SUMMER on SCILLY

Well here it is at last!! To say that we have been 'waiting for sometime' is a bit of an understatement but the gin clear blue skies have arrived at last and the islands are stunning. It is great to walk out of our front door and see happy and contented faces really enjoying everything that Scilly has to offer.
We have some interesting boats on the moorings at the moment and my next door neighbour is about to get the main mast back on his yacht after several years of refurbishment so he will back on the ocean blue shortly.
We have had a slow start to the season this year and I guess that the loss of the helicopter is being felt but the Steamship Company are doing their best to step up to the plate. There is still some vague hope that a new helicopter service will be started but unless it is linked to a separate core business it is likely to have a very expensive ticket price. We keep fingers crossed.
Anyway back to the matter in hand...the islands. This is how they were looking earlier, how can you go wrong...see what you are missing.                 tg

New links to Scilly

The transport to the islands hasn't been great since the final helicopter but we live in hopes that when the weather cheers up a bit things will settle down and get back to normal. However there is some good transport news on the horizon. From the 21st of June EasyJet are starting three regular flights a week to Newquay from London Southend Airport. This service on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays will continue through the season until the end of the third week in September at a cost of roughly £35 per person each way, you can get full details and book on the EasyJet website www.easyjet.com/en Go to our links page where you will find a direct link.
We hope that this will help many of you from the North and East sides of London as there is a good link from the M25 via the A127. The owners of London Southend Airport (SEN), StobartAir, are developing many links and we hope that this Newquay (NQY) flight will be successful for EasyJet and will be something that will be extended for longer periods of the year. If it helps YOU please use it and let us know how you got on.  tg

Go South (West) young man!

Gales, freezing temperatures, black ice and blizzards!!! Well we have 10 degrees and sunshine as I write and the postman has just delivered our post and is still in shorts (and a shirt and fleece). The spring flowers are being picked furiously and bunched the to away to the mainland markets and all in all it is very pleasant on the islands at the moment.

Still crazy after all these years

I can't believe that I haven't written anything for such a long time. Well so many changes have happened on and to the rock since my last missive it's difficult to know where to start but lets kick off with the helicopter, or should I say lack of it! True to it's word the service finally stopped at the end of October and I don't care what anyone says it IS a great loss. There is still talk of something setting up in it's place and I for one hope that it does. I certainly don't want to knock Skybus or the Steamship Company but there are many times during the winter when the helicopter was the only link to the mainland. As I write this is the second day that I have been trying to get to the mainland on business, High winds yesterday, the airfield at Lands End waterlogged and wind from the wrong direction today means that I am sitting at the computer writing this rather than getting on with what I need to do in Truro and Penzance. Oh well this is what you have to put up with when you live on a rock in the Atlantic.
Mick Jagger wants to visit this rock! Or so he said on the One Show last Friday. Well Mick I can assure you that you would be very welcome and I hope that it won't be too long before we see you here. I'm sure he knows that he will find the best accommodation on www.come2scilly.com I expect he is browsing the website as I write. I tell you what, it would be great to see Mick doing a set with Terry Ward and the Steamband. Send me an email Mick tim@come2scilly.com and I'll arrange the gig for you.
The One Show has been very good to the islands recently, not only did they promote the islands with Mick Jagger on Friday but on Monday s show (26/11/12) they had their pet photographer do a 5 minute slot on his photographic visit to the islands earlier in the year. Actually it was a very nice little piece and showed the islands in a very good light. Thanks to The One Show.
Staying on the TV theme, I met Ed and Shane from the Cornwall Channel earlier in the year and they are producing work that is being shown on Channel 212 on Sky on a Monday evening at 9pm. They are mainly publicising Cornwall but they want to include the islands as well. They have kindly loaned me their spare camera and I am taking some bits of film that I hope will also be shown in their programme on Monday evenings. At least it will be if I can get my head around the software that is needed to download it to the web. I expect I need a handy 2 year old, they seem to be able to handle all this technology pretty well.

Still no flying at the moment but I need to make some phone calls now, I will pen some more when I am back on the rock. In the meanwhile if you are thinking that you would like to have Christmas on the islands go back to our website www.come2scilly.com and contact us, we have some great properties for you to stay in.                                                                                          tg

Summer at last

Like most of the country we have been waiting for the jet stream to lift above the southwest and bring some good weather to the islands. Well here it is, we have had 3 days of unbroken blue sky and sunshine, just what the doctor ordered. Nicky and spent a very pleasant couple of hours on St. Martins with Julia Walder on Sunday, it was lovely to have a chat with her parents Derek & Gladys Perkins as well. In fact it was a very pleasant afternoon in a very beautiful place so I'll share a view with you.

You could be here enjoying yourselves and taking in views like these while you are chilling out and becoming human again.
tg

What a day!

For the first time in quite a while I woke up this morning to total silence and when I looked out of the window the water in the harbour was completely flat without even a ripple. Sadly by the time I had got out of the shower and dressed a couple of boats had crossed the harbour and the water wasn't quite the mirror that it had been but never the less it was still a fantastic sight. When I walked to the quay there were only two people also out walking but it was really warm in the sunshine and the light was fantastic.

This is the first day of Art Scilly Week so I hope that the weather stays like this for some of the week at least. Certainly it will encourage more people to partake in the wide variety of activities that are available this week. So lets hope you all enjoy it and make sure that you put this week in your calendar for 2013.

Island Up-date

We are getting ready for the World Gig Championships now and looking forward to the influx of visitors that it always brings. There have been a lot of talks about it being moved to the mainland over the last few years but hopefully it is here to stay for sometime yet. The islands are the home of the Gigs and I know that many rowers, I hasten to that I am not one, feel that the social aspect of the championships could not be replicated on the mainland where many rowers would simply go home after their races and not stay for the 'Apres-row'. Anyway putting all that on one side the week after next will see the islands full of lycra clad bodies enjoying their sport and, we hope, enjoying the islands as well.

Soon after the festivities of the Gigs we have Art Scilly. This week has become more popular as the years have gone on and now is very popular with visitors and locals alike. This year Art Scilly runs from the 12th to the 19th of May and is packed with interesting opportunities for you to develop your individual artistic skills. With workshops across the islands in Printmaking, Silver Jewellery, Sketching, Creative writing, Water Colour Painting, Glass making, Photography, Felt making, Pottery and many other creative skill this is a week in the islands calendar not to be missed.
Go back to our availability page to check for accommodation for this week
http://www.come2scilly.com/self_catering/properties-2012.php

If anyone needs more information about island events just give us a call on 01720 423 523 and if we don't know the information we will find it out and let you know.

tg