already been spicing…
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Being a successful baker on a Scillonian island demands a well-stocked store-cupboard of skills. Not only do you have to know your flours and kneading techniques, but you need to be an expert on weather, tides and stock control too. And a cool head comes in pretty handy as well. So says…
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When life hands you gorse flowers, make gin. So runs the motto infusing the Wild Wingletang gin crafted by Aiden Hicks at Westward Farm on St. Agnes. Venture onto the rugged heathlands of Wingletang Down, where the Hicks family graze their Red Ruby beef cattle, and you’ll see gorse bushes wearing…
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