Sydney-based, Australian author, food and travel writer, Sally Hammond, shares her world ... and her table

SCILLY IDEAS

"Don't go," they told us. "There's nothing there."

"They're as flat as a pancake," said some, "and they're tiny."

Most of our other friends, when we mentioned the Scilly Isles, merely nodded vaguely, politely. They simply had never heard of them – those forgotten fragments kicked off by England's toe into the boisterous North Atlantic.

Until I went there, I was almost as ignorant. And I had no idea how tranquil and lovely they really are.

The Scilly Isles are not well known to the rest of the world, but they net thousands of English visitors a year, many of them returning annually. And often with their dogs. So many of them come here that the Tourist Bureau in Hugh Town, the capital, thoughtfully provides a pile of plastic bags and a piece of heavy cardboard. Fold along the pre-stamped lines and you have a 'Dog Tidy Scoop'  – and lucky Rover can run free. 

The Brits are a nation of ramblers as well as dog-lovers, and every grassy headland disclosed sturdily-booted folk each with one or two labradors or corgis, beagles or bassets in tow, the dogs eagerly memorising a whole new range of Scilly scents. Along the waterfront, crisply-painted white stone B&Bs are as keen to accept the dogs as their doting owners and each inter-island ferry usually has several wagging tails on board. 

The Cornish peninsula is shaped like the toe of a winkle-picker shoe sending the Scilly Isles like scraps of gravel spraying off into the Atlantic about 45 kilometres away. A ferry takes several hours but we arrived the quick way, flying there in a 32-seater helicopter over Land's End, black-cliffed and lathered with waves far below. Half an hour after takeoff we were on English land again, although my UK motoring atlas neglected to include it.

It seems that map-makers, too, overlook the Scillies.

This article continues with details of things to do and see on the Scillies and  includes information on how to get there, accommodation provided, local food and cuisine, and the surprisingly many things to do and see.

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Returning to the mainland after just a few days on the Scillies, we had a new perspective and a respect for the tenacity that has chiselled a close community from those scattered rocky islands.

Plus some stern words for our misinformants back home.

©Sally Hammond 2008

Picture credits: ©Gordon Hammond 2008

(Sally & Gordon Hammond travelled to the Scilly Islands courtesy of British Tourism Association)

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