A last-minute decision to take advantage of the Locals offer (£25 each return)  to visit the Scillies again on a day trip meant an early start. The alarm was set for 5.45am and that proved just right. In arriving at Penzance we joined the small queue to pick up our tickets – the staff were incredibly helpful and efficient………and in no time at all we were wandering along the harbour to board the Scillonian. These are the mini containers which hold passengers’ luggage, but also anything and everything that the Scillies need that they don’t have or grow themselves.Seeing Penzance like this early in the morning makes you wonder why you don’t get up early more often.Anyhow we were soon settled in for the 2 hours 45 minutes journey with a coffee and lovely fresh warm pastry each and the Times crossword, sudoku, word wheel etc which are our daily attempt to activate our brains for the strenuous days of retirement. The sea was placid, the day hot and sunny as we exited the harbour.Everything secured nice and firmly….It’s always interesting to see places from a different angle…here Mousehole.And it’s a joy to arrive in the scattered isles of the Scillies……before berthing in St Mary’s……where we hopped off rather sharpish to ensure we made the inter-island ferry to Tresco our destination for the day.You see all kinds of craft, and nearing Tresco…………….the incredible white-sanded beaches gleamed in the sun, and all of them were, as they often are apparently, practically deserted. Paradise!On our walk to the Abbey and Gardens there were flowers galore growing wild..here one of my particular favourites Agapanthus…and everything was super-sized…All this before we got to the Gardens….Before visiting the Gardens themselves we had a light lunch in their cafe sitting in the beflowered courtyard soaking up the sun. After that we were ready. Now if you don’t like pictures of flowers, plants, settings like the Garden of Eden look away now…….and there was wildlife too…here a magnificent Golden Pheasant…I don’t think you should be feeding them bananas but still. I also saw a red squirrel, apparently introduced on the island by Judy Dench’s husband of all people……The shapes against the blue sky were pretty special and the feeling you were in some tropical paradise, rather like the Eden project but all outside in real-life as it were, never left you.And it wasn’t just plants and flowers that were special, there was a huge range of modern sculpture something I would normally take with a pinch of salt but here somehow all very appropriate…..This particular sculpture of a balancing box lies below the Abbey house itself where the Dorrien-Smiths who own Tresco (yes it is a private island) live……even the well was turned into a piece of sculpture…..The Shell House (1994), a pretty shell grotto designed and made by Lucy Dorrien-Smith, has a shell-themed tile floor, and individual initialled tiles commemorating members of the family can be seen amongst the shells on its internal walls. But the craftsmanship was incredible. The finest shell house I have seen, and I have seen a few.Towards the end of our stroll around the gardens we happened upon a fruit and vegetable area which was patently not part of the main run of things. Our assumption was that this was maintained (in tip-top condition) for the Abbey owners themselves.It also contained cutting beds, again probably for the owners vases.We had the ferry to catch at 3.30pm to link up with the Scillonian, so we reluctantly left the gardens. On our way to New Grimsby a mile away we passed huge swathes of Agapanthus..the outside of the house itself….and finally had beautiful vistas opening up of the sea……I noted in the outskirts of the hamlet that they had even named a square after me (very nice of them)and passing the beautiful cottages in their verdant setting we made our way…. ……to the Flying Boat Bar and Bistro with its enviable views….where we just had time for a quick if very expensive pint no doubt delivered by the Scillonian and then ferried to the island….