Isles of Scilly with 1 & 2 year olds.Anyone been?

[Skodafabulous]

Looking at Tresco ( found somewhere affordable as not going in school holidays).Anyone been with kids this age?Is a week too long? Would another island be better?It is quite an effort to get there..would Cornwall be just as good?Have read some older threads on here which make references to Boden & Fulham-on-Sea..what exactly does that mean?(I quite like Boden!)

We took DD when she was 2.7 I think and stayed on Tresco. She loved it - lots of beaches, being on a bike with DH, picnics and little walks, boat trips to other islands, lots of icecreams, hotel pool twice a day. It was a lovely holiday and we spent 8 nights there I think, in June a couple of years ago

The downsides were just the difficulties in getting there - even flying seemed to take ages, and if we did it again I'd get the sleeper from London then helicopter to the islands I think. And if the weather hadn't been good it would have been grim. The water is always cold though, at least 2 or 3 degrees colder than in Cornwall.

The other thing is that the boats that go from island to island are biggish, and the men who run them are really helpful, but watching people with buggies wobble up and down the steps to the boat and lift babies and buggies in and out made me really glad we only had DD and no buggy. Unless you are both really competent at getting into and out of boats with babies and buggies stuck under your arms I'd think twice about lots of excursions off the islands once you're there. You might be better off in Cornwall.

Re the Boden references, Tresco especially is full of Boden and Joules clothes, and people who like an aperitif before dinner (like me)

Tresco is lovely . There isn't much going on there, but it is very safe and a great place for young children to run around. The only tricky bit with two little ones are the boats getting to and from the islands, but that's part of the experience and the guys running them are used to families so are very helpful.

I'd recommend Tresco as a base and visiting the other islands whilst you are there, otherwise you will be missing out (St Martin's is simply stunning).

We've been on the sea plane and the helicopter. The helicopter is a magical experience for 2 year old ( but very loud). My preference is definately for the helicopter which I think takes you straight to Tresco. The ferry is a much cheaper travel option, but I'm told the crossing isn't a great one. I would definately recommend going so I've never tried it - it is an amazing place.

Theres not much to do there if the weather is bad. great if you can get out and about but not so if you cant. avoid times of the year when there is fog as you could find it difficult to get on/off. imo cornwall is much better and if you want to go to the scillies do a day trip there. you have more choice of things to do if the weather is poor. we stay in se cornwall because it is easier to get to on the a38 rather than the a30 car park road and not anywhere near newquay which i personally cant stand. references to Boden i usually take to mean upper middle class with badly behaved kids and parents who want to stick them in kids clubs all day but i am probably wrong about this.

Thanks for all the replies,but have decided against it for this year due to travel schedule!Easier and overall cheaper to do Balearic beach holiday..