TREASURE ISLANDS

With cooling sea breezes and quiet beaches, the UK’s small islands are great places to enjoy a summer trip

- KATY HOLLAND

From wonderful windswept wildernesses to bucket-and-spade holiday favourites, the UK has more than 1,000 beautiful islands dotted around its rivers and coastline. Here are a few precious British offshore delights just waiting to be discovered…

Tiree, Inner Hebrides

The most westerly island of the Inner Hebrides and the ‘Hawaii of the north’, Tiree is a windswept, treeless ‘desert island’, with fewer than 700 inhabitants. Graced with prime fertile land and sparkling white beaches, it has an abundance of sunshine in the warm seasons, and the blustery elements attract countless windsurfers. Walkers will enjoy nearly 60km of mainly flat coastline, complete with a plethora of craggy inlets and glorious deserted beaches. Ferries to Tiree depart from Oban, or fly from Glasgow.

Guernsey, Channel Islands