Rooms with a View: The Atlantic Inn, Isles of Scilly (St Mary’s)
We have written these blogs so they can be enjoyed independently or in sequence. If you want to start at the beginning, click here: https://www.havehusbandwilltravel.com/adventures-1/2020/8/3/a-week-in-the-isles-of-scilly
Sometimes thought of as a middle-class playground, there’s actually a variety of options across the Isles of Scilly when it comes to somewhere to place your weary head at night. From traditional hotels, to a seafaring equivalent of a coaching inn, luxury resorts, campgrounds, guesthouses and B&Bs, there really is something for every budget. And if your budget is resilient enough that you’ve got a yacht or boat of your own, there’s even mooring locations across the islands too, as we saw from the window of our particular accommodation choice, The Atlantic Inn.
The view from our room (Room 20). Someone had thoughtfully decided to moor their boat right outside.
Then there is the choice of which island you are going to stay on. As first time visitors to the English archipelago, we decided to go for the main (and largest) isle of St Mary’s and, indeed, the main settlement on that islet, Hugh Town. We weren’t disappointed.
Even in a Covid-19 world, there was enough hustle and bustle, with only one noticeable business (a pub) in Hugh Town that had chosen not to re-open for the season. Plus, the town has the added bonus of being the home of the Boatman’s Association so journeys to other islands were quick and simple, and similarly, as the port of call for the Scillonian ferry, it’s just one stop away from the mainland too, where being based at one of the other islands would require a transfer, if travelling by boat, to St Mary’s first. There is also an airport (serving light aircraft and helicopters) for those who have read our piece on our initial crossing and would rather travel via wings or rotor rather than brave the channel.
Other accommodation choices include the sizeable campground at St. Agnes which has beautiful views over the coast (and is just a short walk to the fantastic and most southerly public house in the British Isles, The Turk’s Head) and the Caribbean like-resorts and holiday homes on the much more exclusive, and thus developed, island of Tresco.
As previously mentioned, our ‘port of call’ for our six day stay was The Atlantic Inn in Hugh Town which is a tastefully appointed public house in the St Austell chain of breweries which has pubs, hotels and inns across Somerset, Devon and, of course, Cornwall. The inn has a number of different room types and when I booked this for David and I in the middle of June 2020, I decided upon a seaview double room class, which falls in their mid-range of nightly rates. As a couple who are landlocked, with the only regular body of water we see from day-to-day, being our pond or the canal that runs past our house, we always tend to take the ‘upsell’ to a seaview if it’s available. The seaview double promised a well-appointed and modern bedroom with a view across Hugh Town’s harbour, along with an ensuite bathroom.
A week-or-so before we were due to travel, I checked the hotel’s website and saw that at least one of their superior double class of rooms was still available (I think there’s 21 rooms in total in the inn). The superior double still includes a view across the harbour but also provides a little more space, with a beautiful dresser and writing desk being the centrepiece of the room along with an indoor sitting area providing a comfortable way to enjoy (socially distanced) sunrises and sunsets.
I joke about the socially distanced sunrises, but, travelling in a Covid-19 landscape did really make me look at my bookings and think about steps in which David and I could ensure we still had an enjoyable but safe holiday. Pre-stay, I’d envisioned a lot of premises still being closed due to the pandemic, which as I said, ultimately turned out not to be the case, however, I was still comforted by having our own indoor seating area that was just for the two of us.
And we put it to great use: we covered more than 60 miles across the week of our stay in Cornwall and we often retreated to our room for those oversized armchairs and a well deserved rest (ahead of going out to dinner or again on our return). We turned the little sitting area into an place where we listened to new albums or our favourite classic tracks (via the bluetooth speaker I thought to bring with me and Spotify) and we even had an impromptu gin tasting afternoon after ordering some Island Gin, a Scilly spirit made right there in St Mary’s, to be delivered to our room by the distiller. The seating area overlooks one of the pub’s outdoor terraces but the windows were adequately soundproofed so things didn’t get too noisy and, with last orders tending to be around 11pm, any noise we did hear didn’t go through into the night.
All of the rooms available have adequate storage (wardrobes, bedside drawers, etc.) and are tastefully decorated with comfortable beds and high-quality bedding. All rates include bed and breakfast as standard along with swift and reliable wifi (although the signing in-process does require providing some personal details as it is also being used as one of the NHS Test and Trace measures in place to keep both pub and hotel guests safe - we believe, as a hotel guest, you can speak to the reception staff who will prevent you from having to re-enter these personal details every three to four hours, but to for us, it was not too much of an inconvenience as we were really only in the room for a little time each morning, afternoon and evening).
Another important Covid-secure measure to note was the option offered by the hotel at check-in as to whether or not housekeeping was wanted during your stay. We felt very comfortable in having members of the housekeeping team in our room whilst we were out exploring (and always came back to find it spotlessly clean) but for travellers who are still a little nervous about travel during the pandemic, or perhaps have recently come out of shielding, it’s an option to be aware of as it may be very welcome.
As an inn, hotel guests get all the benefits of the pub below, too, with The Atlantic Inn having two outdoor terraces with views across the harbour along with indoor pub and restaurant seating areas which were very atmospheric with nautical themed paintings and historical photography of vessels visiting the Isles of Scilly. Breakfast was served in one of the restaurant areas and had a variety of options to ensure that guests who were there for a longer stay, like us, didn’t have to repeat their options all that often.
In addition to the previously mentioned housekeeping option, the pub and hotel had really comforting Covid-secure measures with plenty of hand sanitiser stations, staff wearing face coverings, food and drink having to be ordered and paid for through a bespoke smartphone app, one-way stickers around the public areas and regular clearing regimes all in place. The terraces and public areas all still had a fun ambience without ever feeling like there were too many people gathering in a way which would be unsafe.
Were there any negatives to our stay? If we’re being a bit picky, our room (room 20) was placed very high in the building so it did get very warm and without any air conditioning, it could get quite stuffy if you didn’t leave the windows open. As I’ve mentioned, it was quite relaxing in the evenings, with the noise from the pub not really being too much of an issue, but we did get woken every morning, just after sunrise, by the noisiest seagull, whom we nicknamed Sven, but that’s par for the course when you’re staying near the sea. Our energetic excursions from the previous day meant that we quickly fell back to sleep without too much issue, though (David wore earplugs to make sure).
All-in-all, especially as first time visitors to the Isles of Scilly, The Atlantic Inn was pretty much a perfect base of operations for us to enjoy everything the archipelago had to offer. We had an extremely comfortable room with our own little seating area to really enjoy the gorgeous views Hugh Town harbour offered and the location meant we had easy access to both the town’s many shops, bars and restaurants whilst being close to beaches on St Mary’s and to the quay for daily island-hopping.
We’d be lying if we didn’t say ahead of our trip, we were still a little apprehensive to holiday whilst the coronavirus was still in circulation, but our stay at The Atlantic Inn and on the island of St Mary’s had us feeling nothing but safe and, to use the lingo, ‘Covid-secure’. We would certainly urge others to consider a stay at the inn if, like us, you’re needing a restful and exciting break, but do not want to deal with foreign travel guidelines and ever-changing ‘travel-corridors’ as lockdown in the UK continues to slowly ease.
Find out more about The Atlantic Inn, or book your stay, by visiting: https://www.atlanticinnscilly.co.uk/
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