An idyllic 453-acre private island is for sale off the west coast of Scotland and has sandy beaches, plenty of puffins, seven houses, a pub, a helipad and a herd of black-faced sheep.
Sanda Island, located between Scotland and Northern Ireland, off the southern tip of the Kintyre Peninsula, was made famous by the 1977 song “Mull of Kintyre” by Paul McCartney and Wings.
Over the years, it has had historical associations with monks, saints and kings. It was visited by the Scottish King Robert the Bruce and King Hacon of Norway and its chapel has connections with Saint Columba and Saint Ninian. This island has had many owners over the years but the most famous is Jack Bruce of the rock band Cream.
The island is reached by boat – there are rock slides at both ends – or by helicopter. There, amid sprawling greenery surrounded by cliffs, are seven settlements – four on the north end and three on the south, right next to the picturesque lighthouse perched on the rocky outcrop.
Accommodation can accommodate up to 26 people, enough for a small crowd at the Byron Darnton Tavern, named after a ship that sank off the island in 1946. It was established in 2003 by the previous owners Dick and Meg Gannon and a few people served guests who arrived by boat but closed after the island was purchased in 2010 by Swiss businessman Michi Meier.
Its own pub
The pub “got a lot of press coverage and was open during the summer months,” explains Tom Stewart-Moore, head of rural affairs for Scotland at Knight Frank, which handled the sale. “For the next owner, it offers the opportunity to keep the property as their private getaway or diversify and make some money through offering exclusive use, unique vacations with luxury accommodation. There is also the option of reopening the pub to provide something for those sailing up and down the West Coast.”
It still has a liquor license, should subsequent owners wish to restore the pub, and it also has a registered farm code. The island formerly had a small farm and a herd of 55 black-faced sheep that still call the island home.
“The sheep take care of themselves, they are the island's grass cutters and need little management,” says Stewart-Moore. “They are included as part of the sale.”
There's wildlife as well as livestock: Bird watchers can delight in flocks of puffins, kittiwakes, cormorants, shags, razorbills and many other feathered residents.
If all that isn't charming enough, Sanda is also known by locals in Argyll and Bute as “Spoon Island” due to its resemblance to an inverted spoon. This is also one of the few Scottish islands to print its own stamps.
The island has seven residential buildings. (Courtesy of Knight Frank via CNN Newsource)
The island is 23 meters (75 feet) high at its highest point and on a clear day you can see Northern Ireland's Antrim Hills, about 20 miles away across the North Channel. Campbelltown, in Scotland, is the main access to the island by boat and has a large marina, several whiskey distilleries and Scotland's oldest cinema.
A little money
Knight Frank said the vendor was seeking offers in excess of 2.5 million pounds ($3.1 million). Several additional islands are also up for sale: 31.72-acre Sheep Island and tiny Glunimore Island (4.41 acres).
Most of the accommodation on the island has been recently refurbished and has new double glazing. “Power is currently generated on the island by three generators,” Stewart-Moore said. “However, subsequent owners have the opportunity to explore renewable energy sources to supplement or enhance the island's power supply.”
He said they received “a large number or viewing requests.” As for the profile of the type of person who might spend a few million on an island, Stewart-Moore says, “Potential buyers will primarily fall into two categories; or a wealthy individual would buy it for his own use and keep it private. Or it will be someone who seeks to commercialize the pub and buildings, increase or enhance the agricultural activity on the ground and potentially go down the path of self-sufficiency.”
If this year you're yearning to tend to your sheep and go off the grid, start checking behind the sofa for coins. Sanda Island awaits.
