This weekend I escaped the rat race of London and the bustling countryside of Surrey, and flew to the Isles of Scilly for their food festival (major food porn further down this post!). I can trace my direct ancestral lineage on the Isles of Scilly back to the my 7x great grandparents, the Woodcock’s, in the 1600’s.
My Scillonian ancestors lived there until very recently, as my Grandad and his sister lived there with his grandparents and aunts and cousins during WW2. So to say I was excited about returning to the ‘motherland’ (or should I say fatherland, seeing as it’s on the male line of the family) is an understatement.
Previously I’ve only ever stayed on the main island of St Mary’s, but my family all come from Tresco, so to actually stay on the island this time and really explore it and sample the local food was really lovely. I stayed at the New Inn Pub and Guesthouse, which my great-great grandfather Henry used to run, and it’s all been refurbished and ‘freshened’ up in the past year. It feels very boutique-y and luxurious (think soft bedlinen, home-made cookies and loose leaf tea in the room, and REN bath goodies), and I had a gorgeous sea-view room which overlooked the island of Bryher.
The Isles of Scilly is an archipelago, a group of islands with many uninhabitable. The only islands inhabited are St Mary’s (the main one), St Martin’s (the one with the best beaches), St Agnes (the smallest one), Tresco (the pretty, scenic one) and Bryher (the rugged one).
There’s also Samson which used to be inhabited (my 5x great grandfather William Woodcock was born there in 1746 – when only two households inhabited the island, but he later moved to Tresco where his children were born), however in 1855 the Lord Proprietor of Scilly, Augustus Smith, moved the remaining inhabitants as they were suffering from extreme deprivation.
Today the Isles of Scilly has a population of just over 2,000 people, with the majority living on St Mary’s. The Tresco and Bryher food festival is a highlight of the Scilly summer calendar, with local farming and agriculture so important to the islands, it’s the perfect opportunity to showcase what they can produce. Saturday was spent eating a lot of food. In the morning there was a market in the main square on Tresco, they had everything from Tresco Prosecco, Troytown Farm ice-cream, yoghurt and clotted cream, and Scilly Ales, to local crab, lobster, and duck.
As well as my ice-cream I also picked up a pot of Troytown Farm clotted cream (to eat by myself in my room with my shortbread biscuits – if you can’t do it on holiday, when can you!?), and a large jar of Apple and Blackberry jam for my parents.
After wandering around the market and sampling the delights and wares, I dropped my goodies off in my room at the New Inn and then wandered around the island. This deserves a post in itself, so for now, let me take you on a food feast at the Flying Boat Restaurant…after a lovely photo of the harbour in the evening dusk…
Dinner at the Flying Boat Club, Tresco
I ambled along to the Flying Boat Club, the restaurant amongst the newer timeshare properties on Tresco (don’t get me started on the timeshare properties…I’ll tell you more in my next post), which has views over the sound towards Bryher.
I started with a glass of Tresco prosecco in the bar, enjoying the peace and tranquility of having my thoughts to myself, and letting myself fully relax after a long day walking around the island. An elderly couple started chatting to me, before heading upstairs for dinner. I sat down at the table on my lonesome, when a lovely lady called Pauline and her husband Ashley came over and invited me to join them as ‘no one should dine alone on a Saturday night!’. Me being me didn’t say no and I happily pulled my chair to their table.
We made our introductions while tucking into our sublime tian of local crab, cucumber noodles fresh yoghurt and seaweed dressing. They, like me, were visiting for the food festival, and are from the county next door to mine; Kent! They were ever so nice, must have been late fifties, and regular visitors to Tresco. When we were part-way through our starter, the waiter approached and asked if I’d like a glass of the local wine, courtesy of the couple I’d been chatting to earlier. Everyone here is so nice!
Pauline, Ashley, and I spoke about all sorts while eating our delicious meal, and didn’t stumble back to the New Inn where we were all staying until 4 hours later.
Anyway, the main course was the showstopping and insanely good Surf n Turf. Just look at that huge hunk of beef and freshly caught lobster!
Feeling very full, we then had a break with a gorgeous palate-cleanser before dessert made it’s entrance. The sorbet was probably the best I’ve ever tasted (and I’m a bit of a sorbet connoisseur), it was Troytown Farm’s Sipsmith (aka, Gin) Summer Cup Sorbet.
Then, dessert arrived. Homemade Turkish delight, warm chocolate brownie and Troytown rose geranium ice cream. It was very nice, and looked very moreish, however I did find the brownie a little dry for my liking, I much prefer gooey fudgey brownies.
The ending however, was like a posh version of a children’s milkshake, and I loved it. The perfect end to a lovely day and evening (more on the day-part in another post!). A huge special thank you to Pauline and Ashley for being so kind and letting me crash their dinner, and another thank you to the couple who gave me the glass of wine!
Myself and both of the couples stumbled back to the New Inn in the pitch black (there are no street lights on Scilly), after a few too many glasses of prosecco and wine. We arrived back to find a party in full swing in the bar as the Tresco ladies had just won the Gig race in their boat, Czar. There was a band playing folk and jig music, so everyone was up dancing and slipping around on the wet floor having a whale of a time.
It was a surreal experience seeing this pub so full of life and laughter, knowing that a hundred years ago my great great grandfather would have been stood right there at the bar, or maybe he would have joined in – he looks like a man who would have joined in (see the pic below – he’s the large elderly man on the side in the hat). I got a bit emotional with my rum and coke thinking about it all, so decided it was best I headed to bed to get a good night’s sleep before the next days activities.
The photo above is a photo of a some of my family on one of the boats, travelling between the Scilly Islands in the 1930’s. My grandfather is right in the middle on his mother’s knee. My great grandfather is Mr Lux (the outsider from the mainland!), sitting opposite my great great grandfather. I’d love to know exactly where between these islands this photo was taken – anyone recognize the background and know whereabouts it was?!
* I was a guest of Visit Isles of Scilly throughout my stay on the islands. To discover more about holidays and events on the Isles of Scilly, go to www.visitislesofscilly.com.
Catherine Lux is a veteran travel blogger by night and the Head of Content Marketing at Amazon by day. Originally from Surrey, she spent four years living in Australia (2007-2009, and 2016-2018), and now lives in London. An ex-party girl sometimes prone to relapses, she loves nothing more than sharing her fine dining and luxury travel experiences with her loyal readers.
Oh my gosh I am SO jealous.
We go to Tresco for our holidays every year, but I didn't go this year (in favour of a more tropical destination this winter) but missed it so badly. Our great, great grandfathers probably knew each other – I come from the Smith family and my grandma was Dorrien-Smith, who now live in the Abbey there. My dad and his brothers are called Samson, Martin and Arthur after the islands…. Such a small world!!
Can't wait to read the next instalment, and now I really want to make the food festival next year 🙂
Rosie xx
Eeek, that's SO weird, they must have known each other – he worked in the Abbey Gardens in the late 1800's before retiring to run the New Inn!
I have a whole heap of relatives with the name Samson too, it's such a popular Scilly name 🙂
I have another two-three more blog posts to come, so stay tuned 😉
C x
Wow. You are so lucky to know this much about the history of your family. I find it very jaw-dropping that you have this picture as something to reference. I wish I could figure out the origins of my family and find pictures too.
I know, I'm very lucky, thankfully my grandfather started all the research years and years ago when everyone was still alive, so we have quite good records. It also helps that everyone born on Scilly tends to stay there, and the islands are so small it's very easy to trace your lineage there. We're lucky to have quite a few old pics!
You should take a look on ancestry.com and genesreunited, both are really helpful 🙂
C x
This is such a beautiful post! The food festival looks gorgeous and is definitely something I'd think about going to in future as I have always wanted to go to the Isles of Scilly!
I am so jealous that you know so much about your family history. I know absolutely nothing and no one from my fathers side 🙁 This post has really got me thinking…
Tamsyn-Elizabeth
Peach Pow XO
Thank you! It was wonderful, you really should make a trip over there for it!
You should start researching! Start with your direct ancestral line, and then once you've got that you can then move onto researching all of the extended family and aunts/cousins etc 🙂
C x