Fancy Escaping The City Grind? The UK’s Most Remote Island Is Looking For a New Resident

Fair Isle, Scotland

by Anna Brech |
Published on

Many of us dream of ditching the 9-5 office grind but it's rather an elusive fantasy to fulfil.

Until now, that is.

A golden opportunity has arisen for stressed-out NHS workers looking to escape the city.

The remote and spectacularly beautiful Fair Isle in northern Scotland is on the look-out for a new nurse.

Fair Isle, Scotland
Fair Isle is home to around 10,000 puffins ©Getty

The job, which pays up to £35,000 a year, requires "an enthusiastic, autonomous practitioner" to live on the island and tend to a community of just 60 residents.

"You will be responsible for the provision of a healthcare service in line with local and national standards, ensuring that all islanders have access to appropriate healthcare to meet their needs," the job ad reads.

"This position would suit a flexible, independent person, willing to embrace community life in a beautiful location."

Based over 25 miles away from both Orkney and Shetland mainland in the vast wilderness of the North Sea, Fair Isle is the most geographically remote inhabited island in the United Kingdom.

In other words, it's about as far away from the frenetic chaos of urban life as you could hope to get.

This far-flung outpost of civilisation boasts wild ocean scenery that stretches along the coast of its rural, craggy sprawl of landscape, measuring just three miles long and one and a half miles wide.

It's a place of rich and diversified wildlife, with around 10,000 puffins and other wild seabirds, plus the occasional opportunity to spot whales, dolphins and porpoises.

Fair Isle, Scotland
The remote land and seascape of Fair Isle ©Getty

Most of Fair Isle's 60 residents live on the south side of the island.

Despite the tiny population, the island is home to several amenities including a local shop and post office, a nursery and primary school, a museum and two places of worship.

This is, however, not an opportunity for the faint-hearted.

There's no power at night on the island, and no pub. The only way to get on and off is via an eight-seater plane or a two-and-a-half hour boat ride through waters than can be turbulent and stormy, especially during winter months.

But there are perks. The community is small and close-knit with none of the time pressures faced by NHS services elsewhere.

Rent is also low. Shaun Milner and Rachel Challoner, a thirty-something couple who moved to the island (and since split up but stayed living there), paid £500 a year to rent a four-bed croft owned by the National Trust.

Many residents take up agricultural jobs, work in tourism posts or craft legendary Fair Isle knitwear.

The island, which is managed by National Trust Scotland, is also home to a bird observatory which draws plenty of visitors during the summer.

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