A godsend for holidaymakers staying at the nearby Sea Garden Cottages and other addresses in and around inviting, flower-strewn Tresco, the Ruin Beach Café stands right by the water’s edge – waves almost lap around your feet when you’re eating alfresco. The menu is short, sweet and rustically Italian, with fashionable sharing plates lining up alongside wood-fired pizzas, local seafood and other sunny Med-influenced specialities. Highlights might include pork, beef and fennel polpette (meatballs) with basil linguine, wood-roasted rump of lamb with caponata, lemon sole with orange, herbs and pine nuts, truffled macaroni cheese and roast corn-fed chicken breast with savoy cabbage and Puy lentils. Buffet breakfasts are handy for early risers, and there are afternoon cream teas too. The name refers to the fact that part of the building was a ruined smuggler’s cottage.