The winter months see Tresco at its quietest, and what better time for Gallery Tresco’s bank of artists to visits, stay and gather inspiration for the season ahead. Tresco is home to two artists’ chalets, and the gallery organise week long residencies from the end of October through to January. These stays provide the basis for each artist’s catalogue of Tresco works, which will then be featured in exhibitions and collections at Gallery Tresco throughout the following season. Nicola Hancox reflects on her recent stay on Tresco this winter.

“Thanks to Lucy and Robert Dorrien Smith’s generosity, I have just returned from a wonderful week’s artist residency in one of the artist chalets.
This year my husband came with me, so whilst he was searching the shoreline for cowrie shells and reading the final book in the Stieg Larsson trilogy, I was out gathering as much information as I could to bring home with me to my studio to paint for my next exhibition at Gallery Tresco.
The location of the chalet is idyllic. It is hidden away at Borough Farm in such a peaceful spot with marvellous views over to St Martins. I have been coming to Scilly for over 40 years and have only discovered this area since staying at the Chalets. I love the path from the chalet that leads all the way to Old Grimsby and I love the veg stall just below. One day I must paint this view.
On a typical day, I will leave early and make my way down to the beach, because what I love to paint more than anything else is the sea lapping onto Tresco’s white sparkling sand and the different stages of the tide. Here I sketch, make notes and take photo’s to bring home to my studio to then work up into a painting.
The day flies by so quickly, with just a short break in the New Inn for lunch. At the end of the day, just before the light fades, early in November, I like to head for Appletree Bay, always hoping to see a beautiful sunset over Tresco and Bryher. Then back to the chalet for a cuppa before returning to the New Inn by torchlight for supper.
Although I find Tresco wonderful at all times of the year, as each season brings different moods and colours, winter is particularly lovely. The weather can be as beautiful and sunny as any summer’s day or, may be very dramatic with fast moving clouds or peaceful and quiet with soft grey winter light. The sea too can be amazing. I really enjoy walking up the north end of the island and watching the big sea’s rolling in between Tresco and St Martin’s and the waves crashing into Piper’s Hole. Another scene I must paint!
Several years before I went to Art School in 1974, I was lucky to discover the Isles of Scilly as a child with my Parents. I feel very privileged I am now able to spend my days painting all its beauty.”
You can view Nicola’s work along with that of many others on the gallery’s website: http://www.tresco.co.uk/what-to-do/gallery/default.aspx






























Run Chicken Run
It’s said that one of the most stressful things a person can do in their lifetime is to move house, but not so for the chickens and ducks in Tresco Abbey Garden! As Abbey Garden student Brenda Bracken discovers…
The new Chicken Run at Tresco Abbey Gardens
Some months ago, the Piante Faro nursery in Sicily kindly donated thirty seven olive trees to Tresco Abbey Garden. Speaking to Dave Hamilton, who is responsible for the Vegetable Garden, he mentioned that he was keen to extend productivity, and so it was decided to create an olive grove in his area of the garden. The chicken run had to be moved, as it was the most suitable site for the olives, being protected from the wind by Olearia and Monterey Cypress trees.
This was the perfect opportunity to improve the chicken run – firstly by moving it to a nearby area where there were trees for shelter and shading, providing a nesting spot for ducks laying their eggs; and secondly by replacing the chicken wire fence with picket fencing, which was visually more ornamental. “One of the problems with ducks in the summer – they like to lay outside and before I arrive in the mornings, already seagulls swoop down and get the eggs. What one seagull does is it flies over my shed and drops the egg in flight on to the hard surface of the shed roof to break the egg and then comes down to eat the contents…. now with the Eucalyptus trees in there, they can hide away and hopefully hide the eggs.”
Chickens and ducks under the eucalyptus.
Dave Hamilton feeding the chickens
There are two breeds of chicken in the run, and Dave told me a little bit about them “The white ones are light Sussex, of which we’ve got four, and the brown ones are a hybrid, a cross between Rhode Island Red and a breed called Warren which is a hybridised breed purely for egg laying, short lived, but while living, they lay quite prolifically. The majority of the chickens are in their second year now, the Light Sussex have been here 2 years and most of the brown ones are 2 years old now. What we like to do is replace them every 2 years. Their main laying period is the first 12 months, beyond that the egg production goes down”. And as for the ducks, “They have been in the garden longer than me! I’ve been here 6 years; the ducks are a good 7 or 8 years old”.
Enquiring about what they eat, Dave informed me “I feed them a mixture of poultry corn, which is a mixture of wheat and maize; and layer pellets, which help with egg formation, 50% of each, plus kitchen waste, and they pick over the compost heap for earthworms as well”.
As well as a new run, the chickens also benefited from the building of two new nest boxes and the provision of two automated feeders. “The majority of them use the nest box but I’ve got one laying by the Myrtle tree behind the hedge. I can tell when I come to feed them in the morning, you get the odd chicken that’s singing almost, and she’s got that urge to lay an egg and sometimes you see one walking up and down along the fence looking to get out, I just keep my eye on that one to see where she goes. I don’t take all the eggs away, because if I did that, the chicken would just go and lay somewhere else, so what I tend to do is leave one egg there, to encourage the chicken to keep laying there, and I also do the same in the chicken house, just leave one or 2 eggs in the box to encourage them to keep on laying in the box”. On occasion, instead of leaving an egg in the nest, Dave has used a white golf ball which the chicken thinks is an egg. “It’s just a way of making sure they lay in the same place.”
Brand new chicken feeders
Although the chickens now have two houses, they all crowd into one of them at night time to roost. “The other house is not being slept in, but there are 1 or 2 eggs being laid in there, so they are using that house for laying but not for roosting”.
Altogether it took between two to three weeks to build the new chicken run. There were forty posts to be placed which meant digging forty holes, each one eighteen inches deep, and then they had to be filled with concrete. “Every post had to be the right distance apart and also upright. Once I’d done that and the concrete had set, then it was a pretty quick process of actually screwing the panels to the posts….it was certainly a nice project to be involved with”.
Asking Dave how well they adapted to their new home, “I think they’re very happy now, they’ve got the new feeders, so they can feed whenever they desire now, they’ve got shading which is beneficial, and I think for the chickens being in amongst the branches, it’s a bit more interesting for them as well. I like to think they’re more contented birds now”.
Looks like the chickens and the olives will live happily side by side…..
Cuddling up under the eucalyptus
Other news from around the garden….
For the last three weeks two volunteers, Larissa and Emma, have been working with us in the garden. It’s been great working them, but sadly Larissa is leaving for the mainland tomorrow morning. We shall miss her…safe travelling Larissa. The good news is that Emma is still with us for another week or so.
Larissa and Emma