Everyone fantasises about it at some point or another – the dream scenario of living on an island all by yourself, with not a worry in the world.
While there will unfortunately always be some worries – where do you go when you want a cup of tea but have run out of milk? – the dream of living on your island could be a reality, if you can afford it and you’re willing to move there in the first place.
The latest dream house/island combo is that of Inchmarnock, which is at the nothern end of the Sound of Bute, in the Firth of Clyde, off the west coast of Scotland.
The 660-acre island is just a 10-minute ferry ride from the seaside town of Rothesay, and handily comes with its own ferry so you can pop back to the mainland whenever you want.
The island comes with an impressive four-bedroom farm house, as well as several uninhabited buildings. Inchmarnock is 2.5 miles in length, half a mile wide and boasts 4.75 miles of coastline.
The purchase of the island and house also includes a farm, native woodland, a bespoke ferry and a small private harbour for that very ferry. The cost? £1.4 million. Pocket change.
Inchmarknock has been owned by a couple since 1999, who used the property there as a holiday home, but are now looking to sell the entire thing.
The island is steeped in history too, having once been a target of Viking raids, a D-Day training ground complete with still visible bomb craters, and a Bronze Age burial site. In the 1960s, a Bronze Age woman – known as the Queen of the Inch – was discovered buried on the island, lying in a stone coffin, wearing a black lignite necklace and holding a flint dagger, MailOnline reports.
According to Strutt & Parker, the estate agents who are selling Inchmarnock:
There is already a successful farming enterprise and a lovely family home on the nearby shore of Bute but there is significant potential to build up the sportings, develop the existing residential offering and to capitalise on the various amenities offered by the island such as the native woodland, watersports and fishing.
A Scottish island embodies the romance many people associate with the country’s prime estates and farms.
Inchmarnock is stunning with great heritage and is a peaceful and secluded haven, yet it is relatively accessible from Scotland’s central belt.
The island is also rumoured to have been used as a burial ground for victims of the 13th century Battle of Largs between Norway and Scotland, but I’m sure that won’t stop you sleeping soundly in your house on your private island.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.