With no inhabitants, shops, pubs or restaurants Isle Martin might not sound like the most fun place to live.
But for those who love peace and quiet it could prove to be the ideal place to settle and take on a new and rather unusual role.
The island’s community trust is looking for a resident caretaker to look after it, but specifies that the right applicant must be resourceful and not reliant on creature comforts.
With no running hot water, only a small solar electrical charger that may power a phone or a laptop or even some lights at the island’s three properties, it is also essential that the candidate is practical and resourceful.
Isle Martin, near Ullapool, has no full-time residents but needs someone to keep the island in shape for visitors this summer, reports the BBC.
While not exactly a holiday hotspot, the tiny island, which sits at 400 acres in size below the towering cliffs of Beinn Mhor Coigach and opposite the ancient Viking Fort of Dun Canna at the mouth of Loch Broom, in Scotland, has just enough going on to keep visitors busy for a few hours.
There are two beaches, a micro museum housed in a hut, and a hill which is great for birdwatching.
The island will also be hosting Scotland's first seaweed festival this year between 6-12 September. And occasionally, volunteers run a pop-up café when visitors come.
The plastic-free, sustainable island was gifted to the community by the RSPB and Isle Martin Trust became a charity in 1999. Over the years it has held a monastery, a herring curing station and a flour mill, but is now recognised as a bird sanctuary.
The volunteer caretaker will be the first full-time resident to live on the island in 30 years and the move signals the start of plans for the trust to generate interest in the area.
"It is a bit of housekeeping,” explained Trust director Becky Thomson about the advertised position. “They need to keep the three houses on the island prepared for guests, clean the public toilets, welcome the visitors and make sure they are sticking to Covid safety measures."
The work will comprise putting in around three hours a day. In return, the caretaker gets to live on the island in provided accommodation, earn £150 expenses per week and enjoy all the place has to offer. While there are no other residents, the island is only five minutes by boat from the mainland, near the Summer Isles - a group of islands which lie off Achiltibuie on the beautiful Coigach Peninsula.
Unsurprisingly, one of the specifications for the role is that the applicant can drive a power boat, as without one they are likely to be stranded.
In particular, the trust said it would welcome volunteers who brought specific skills they may wish to share for the benefit of the community during their time on Isle Martin.
"If someone enjoyed the land, they could revive our vegetable garden if they wanted,” Ms Thomson added.
She also explained why she thinks people fall in love with the place, despite what it lacks in terms of entertainment and provisions.
"The sense of escape and peace and quiet," she said. "It is so near the mainland but as soon as you land on the island it's lovely and peaceful. There are no cars, no roads. Just quiet. That's what people like - the feeling of restfulness."
The trust has extended the application deadline until 22:00 on 1 June and more details on how to apply are at the island trust's Facebook page.
