Bryher

Bryher is a small, low-lying island parish in the western group of the Isles of Scilly, off the tip of England. Its terrain mixes windswept heath, grassy dunes and granite outcrops with long sandy bays and a fringe of skerries, making it a magnet for walkers, birdwatchers, seals and boat trips to the offshore rocks and wreck sites; there is a well-known hotel and campsite at Hell Bay.

The community is tiny and close-knit, with an economy centred on tourism and small-scale agriculture and fishing, swelling in summer when day-trippers and holiday-makers arrive. The island wears its history lightly - prehistoric burial mounds and tales of shipwrecks litter the shoreline - and it even lent its name to the writer who used the pen-name Bryher, a nice cultural footnote to island life; for many services residents travel the short hop to St Mary's.