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Visit to Tresco

15th - 19th May 2009

A small party of 4 couples, members & friends, set off on the Friday morning to make the journey to Tresco, one of the Scilly Islands. After a 300 mile drive to Penzance, a beer break was called for, so a halt was called at the White Hart, Ludgvan (GBG09 p84), which is conveniently situated about 2 miles from the heliport. Beers on offer were Skinners Betty Stogs, Sharps Doom Bar & Sharps Own. The beer is dispensed by gravity from barrels behind the bar - I was quite surprised to find aspirators in use & in full view here........

We arrived at the heliport to find that someone had broken the helicopter & we had to climb aboard a coach for the short trip to Land's End aerodrome. The grass was freshly mowed & a 16 seat Otter awaited us for the short hop to St. Mary's. On arrival we were whisked down to the quay & a waiting high speed ferry to Tresco - no chance to sample the pubs on St. Mary's!

A short tractor & trailer ride & we were at the New Inn, our home for the next 4 nights. We were soon settled into our rooms & having got over the surprise of a Skinner's Tresco Tipple tankard, a New Inn fleece & a voucher for ten half pints each, we headed to the bar & the all important Music & Beer Festival, especially the latter bit! Robin Lawson, our host at the New Inn, had about 36 beers & 3 ciders listed. As the festival lasted for 4 days, not all the beers were available at once. There were 5 handpumps on the bar, which were changed as they ran out &, in addition, there were usually another 4 or 5 available straight from the cellar. There were one or two old favourites - Abbeydale Moonshine, Skinner's Betty Stogs, Isle of Purbeck Fossil Fuel to name but three. Newcomers to me, that made an impression were: Golden Ale from Wye Valley, Ramsbury Ale from the Ramsbury Brewery & Dark Island from Orkney. Local breweries Skinner's, Sharp's & St. Austell were all well represented, along with beers from places further a field such as Scotland, Wales & about 15 English counties. The beers were all at the special price of £3.00 per pint, reduced from the usual £3.10!

One highlight of the festival was a personal appearance by the famous Betty Stogs herself! Betty was charming & very practiced at extracting money for her charity collecting tin - raising thousands of pounds over the last year or so for a variety of good causes.

I wouldn't want you to think we spent the whole 4 days in the bar! There was plenty of opportunity for us to explore Tresco, a beautiful, idyllic island run as an estate with no litter, no graffiti, hardly any vehicles & lots of peace & quiet. In addition to the pub, there is one hotel, one shop & one health club. The famous Abbey Gardens are a must, even those not interested in plants cannot fail to be impressed. Beware the cafeteria - there  the local birds will try to mug you for any food you may have! The birds on the islands generally seem to have no fear of humans & have obviously realised that we are an easy source of food. The island is small enough to walk round in one day, but, hey, why rush - the pub is more or less in the centre of the island & so makes a very convenient rest halt every time you come across it! The weather was reasonably kind to us, not much rain, lots of sunshine & blue skies, but a persistent 30 mphish wind blew from the SW for the whole 4 days. This at least meant that the seas were quite spectacular.

On the Monday we decided to be more adventurous & caught the local ferry to the neighbouring island of Bryher. A walk across the island, to the side exposed to the prevailing winds brought us to the spectacular & aptly named Hell Bay, where many a navigator has come unstuck. After this it was a relief to find a small pub on the island - the Fraggle Rock Bar, where a very welcome pint of Doom Bar was available for £2.80.

Overall Impressions:
Tresco is such a wonderful island I'd go back even if there wasn't a beer festival on!!
Robin & all his staff at the New Inn were friendly & efficient making our stay all the more enjoyable.
The New Inn is ideal - run like a hotel with the atmosphere of a pub, as well as excellent beers the food was always spot on.

For our return trip on the Tuesday morning, we were fortunate that the helicopter had been mended & we were able to fly direct from Tresco to Penzance in about 15 minutes. That left us with a very wet 300 mile drive home, so we broke the journey for a little sunshine at the Tom Cobley Tavern, Spreyton, the CAMRA Pub of the Year 2006 & a finalist for 2008. It has been an ambition to visit this pub for a couple of years & now the chance presented itself - what a wonderful pub. The landlord, Roger Cudlip, made us very welcome & we were even given a quick tour of the cellar even though he was carving the meat for a private luncheon! The pub has accommodation - I feel another trip coming on!!

Words & Photos by Alan

Birds Eye View of the Tresco Beer Festival by Rose Cooke

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