Other states, other lives, other souls

Did you know that the UK has a piece of territory that is semi-tropical? Why is it semi-tropical?  Because of the north Atlantic drift of the Gulf Stream. The Isles of Scilly have a long history dating back to the 1^st millennium.  Now much of it is owned and run by the Duchy of Cornwall. The only way you can get there is by one ferry company or small plane.  We chose the ferry.

The non-tourist season population is very small.  St. Mary’s Island, the largest one in the group, has only 1,800 people there in the off season. The other smaller islands have few residents and few roads. Smaller boats take people to the other islands. We only had time to visit one of them: Tresco Island. The reason to visit is to see the Tresco Abbey Gardens.

It is a natural museum of plants from throughout the world, begun by Augustus Smith in the mid 1800s and added to by Artur Dorien-Smith in the early 20^th century.  It is considered Grade 1 of the Register of Historic Gardens.  As you can see, it looks quite different from the rest of the UK.

The intricate shell mosaic below in a garden portico denotes its position surrounded by ocean and warm currents.

Next time we visit, I plan to visit St. Martin’s Isle. The Isles of Scilly are known for their night skies. Having such a small population, there is very little unnatural light.  St. Martin’s has built a conservatory for astronomical viewing.   Shortly after we left on Oct. 3, the special week of Night Skies took place. Our only glimpse was on one of the cloudless nights walking home from Hugh Town to our B&B.  My sister held up her phone’s night sky app with the constellations superimposed on our view. Amazing what the civilian sky watcher can see with today’s technology! 

If you are not there during water sport weather, say late fall, like we were, there is plenty of fun to be had walking around the island, bicycling on the unbusy roads, and trying out all the pubs.  We stayed in a new B&B up a hill about 1 mile from the downtown.  It fit into the style of the older buildings, but was actually quite new and, consequently, warm, well lit, and with comfortable rooms and splendid backyard gardens. Our hosts had opened it only 6 months earlier, after giving up as sheep farmers in Cornwall.  The wife seemed a bit wistful about leaving the sheep behind.  She showed me a loving photo portrait of perhaps one of her favorites.  They had no car and biked all over the island to run errands and walked every evening like a young married couple.  We were the only guests at the time, except for a group of electricians on the island for weeks to fix some part of a large electrical tower.  Seeing the tower and feel the brisk wind, we were anxious for their safety.

I noticed on the stair landing a group of hand crocheted flattened critters, selling for $7pound each. They were labeled bookmarks and each was named and different from each other.  They were an example of “honesty’ sales we saw on our walks.  Boxes appeared along the sidewalks with handmade items or produce inside and with box to drop money.  Such is the life in a small town with a fixed population of mostly pensioners. Our host told us that many of them were part of fund-raising to build lodging next to the closest obstetric hospital on the mainland, so that islanders delivering new babies had an affordable place to stay if needed. I don’t know how much had been raised to date, but I hope there were other, larger donations.  I bought four, one for each grandchild. 

On our last day before the return ferry, we parked our bikes near the beach and walked uphill to the old garrison, walls, and Star Castle. The garrison was meant to defend the British from the Spanish during one of the many years of warfare. We watched a beautiful sunset dip below the Atlantic, after which we walked partway down to the Star Castle, currently a hotel. One last g&t and convo in the ancient bar and our stay was over.

Note for those who find themselves in pain after walking miles up and down mountains and stairs while on Scilly, as I was, due to an injury that happened before I left the US.  I found the one Thai masseuse in town, near the beach.  One hour later and a night’s sleep and I was a new woman.  She is excellent.