Isle take it! Rare chance to escape rat race and live off-grid as sole resident on idyllic Channel island is on offer after warden quits job after 14 years in post
- Lihou’s warden Richard Curtis is leaving his post and will move off the island for first time in 14 years
- His job is now being advertised and one applicant will get the chance to live in only home on the island
- Successful applicant will be able to swim in the natural ‘Venus Pool’, and have a tractor for a company car
- Island’s history started with monks from Mont Saint Michel building a monastery in the 12th century
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A rare job opportunity has arisen to escape the daily grind to become a warden and sole inhabitant of a tiny island that features a natural swimming pool.
Lihou, which boasts breathtaking views, will offer one lucky person the chance to live off-grid. Its current warden, Richard Curtis, 50, has announced he is leaving his post and moving off the island for the first time in 14 years.
His job is now being advertised and one applicant will get the chance to live in the only home on the island – which is located 300 yards off the west coast of Guernsey and is often cut off for days at a time.
Lihou island warden Richard Curtis, 50, who has decided to leave his post on the Channel Islands after 14 years
Lihou, which boasts breathtaking views, will offer one lucky person the chance to live off-grid
The island just off Guernsye is home to nesting seabirds, including gulls and waders, and a huge variety of seaweed types
The warden’s job is now being advertised and one applicant will get the chance to live in the only home on the island
The States of Guernsey bought Lihou island in 1995 to ensure access for the people of Guernsey and visitors
Lihou House was completed during the 1970s, built on the footprint of the original granite farmhouse that once stood there
Mr Curtis has announced he is leaving his role as warden and moving off the island for the first time in 14 years
The successful applicant will live in the one house on the island – which is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean – be able to swim in the natural ‘Venus Pool’, and have a tractor for a company car.
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The house was built in the 1960s but became derelict a few decades later, before being rebuilt and refurbished by the Lihou Charitable Trust in 2005. The job is currently being offered by the trust.
Mr Curtis said: ‘Emma, my wife, feels now is the right time for a new adventure. The children have left or are leaving for university, so now seemed like a new time to try something different.
‘It will be good for the trust – a change of blood and fresh ideas.’
The trust was formed in 2005 and given a 21-year lease on the house. Mr Curtis was one of the trust founders and since then his life has centred around looking after the home and its occupants.
The successful applicant will live in the one house on the island of Lihou – which is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean
Mr Curtis said his wife ‘feels now is the right time for a new adventure’ and told how it was ‘time to try something different’
Lihou is only accessible by walking across a causeway at low tide, and can be cut off for days at a time
The tranquil island of Lihou has a rich history, with monks from Mont Saint Michel the earliest known settlers
The tidal island is known for its reed beds, shingle banks and ormers, which are a seafood delicacy in the Channel Islands
Lihou is only accessible by walking across a causeway at low tide, and can be cut off for days at a time.
Mr Curtis estimates he has made the trip across the causeway more than 7,000 times, but said each time it still looks different. He added that it had been ‘a privilege’ to do the job for 14 years.
He plans to leave in September 2019. But first, Mr Curtis wants to make sure the warden job is in safe hands – and there has already been a number of expressions of interest.
Mr Curtis, who is moving to France, added: ‘We want to find someone that will really want the job.
‘We need to find the right person. Someone who wants to work with children, who can proactively work by themselves and who likes driving a tractor as their company car.’
How Lihou’s history features Benedictine monks and a house used by the Germans for WWII target practice
The tranquil island of Lihou has a rich history, with Benedictine monks from Mont Saint Michel in Normandy in the earliest known settlers.
They built a monastery in the 12th century – the remains of which can still be seen – as they tried to convert Guernsey’s pagan community.
The site was first excavated by a local antiquary named FC Lukis in 1868, with modern excavations uncovering various artefacts including pottery, a sundial, a dating from the time of Henry III and a number of graves.
Monks built a monastery in the 12th Century – the remains of which can still be seen – as they tried to convert the pagan community
Lihou was also used for target practice by occupying German soldiers during the Second World War, with more than 100 pieces of ordinance found buried beneath the soil in the last few decades.
The current Lihou House was completed during the early 1970s, built on the footprint of the original granite farmhouse that once stood there – which was destroyed thanks to shelling by the German forces in the war.
The tidal island is known for its reed beds, shingle banks and ormers, which are a seafood delicacy in the Channel Islands. It also has an exceptionally large diversity of seaweed for such a small area, with 214 different types recorded there.
The island is also home to nesting seabirds, including gulls and waders, although the half mile-long causeway link to Guernsey is only accessible for two weeks of every month.
The monastery was first excavated by a local antiquary named FC Lukis in 1868, with modern excavations uncovering various artefacts
The States of Guernsey bought Lihou Island in 1995 to ensure access for the people of Guernsey and visitors, and the island’s house and grounds are managed by Lihou Charitable Trust.
The home generates its own drinking water, electricity and deals with its own sewage. Diesel for the generator and gas for the kitchen are transported to the island.
The house is available to anyone who wishes to book it, but the trust bans 18th, 21st birthday or stag parties ‘due to unfortunate past experiences’.
The island itself is the responsibility of the Environment Department of the States of Guernsey.
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