The journey from Penzance heliport to St Mary's airport on the Isles of Scilly is the nearest I've ever got to experiencing time travel. One minute we were zipping up windproofed fleeces under an overcast sky; the next we were stripping down to T-shirts and slapping on Factor 15. OK, so it actually took twenty minutes to cross the 28 miles of Atlantic sea between Land's End and the Scillies, but can you think of a quicker way of travelling from spring to early summer?
The sky was a little hazy when we landed on St Mary's nine days ago, but the sun was shining and there was a warm Atlantic breeze, scented with the wild garlic which grows everywhere on the Scillies this time of year. Looking out to sea, beyond the slate roofs of Hugh Town (the islands' "capital"), I could make out the strips of dazzling white sand which rim the shores of St Mary's four inhabited "off islands" (sub-tropical Tresco, St Martins, Bryher and St Agnes). Dozens of smaller, rockier, outcrops rose like fairytale castles from a sparkling water the colour of the Mediterranean. In some of the sandy shallows it managed a brilliant shade of Caribbean.
We were lucky of course. The weather in Scilly is not always so benevolent; indeed, it does a nice line in ship-tossing Atlantic gales. But the climate is consistently warmer and dryer than the rest of the UK, and in terms of plant life, it is at least a month ahead. When later we cycled round the narrow country lanes of St Mary's (all nine miles of them) I saw pink campions and violets, among other wildflowers which, even now, are not yet blooming on the mainland. And to return to my time-travel reference, the Scillyonian experience not only fast-forwarded us a few weeks into summer, but also took me back to my 1960s Cornish childhood.
The Scilly locals who complain, as they often do, that Hugh Town has become "too commercialised" in the last few years, clearly haven't been to St Ives lately. True, it has gained a few gift shops, and a couple of yachting-set clothing stores (and, yes, it's almost a rat-race compared to the three-house towns of St Agnes or St Martins), but Hugh Town is reminiscent of a granite-built Cornish fishing village, circa 1965.
There are more bicycles than cars (and no need to lock them either); it has hotels and guest houses, but not enough to create a crowd; and the only corporates are two high-street banks and a Co-op supermarket - unless you count the landowning Duchy of Cornwall (Charles' and, from today, Camilla, territory) which runs much of the Scillies like a feudal colony.
Dipping into another chapter of St Mary's past, we stayed at the Star Castle, a Grade I-listed Elizabethan fort, built to protect the islands from the threat of Spanish invasion in 1593. A rough and rugged granite pile, in the shape of an eight-pointed star, it sits inside a walled garrison overlooking Hugh Town's harbour and a panorama of island-studded sea. It's been a hotel since the 1930s, but still looks appropriately castle-like, with 18-foot ramparts (now furnished with picnic tables) and a dry-moat (green with fig trees, rhododendron and castor oil, among other exotic shrubs). From the outside, it also looks appropriately intimidating, but like everything on the Scillies, it's built in miniature, on a modest scale.
Owner Robert Francis acquired a rather tired, dated Star Castle with four acres of garrison grounds just over a year ago and is currently in the throes of a slow "sensitive" upgrade which aims to modernise without losing its easy-going (child-friendly, dog-tolerant) demeanour, nor its sense of history. He has kept the subterranean dungeon bar (along with Dave, the entertaining Scouser barman who has already served 15 years), and the original guard houses on the battlements (single rooms with tiny gun-slit win dows); and even some of the quaintly old-fashioned decor in the "garden suites" (a row of terraced sea-view bungalows, built as army barracks during the castle's second world war requisition).
Many of the guests would like it to stay just as it is, but in time he plans to provide St Mary's with a hotel to rival Scilly's better known off-island establishments (the Island Hotel on Tresco, the Hell Bay on Bryher and the St Martins on St Martins). Some of Star Castle's rooms have already been refurbished in a contemporary "beachy" style. And its shophisticated seafoody restaurants (one in the castle's original officers' mess; the other in a relatively modern garden conservatory) now rank among the best on the islands.
On our first day out, in perfect weather, we chugged out of St Mary's harbour on a boat to St Agnes, the smallest and most self-contained of the off islands. Looking at the map, I wondered how on earth we were going to fill the five hours before the boat returned to pick us up, but this mile-wide island offers a change of scenery at every turn: a bit of moorland-on-sea sprigged with yellow gorse, the craggy rocks and cliffs of Wingletang Down, followed by gardens of cultivated daffodils, and, at Porth Coose - among other sheltered bays - a perfect crescent of glittering white sand. On the other side of the island, we crossed the sandbar which, at low tide, links St Agnes to its rugged little twin The Gugh (pronounced Goo). The views across St Mary's Sound from Kittern Rock are amazing. We hardly saw a soul and within a few hours of being there slowed down and enjoyed the silence (there are no cars on St Agnes, other than tractors and golf buggies).
There were other things to do there (the church, the Coastguard tea room, the village shop), but I was more than content to spend a happy hour or two dining on Scilly Ales and home-made pasties in the seaside garden of the Turks Head. The most south-westerly pub in Britain, it is, according to the locals, the best in the Scillies. A snooze on the beach rounded the day off nicely.
Our second sunny day was spent on St Martins, greener and more colourful than St Agnes, and possibly my favourite island. It serves one of the best cream teas at Polreath Tea Room, has a little "craft" bakery, a winery (making small quanitities of a palatable dry white) and the most stunning beaches. Again, we saw only a handful of people during our three-hour hike from Lower Town quay to Higher Town Bay and back again.
On our third and final day, a notice outside the Isles of Scilly Steam Ship Company, predicted "light drizzle - nothing too dramatic - mostly dry"; the perfect weather for cycling around St Mary's. Since, it's only two-and-half miles long, we managed to do the island - twice - in four hours. On easy-inclined country lanes, and bumpy tracks, we cycled from the Iron Age village at Halangy Down to the pretty sub-tropical gardens at Carreg Dhu (where a notice invites visitors to a do a bit of weeding, with a bag of tools left behind a stone wall) and on to yet another fine sandy beach at Pelistry Bay. We saw no more than a dozen cars all day.
The Scillies don't always operate at such a go-slow pace. On a mid-morning "island sea safari", we raced around some of its 51 granite outcrops (Innisvouls, Ganninick, Men-a-Vaur) looking at seal colonies and shipwreck sites on a high-speed rib. It's not always warm, either. It was certainly too cold for snorkelling with seals (a feature of the sea safari's summer menu); and a little too early, we discovered, for puffins.
We did manage, however, to bag an off-shore audience with a local Scilly fisherman. On his first trip of the season, he was hauling in crab and lobster pots when we pulled up alongside his fishing boat. The meeting was meant to offer us a snapshot of traditional island life, but with 12 gawping tourists in his sights, the fisherman couldn't resist a commercial plug for his on-line delivery service. "It's double-u, double-u, double-u, dot, scilly shellfish, dot, co, dot, uk," he yelled as we sped away towards St Martins. As you can tell, not everything in the Scillies has bypassed the 21st century.
Way to go
Getting there: British International (01736 363871) operates daily helicopter flights from Penzance to St Mary's at £125rtn. For information on the Scillonian III from Penzance (from £85 return), or the Skybus services from Newquay, Land's End, Southampton Exeter or Bristol (adult fares £115-£275 rtn), contact Isles of Scilly Travel (0845 710 5555).
Where to Stay: The Star Castle Hotel at Hugh Town (01720 422317) £85pp for BB&D. A special offer until the end of April includes three night's BB&D and flights from Newquay or Penzance at £375pp.
Further information: Isles of Scilly Tourist Information Centre (01720 422536) or visit scillyonline.co.uk.