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We can help you book your perfect break to Tresco. We all live here, so it's our specialist subject!

Call us on +44 (0)1720 422 849 or email us.

By Helicopter - Direct to Tresco

By Helicopter - Direct to Tresco

Fly direct to Tresco with Penzance Helicopters - making the flight to the Isles of Scilly as memorable as the destination

Before you Arrive

Before you Arrive

Our pre-arrival checklist - from letting us know your travel plans to ordering your wine and groceries

Tresco Islandshare

Tresco Islandshare

Own a piece of this unique island, with 40 years of holidays on Tresco as more than just a visitor. Discover Islandshares for sale...

Tresco Offers & Breaks

Tresco Offers & Breaks

From seasonal escapes to wellness and creative breaks and last-minute offers, discover our latest offers & breaks on Tresco Island

Eating

Eating

From beachfront dining to our cosy inn, get a taste for island-inspired dining with a Tresco twist

Grocery

Grocery

Place a pre-arrival grocery order and we'll deliver to your accommodation on your arrival

Events & Experiences

Events & Experiences

From the Low Tide Event to live music, Abbey Garden Theatre and more, discover extraordinary events on the Isles of Scilly

Day Trips to Tresco

Day Trips to Tresco

Whether you're coming from elsewhere on Scilly, or further afield in Devon or Cornwall, a day trip to Tresco is the perfect day out

Winter in the Abbey Garden

As gardens across the country languor in a grey winter slumber, Tresco Abbey Garden is ablaze with colour.

Thanks to our curious climate, one of the finest times to experience the garden’s subtropical spectacle is actually the middle of winter.

Tresco’s location that lends it a year-round mild climate perfect for hosting a global gathering of plants from more than 80 countries – many of which would not survive just 30 miles away on the mainland.

It is this that leads many to call our 19th century garden ‘Kew with the lid off’, such is the stunning array of subtropical flowers which have made this rocky outcrop their home

Such is the winter wonder of the garden’s terraces and glades that, every New Year’s Day, the gardeners down their tools and instead take up paper and pens for the New Year flower count.

This annual island tradition has been taking place for more than 150 years and regularly records in excess of 250 species of plants in bloom, even in the height of an island winter.

Here’s a few plants you might spot in bloom in the garden over the winter months…

King Protea - South Africa

The national plant of South Africa, this is a real crowd-pleaser with garden visitors, beginning to flower from late September throughout the winter into the spring. The top terrace is brimming with these beautiful blooms and they're definitely a favourite with our cheeky red squirrels...

Candelabra Aloe - South Africa

A relative of the well-known Aloe vera, the leaves of the Aloe arborescens boast at least 75 known nutrients — including 20 minerals and 12 vitamins. This sprawling succulent brings a wonderful splash of colour to the winter garden with its sea of cylindrical orange blooms.

Passion Flowers - Peru

These evergreen plants throw out stunning purple flowers, used by early missionaries to the Americas to teach about the passion of Christ. You'll find them dotted around the garden but particularly on the middle terrace.

Canary Island Bellflower

A native of the cloud forests of the Canaries, this plant's beautiful, bell-shaped flowers produce abundant nectar, attracting a variety of insects including our Abbey Garden bees. The purple fruits are edible and somewhat comparable to the fig.

Clianthus Lobster Claw - New Zealand

This wonderfully exotic-looking shrub is now endangered in the wild. It's said to resemble the beak of the Kaka; a native New Zealand Parrot, but also a lobster's claw - far more apt for Tresco!

Banksia - Australia

Named for Sir Joseph Banks, the renowned English botanist who first documented the plants on his travels around Australia with Captain Cook. The flower heads are made up of hundreds (sometimes thousands) of tiny individual flowers grouped together in pairs.

Camelia - Asia

This showy shrub from the Himalaya may be relatively common across the country, but here on Tresco our mild climate means they are often in full bloom before Christmas.

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Stay on Tresco

Winter and Festive breaks are not always available to book online - for cottage stays or New Inn breaks over the winter months please go to Winter on Tresco or call 01720 422849.

Or call +44 (0)1720 422 849