If you’re a Brit and hankering for a taste of home but still want to get off the beaten track, this destination could just be the answer. For everyone else, of course you don’t have to be heading home to visit this gorgeous archipelago which sits off the coast of Cornwall, at the UK’s most southerly point.

Just 2,200 people live on the five inhabited islands – St. Mary’s, Tresco, St. Martin’s, Bryher and St. Agnes. And, if that’s not quiet enough for you, there are countless uninhabited islands to explore. The Scillies are rugged, clean and beautiful and with flower farming and lobster fishing making up much of the local economy, you’ll have an idea of the pace of life.

Tresco is known as the island of luxury and, though it’s privately owned, you’re still welcome to book a stay in some seriously upmarket accommodation and take in the famous Tresco Abbey Garden which, as well as thousands of rare and exotic plants, includes The Valhalla collection, a colourful display of figureheads salvaged from the islands’ shipwrecks!

St Martin’s is a beach paradise boasting miles of white sand with quaint names like Bread and Cheese Cove and you can explore the tiny islets to catch a glimpse of puffins and seal colonies not far off shore. If you want to get closer, you can actually take a diving trip to swim with them too.

The biggest of the islands is St Mary’s, where most of the population lives. But don’t be put off, it’s still not exactly bustling and once you’re away from the two main settlements, you’ll find cliff paths, sandy beaches, everything you could want for a secluded break

If you’re travelling with kids, and this is a superb destination to get them away from their screens, or just want to rediscover your own childhood, get lost in Michael Morpurgo’s Why The Whales Came. A thrilling adventure story, it’s set in 1914 and gives a taste of the islands’ character in bygone day.