SCILLY COTTAGE
An Island Holiday
An Island Holiday
A St Agnes holiday in a beautiful granite cottage with freshly-cooked island food...
To enquire about An Island Holiday at Scilly Cottage and to find out more about availability, pricing, travel arrangements, winter breaks, etc. please contact Piers. Subscribe to the email list (using the form at the bottom of this page) to receive occasional updates regarding vacancies.
(Or read on...)
To enquire about An Island Holiday at Scilly Cottage and to find out more about availability, pricing, travel arrangements, winter breaks, etc. please contact Piers. Subscribe to the email list (using the form at the bottom of this page) to receive occasional updates regarding vacancies.
(Or read on...)
THE STORY...
Before Scilly Cottage became a holiday cottage, it was our home - a picture-perfect, slightly wonky, centuries-old traditional Scillonian fisherman's cottage. We loved the cosiness of the low-beamed ceilings (once we had lowered the granite floor by six inches so that we could actually stand up straight) and the airy views of lighthouses in both directions from the recessed sash windows.
When we first moved to Scilly in 1997 we operated Downs Cottage - a seaside guest house with good food in the high-ceilinged Edwardian house next door, but a growing family meant that we needed to expand our living quarters, so we moved ourselves into the bigger house and completely renovated the two bedroom cottage, which in turn became Scilly Cottage - a beautiful self-contained guest space, with high quality linen on the bed and the best local artwork on the walls. Yet it retains something of the feeling of the family home it was for all those years...
When we first moved to Scilly in 1997 we operated Downs Cottage - a seaside guest house with good food in the high-ceilinged Edwardian house next door, but a growing family meant that we needed to expand our living quarters, so we moved ourselves into the bigger house and completely renovated the two bedroom cottage, which in turn became Scilly Cottage - a beautiful self-contained guest space, with high quality linen on the bed and the best local artwork on the walls. Yet it retains something of the feeling of the family home it was for all those years...
Slightly wonky, but homely...
(artwork by Lisa Swerling)
(artwork by Lisa Swerling)
A holiday at Scilly Cottage is something of a one-off - perhaps that is why I have never thought of a snappy way to describe it. It is certainly not a traditional British seaside Guest House, with hushed and awkward breakfast served every day at 8am, sachets of stale tea and coffee in the rooms and a definite sense that one should arrange to be out during the day when the cleaning takes place. Rather it is an extremely comfortable, self-contained, centuries-old fisherman's cottage with its own kitchen where you have the freedom to get up, eat and go out (or stay in) whenever you want to.
But neither it is a standard self-catering cottage where you arrive to find the cupboards stripped bare apart from a clumpy pot of salt and maybe some cooking oil if you're lucky, and where your first action before unpacking must be to run to the shop for that evening's supper (which needs then to be cooked before you can relax). Instead, on arrival at Scilly Cottage, you will discover that the fridge is fully stocked with a range of home-cooked ready meals, all of which showcase the fantastic local produce of St Agnes.
In a distant past life, I trained as a chef in London: now I delight in cooking ingredients from the Island Food Mile of St Agnes in a kitchen with a view of the sea. There might be a traditional slow braise of island beef, fresh herbs and carrots which just needs gently heating through on the lovely Everhot cooker, to be followed by foraged blackberry and apple pie. Or it might be fish - perhaps a saffron-laced crab tart with St Agnes new potato and fennel salad and then crème brûlée made with luxurious Jersey cream from the soft-eyed island herd.
But neither it is a standard self-catering cottage where you arrive to find the cupboards stripped bare apart from a clumpy pot of salt and maybe some cooking oil if you're lucky, and where your first action before unpacking must be to run to the shop for that evening's supper (which needs then to be cooked before you can relax). Instead, on arrival at Scilly Cottage, you will discover that the fridge is fully stocked with a range of home-cooked ready meals, all of which showcase the fantastic local produce of St Agnes.
In a distant past life, I trained as a chef in London: now I delight in cooking ingredients from the Island Food Mile of St Agnes in a kitchen with a view of the sea. There might be a traditional slow braise of island beef, fresh herbs and carrots which just needs gently heating through on the lovely Everhot cooker, to be followed by foraged blackberry and apple pie. Or it might be fish - perhaps a saffron-laced crab tart with St Agnes new potato and fennel salad and then crème brûlée made with luxurious Jersey cream from the soft-eyed island herd.
There will be fresh-baked bread, soups, salads, cakes, pies and more. And the store cupboard will be stocked with all the essentials too - tea and coffee (not a sachet in sight), olive oil, flour, pasta, rice, balsamic vinegar, sea salt, etc... To top it off, the lovely informal cottage herb garden can provide you with that extra hit of flavour (or simply a fragrant place to sit in the sun).
With this thoughtful set-up, your first holiday action on arriving can be to throw your bags in the door and run down the hill to jump in the sparkling sea at Periglis; or, if it's wet and windy, to snuggle up on the big sofa in front of the wood burner with one of the many books or DVDs, safe in the knowledge that dinner is waiting for you whenever hunger hits.
With this thoughtful set-up, your first holiday action on arriving can be to throw your bags in the door and run down the hill to jump in the sparkling sea at Periglis; or, if it's wet and windy, to snuggle up on the big sofa in front of the wood burner with one of the many books or DVDs, safe in the knowledge that dinner is waiting for you whenever hunger hits.
Contact Piers to enquire about a holiday at Scilly Cottage or subscribe to the newsletter to receive occasional emails about any vacancies that arise. (Subscribe below.)