Yes I know this is an odd title, probably not good grammar, but that never was a strong suit. All I am trying to do in this occasional series of blog posts is to talk about places where I just feel at home, totally relaxed, at peace, like I was meant to be there. Five places immediately come to mind and I will write about them in reverse order. Some of you will be able to guess the places, and probably the order they are placed in, but hopefully there will be the odd surprise along the way. (Just thought of one thing - there are six places so I guess number 1 will have to be 1A and 1B)
The reasons for those feelings about places will vary wildly depending on when I was there, what else was going on in my life at the time etc. But these places all have that one thing in common - it feels 'right' to be there. They give me a great big hug. I know you will find places like these for yourself, trust me, it's well worth the effort.
#5 - The Isles of Scilly
28 miles off the coast of Cornwall at the very SW tip of England lie the Isles of Scilly. Small, remote, with a small population, and unique. There are 140 islands in total and 5 of which are occupied. The main island of St Mary's has 1700 people out of the total population of 2100 and is 6.2 sq km in area. The islands have the mildest and warmest climate in the UK. During the summer months the population of the islands more than doubles with tourists.
How I came to be living on the islands is a long story and one I will save for another time, but during my time there I was commuting by air. Sounds very grand doesn't it. As you may know my most favourite thing is flying, so it was wonderful. I would work on the mainland during the week, 'arrange' to be conveniently near Newquay Airport on a Thursday afternoon, fly to St Mary's and spend the weekend there, returning Monday morning. The Skybus planes were superb, usually the six seater and the pilot would often let me sit next to them. They'd also ask me which way I wanted to go, via the north or south Cornish coast. It was how flying should be, personal, and above all fun. They would fly so low that you'd get a wonderful view of St Michael's Mount and often basking sharks just off the mainland. Then when you approached the islands there would be the stunning colours of the beaches and shallow sea between them.
The airport at St Mary's is small, very small. But that's why I like it. There's one check in, where you and your bags get weighed (they are small planes after all), a small cafe, a waiting area, and your bags arrive on a trailer outside and you just grab them. For most visitors it is then a short taxi or courtesy bus down to Hugh Town, the main centre on the island. That's where you find most of the accommodation, restaurants, and the pubs. Yes the pubs. Your grandma probably thinks it was the pubs that I liked most about living on the islands, she's not totally wrong. Along the main street (the only street really) there are three great pubs, The Bishop & Wolf, The Atlantic Inn, and the Mermaid. Plus there is the Scillonian Club that you can join and which then can offer cheaper beer and food, as well as the (sort of) famous quiz nights. We were brilliant the first time we joined in, but we tried to not be too brilliant and win or we'd have been banished from the club and islands I think.
It would be inaccurate to suggest that I lived in any great luxury on the islands. I bought the only thing I could afford which was a tiny one bedroom flat in an old building called 'The Wrasse' which had a delightful view of the pub backyard despite being only a few metres from the beach. The walls were so thin that I could hear every word of every TV soap being watched by the delightful but very deaf old lady downstairs. As there are no furniture shops on the island I had to furnish it by mail order from Argos in Penzance. Once my order was all there it was then shipped across to St Mary's on the Scillonian. Interesting times.
Yes the pubs were great, always the place to get to know the locals and to become acceptable and one of them. There's nothing nicer than to walk into a pub and have the landlord greet you by name and start pouring your favourite beer - well to me anyway. My family have always been keen pub regulars, I guess it's because of where they grew up, either in Dorset or Middlesex, and I faithfully and happily continued the family tradition. In the small Dorset villages the pub was the meeting place after a day in the fields, and in Middlesex where people gathered after a hard day in the local factory. Different environment, same purpose.
There's also a pub on each of the other inhabited islands and I made sure that I visited each of them regularly - it seemed the right thing to do and of course I wanted to be fair. To get to them is one of the other great things about Scilly, you have to go by boat. Those trips were wonderful, I just love to be on the water, and you get to see a huge variety of sea and birdlife. Our friend John once famously shouted 'shag' (him meaning the bird of course) at the top of his voice on a boat crowded with visitors which got some interesting reactions. To see the seals and puffins was always worth the fare, as well as getting closer to Bishop Rock lighthouse. The lighthouse stands on a small rock ledge and is 49m tall and just dramatically rises straight out of the sea, an awesome sight.
Each of the other islands has its own unique character. They are small but offer some great walks with the sometimes wild sea an ever changing backdrop. St Martin's is the largest and has miles of beaches that you can have to yourself even in the height of summer. Tresco has become famous for its tropical gardens where you can see plants that will not survive anywhere else in the UK. It was wonderful to see the palm trees, I love exotic plants, maybe that's why if I could live anywhere it would be somewhere in Polynesia.
Life on the islands is all about the sea, let's face it they are surrounded by the stuff. So it's no surprise that messing about on the water is the number one leisure activity, and also the basis for its biggest sporting event - The Pilot Gig World Championships. I will forgive you all for probably not knowing anything about Pilot Gig racing, it's not shown live on ESPN, Sky or the BBC, but it is spectacular, exhausting, and smothered in history. Once seen, never forgotten.
The seas around the islands are treacherous and hundreds of ships have been wrecked over the centuries. Local knowledge was therefore vital and 'pilots' could be hired to help guide ships safely into port, or around the islands to the mainland. It was skilled and lucrative work so there was lots of competition amongst local people. Essentially the first pilot to get to the ship needing help got the job. So they would race in their 'gigs' (large rowing boats) to get out to the ship and these gig crews became very good at getting through the often very rough seas. Over time as ship navigation aids became more precise the pilots and their gig crews were no longer needed - but they continued the tradition as a sport.
Each year boats and crews, men and women, from the islands, Cornwall, Devon, southern England, and as far away as Australia descend on Scilly to compete for the World Championship. For a week or two the islands come alive to teams of super fit, super charged athletes and their glorious boats. I was fortunate to be the finish line judge one year, and Jamie too. Considering that they race several miles it is amazing how many races ended with five or six boats crossing the line together so trying to decide who won and the places was very difficult. Heaven knows what horrible fate we faced if we got it wrong!
Another unique sporting event that happens every year is an invitational rugby game - the Isles of Scilly vs The Rest of the World. The islanders (including me one year) take on people of all nationalities who are either working on the islands or just happen to be there on holiday at the time. Remarkably for such a small population the island team had some great players and never lost the game, and even beat teams visiting from Cornwall.
Here's one for the pub trivia quiz - who has the smallest football league in the world? You guessed it. Yes they have two teams (Red and Blue) who play each other every week, and they even have two cup competitions. Each season they draw lots to see which team they will be in. I was in Red.
The Isles of Scilly are a magical place, small, quiet, friendly, remote, and with a real feeling of community. I felt very much at home there.
The reasons for those feelings about places will vary wildly depending on when I was there, what else was going on in my life at the time etc. But these places all have that one thing in common - it feels 'right' to be there. They give me a great big hug. I know you will find places like these for yourself, trust me, it's well worth the effort.
#5 - The Isles of Scilly
28 miles off the coast of Cornwall at the very SW tip of England lie the Isles of Scilly. Small, remote, with a small population, and unique. There are 140 islands in total and 5 of which are occupied. The main island of St Mary's has 1700 people out of the total population of 2100 and is 6.2 sq km in area. The islands have the mildest and warmest climate in the UK. During the summer months the population of the islands more than doubles with tourists.
How I came to be living on the islands is a long story and one I will save for another time, but during my time there I was commuting by air. Sounds very grand doesn't it. As you may know my most favourite thing is flying, so it was wonderful. I would work on the mainland during the week, 'arrange' to be conveniently near Newquay Airport on a Thursday afternoon, fly to St Mary's and spend the weekend there, returning Monday morning. The Skybus planes were superb, usually the six seater and the pilot would often let me sit next to them. They'd also ask me which way I wanted to go, via the north or south Cornish coast. It was how flying should be, personal, and above all fun. They would fly so low that you'd get a wonderful view of St Michael's Mount and often basking sharks just off the mainland. Then when you approached the islands there would be the stunning colours of the beaches and shallow sea between them.
The airport at St Mary's is small, very small. But that's why I like it. There's one check in, where you and your bags get weighed (they are small planes after all), a small cafe, a waiting area, and your bags arrive on a trailer outside and you just grab them. For most visitors it is then a short taxi or courtesy bus down to Hugh Town, the main centre on the island. That's where you find most of the accommodation, restaurants, and the pubs. Yes the pubs. Your grandma probably thinks it was the pubs that I liked most about living on the islands, she's not totally wrong. Along the main street (the only street really) there are three great pubs, The Bishop & Wolf, The Atlantic Inn, and the Mermaid. Plus there is the Scillonian Club that you can join and which then can offer cheaper beer and food, as well as the (sort of) famous quiz nights. We were brilliant the first time we joined in, but we tried to not be too brilliant and win or we'd have been banished from the club and islands I think.
It would be inaccurate to suggest that I lived in any great luxury on the islands. I bought the only thing I could afford which was a tiny one bedroom flat in an old building called 'The Wrasse' which had a delightful view of the pub backyard despite being only a few metres from the beach. The walls were so thin that I could hear every word of every TV soap being watched by the delightful but very deaf old lady downstairs. As there are no furniture shops on the island I had to furnish it by mail order from Argos in Penzance. Once my order was all there it was then shipped across to St Mary's on the Scillonian. Interesting times.
Yes the pubs were great, always the place to get to know the locals and to become acceptable and one of them. There's nothing nicer than to walk into a pub and have the landlord greet you by name and start pouring your favourite beer - well to me anyway. My family have always been keen pub regulars, I guess it's because of where they grew up, either in Dorset or Middlesex, and I faithfully and happily continued the family tradition. In the small Dorset villages the pub was the meeting place after a day in the fields, and in Middlesex where people gathered after a hard day in the local factory. Different environment, same purpose.
There's also a pub on each of the other inhabited islands and I made sure that I visited each of them regularly - it seemed the right thing to do and of course I wanted to be fair. To get to them is one of the other great things about Scilly, you have to go by boat. Those trips were wonderful, I just love to be on the water, and you get to see a huge variety of sea and birdlife. Our friend John once famously shouted 'shag' (him meaning the bird of course) at the top of his voice on a boat crowded with visitors which got some interesting reactions. To see the seals and puffins was always worth the fare, as well as getting closer to Bishop Rock lighthouse. The lighthouse stands on a small rock ledge and is 49m tall and just dramatically rises straight out of the sea, an awesome sight.
Each of the other islands has its own unique character. They are small but offer some great walks with the sometimes wild sea an ever changing backdrop. St Martin's is the largest and has miles of beaches that you can have to yourself even in the height of summer. Tresco has become famous for its tropical gardens where you can see plants that will not survive anywhere else in the UK. It was wonderful to see the palm trees, I love exotic plants, maybe that's why if I could live anywhere it would be somewhere in Polynesia.
Life on the islands is all about the sea, let's face it they are surrounded by the stuff. So it's no surprise that messing about on the water is the number one leisure activity, and also the basis for its biggest sporting event - The Pilot Gig World Championships. I will forgive you all for probably not knowing anything about Pilot Gig racing, it's not shown live on ESPN, Sky or the BBC, but it is spectacular, exhausting, and smothered in history. Once seen, never forgotten.
The seas around the islands are treacherous and hundreds of ships have been wrecked over the centuries. Local knowledge was therefore vital and 'pilots' could be hired to help guide ships safely into port, or around the islands to the mainland. It was skilled and lucrative work so there was lots of competition amongst local people. Essentially the first pilot to get to the ship needing help got the job. So they would race in their 'gigs' (large rowing boats) to get out to the ship and these gig crews became very good at getting through the often very rough seas. Over time as ship navigation aids became more precise the pilots and their gig crews were no longer needed - but they continued the tradition as a sport.
Each year boats and crews, men and women, from the islands, Cornwall, Devon, southern England, and as far away as Australia descend on Scilly to compete for the World Championship. For a week or two the islands come alive to teams of super fit, super charged athletes and their glorious boats. I was fortunate to be the finish line judge one year, and Jamie too. Considering that they race several miles it is amazing how many races ended with five or six boats crossing the line together so trying to decide who won and the places was very difficult. Heaven knows what horrible fate we faced if we got it wrong!
Another unique sporting event that happens every year is an invitational rugby game - the Isles of Scilly vs The Rest of the World. The islanders (including me one year) take on people of all nationalities who are either working on the islands or just happen to be there on holiday at the time. Remarkably for such a small population the island team had some great players and never lost the game, and even beat teams visiting from Cornwall.
Here's one for the pub trivia quiz - who has the smallest football league in the world? You guessed it. Yes they have two teams (Red and Blue) who play each other every week, and they even have two cup competitions. Each season they draw lots to see which team they will be in. I was in Red.
The Isles of Scilly are a magical place, small, quiet, friendly, remote, and with a real feeling of community. I felt very much at home there.
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