Our holidays to the Isles of Scilly are very precious to us. My husband lived on St Martins for about 45 years and a lot of his family still live there. I first came to St Martins in the 1950′s as a baby and my family spent every summer holiday there, never wanting to go anywhere else. There is nowhere in the world quite like the islands, they are unique, and so very captivating. Once bitten, totally smitten.
Although Mr Daisy has lived away from the islands for a few years now, he still has lots of friends here and so we love island hopping to say hello and see what’s new.
You may have seen that last week we spent a night on the tiny, beautiful island of Bryher. Then the weekend was spent on St Mary’s watching the annual World Pilot Gig Championships, a huge event bringing thousands of people to the islands over bank holiday weekend.
This week, we ‘hopped’ to St Agnes, the most south westerly of the islands. First stop is always the pub, The Turks Head, for coffee with a view, or a pint, whichever takes your fancy!
We then need at least half an hour at The Bulb Shop, who never fail to surprise and delight with their quirky and very collectible range of gifts and local products in addition to all the fabulous Scilly bulbs and flowers for sale. I adore my collection of paper mâché ducks, chickens and rabbits that make their way back home to Warwick with me and live on our bathroom shelf, reminding us of our holiday all year round!
Lunch is invariably a very large and utterly delicious ice cream from Troytown Farm, who make their ice cream with cream and milk from their gorgeous herd of Jersey cows and also run the island campsite overlooking Bishop Rock Lighthouse and the Atlantic Ocean.
Mike and Christine Hicks are a very impressive couple and we were lucky enough to be shown round their essential oil emporium. The ultimate in diversification, their flower farm now produces pure essential oils which they use in their hand made soap, Twentyeight (the number of miles from Lands End to Scilly)
They have been told by ‘noses’ in the industry that their essential oils are the best. This is probably because of the growing and atmospheric conditions, the cleanest of air blowing from across the Atlantic. There is no industrial pollution in Scilly and minimal air pollution, the sun is strong and the soil is sandy and perfect for growing plants. Frost and snow are rare! Mike and Christine have sourced unusual geraniums with the most glorious aromas, they have a field of rosemary, a field of gorgeous bee filled lavender, clary sage and mint, and of course samphire from the local shores.They grow the plants, harvest and distill them in their specially made still from Ireland and then bottle their very own pure and beautiful essential oil, the remaining fragrant floral water being sold as a gorgeous spritzer for laundry and room fragrancing.
The essential oils are then used to fragrance their glorious glycerine based soaps, shower gels and moisturisers sold in several Scilly retail outlets and online all over the world. I love that Mike and Christine are intricately involved in every single stage of the operation, they are so knowledgable, completely self taught, they are so very passionate about their product ensuring that their soaps are top quality, made with love and pride.
Being a soapaholic and appreciating quality, I bought five bars of their gorgeous soap to take home. We also bought some of their free range eggs ….. delicious poached for breakfast the next day.
Finally, before catching the boat back to St Martins, we simply had to have a cream tea at the lovely Covean Cottage
So, another glorious day in paradise!
Hope it’s a good week for you all, love Daisy Cupcakes
