Cloud-white beaches, a subtropical microclimate and a relaxed pace – all less than three hours by ferry from the mainland. England’s only archipelago is a beloved holiday destination made up of a mix of around 200 islands, islets and rocks and attracting around 100,000 visitors in the peak months of summer. It has also been named the nation’s friendliest place to live in a new index compiled using data from the government-run community life survey.

The Isles of Scilly have a population of around 2,360 that’s spread across the five inhabited islands. Among those residents is Anna Browne, who lives on St Martin’s, which became her adopted home in 1998.

“I first came to the island in 1990 on a diving holiday, and did what everyone does – fell in love with the place,” she says. “I came over in a massive storm; it was wet and windy. Then, the next morning, there was blazing sunshine, calm sea, and I thought: ‘What is this place I’ve come to? It’s amazing’.”

Browne returned to the islands for holidays many times over the years. She eventually found a job at a diving school on St Martin’s before going on to set up St Martin’s Watersports, which hires out kayaks, paddleboards and snorkelling sets. She has now lived on the northernmost and third-largest of the islands for 28 years, and says she can’t imagine wanting to leave.

With around 140 people living on St Martin’s, she says you eventually get to know everyone. “I think the reason it’s so friendly is partly because so many people come here on holiday, so they are relaxed.

“So many tourists come regularly; some people have been coming for 20, 30, 40, even 50 years. I know what time of year it is by the visitors I see. Because it’s quite a relaxed lifestyle here, people say it’s like England in the 1950s. There are lots of honesty stalls around. People stop and chat.

“I think Scilly brings out the best in people.”

Browne adds: “I find it really lovely that everyone knows your business. I broke my leg in March. I had so many flowers [from neighbours]. I had cooked food left in the house for us to eat.”

Island life wouldn’t suit everyone for more than a holiday, and that’s just as well given the size of the Isles of Scilly, and peace being part of their appeal. But Browne says St Martin’s is a place that welcomes tourists.

She adds: “Anyone who has a business here knows that it’s the tourists that keep us going.”

Browne tends to work up to six days a week and tries to travel elsewhere when she does take a holiday.

However, she makes the most of the island’s local businesses and takes trips to neighbouring islands when she has a chance. Here are her favourite spots.

The Seven Stones Inn, St Martin’s

“The view from the pub is amazing,” says Browne, of the island’s one public house. It’s on an elevated area in St Martin’s Lower Town and has views across the Atlantic, both out of the pub windows and from the leafy terrace. On clear days, you can see the islands of Tresco and St Mary’s.

This collection of eight uninhabited islands to the south-east of St Martin’s is protected as the Eastern Isles nature reserve and is a Site of Special Scientific Interest for its flora, fauna and fragile marine habitats. The islands are around 1.1 miles from St Martin’s, or around 15 minutes by boat from St Martin’s Quay.

Brown says: “If I’ve got a quiet evening, or if I’ve got friends over, we might paddle over to an uninhabited island by kayak and watch the sunset there or take pizza and have tea there.

“They’re generally really quiet, and you’re often the only person there in the evenings. It’s nice to see a different place, with different beaches.”

Gig Shed Cafe, St Mary’s

“If I was on St Mary’s (around 15 minutes by boat from St Martin’s) I would probably go to the Gig Shed Cafe and have food there. That’s on Porthmellon Beach,” says Browne.

The business is set among other gig sheds, huts that are traditionally used to store Cornish gigs, or rowing boats. It has views over the harbour and serves vegetarian food.

Browne says: “Adam [Morton] goes out and catches the fish. His brother James grows the potatoes. Adam’s wife Fiona makes the puddings. The food there is always really good.”

The takeaway in St Martin’s Higher Town dates to 2003, when Adam, a fisherman, was looking for an outlet for his fish. Options on the menu include lobster scampi and freshly caught pollock, both, of course, served with chips.

The Island Bakery, St Martin’s  

Browne says: “The fresh bread is fantastic. Barney bakes through the winter. They do tarts, and, generally, really lovely food. Quite often people will go to the bakery, grab food, then go off to explore the [Eastern] islands.”