Once described as a giant’s stepping-stones to England, the Scilly Isles sit some 30 miles south west of Lands End. So, Hell Bay Hotel, on the tiny island of Bryher which is a mere mile long and just half a mile wide, has the honour of being England’s most westerly hotel.

In an age where social distancing has suddenly become fashionable, Bryher with a population of just 90 comes into its own. As young children take a boat to school on Tresco and older ones go to boarding school on St. Mary’s from Monday to Friday, Bryher is very, very peaceful. Most days the population is further depleted as the Pender family have gone fishing. As they have for the last three centuries.

For travellers, the journey to Bryher, is slow travel epitomised, putting a calming distance between workday frantic and the slow Scilly Isles pace of life: it provides a chance to read Michael Morpugo’s Why the Whales Came based in 1914 Bryher, not so very different from the rustic rhythms of Bryher today.

Small planes, helicopters and ferry all arrive at St Mary’s island: the Scilly Isles’ waiting room. If the tide is in – and round these parts the annual Book of Tides is a best seller – a small boat ferries you to Bryher’s beach. Then for the final leg of the adventure, a 4 x 4 takes you and your luggage across the sands to Hell Boy Hotel, the Scilly Isles’ most luxurious accommodation.

That accolade of Britain’s most westerly hotel is a mixed blessing. Come winter, bitter winds whip across the Atlantic, all the way from Canada. Towering waves, sometimes 150 feet tall crash into the churning, frothing maelstrom of Hell Bay. Unsurprisingly, Hell Bay Hotel closes from October until March.

In calm blue summer, with gentle azure seas and white sand beaches, there is a Caribbean feel to the Scilly islands. Yet, with fresh white clapperboard architecture, Hell Bay Hotel is reminiscent of a parade of New England beach houses.

Suites are light and bright with Lloyd Loom wicker furniture and Malabar fabrics. Custom-made Lucy-Tania textiles, featuring light natural pastels of cream and shell patterned pinks, are created on neighbouring Tresco. Sight lines are drawn to the vast picture window. A beach-comber theme, sub-tropical planting and laid-back guests also contribute to something of a Californian vibe.

Sourcing for Hell Bay Hotel’s three AA rosette restaurant is largely local. Nature’s provenance supplies wild garlic, leeks and potatoes on a menu featuring cod, hake, lobster, prawns and turbot, caught by the Pender family. Richard Kearsley, Head Chef, adapts to whatever nature provides. Recently, octopi featured in the daily changing menu after the Pender family fished a glut. In mid-summer, the hotel also runs a pop-up Crab Shack, ingeniously converted from an old net loft.

Still thinking local, even the hotel’s own gin is distilled with botanicals plucked from Scilly Isles beaches. Heading early to the bar is recommended to order your drinks, nab the two chairs on the Sunset Deck, then watch the sun crossing the Great Pool. The bar also features what is probably the south-west’s finest private collection of art.

Bryher islander Gem and Billy Harrigan bring restorative and rejuvenative meditation classes to the peacefulness of a serene new room decorated with designer wallpaper inspired by Tresco’s gardens. This is a place to cosset mind, body and soul with heated outdoor pool, gym, jacuzzi, massages, sauna and spa.

 

Paths cross Bryher, “the place of hills”, so walkers can clamber up the five hills with their binoculars to seek oystercatchers, curlews, little egrets, shags, a range of gulls and seals. Mild winters coax bulbs to flower early in February and plants flourish whose regular homes are usually in Madeira, New Zealand or South Africa. Most walkers call-in at artist Richard Pearce’s two studios. Although he has travelled the world, he has never missed a Bryher summer and he painted Hell Bay Hotel’s distinctive logo of three tall white-sailed yachts against an ocean blue, sky blue, back drop.

Four centuries ago, Bryher and Tresco were one. Then one day the tide came in and never went out. Though occasionally at low tide you can still walk the sand bar between the islands. Annually, Bryher hosts a unique festival of food, drinks and music on those sandflats.

That though is a rare moment of social buzz on this remote and rugged island. Stylish Hell Bay Hotel, on Bryher’s westerly shore, offers a retreat from urban din, provides a luxurious escape where you can relax and revitalise.