Fair trade as family swaps US for remote isle

Published on Saturday 7 October 2006 01:16

A FAMILY will give up their home in upstate New York later this month to start a new life on the most remote inhabited island in Britain.

Tom Hyndman, his wife Liz and their son Henry, five, will leave the historic and cultural centre of Saratoga Springs, New York, a city with a population of about 35,000, some 100 restaurants, a wide range of department stores and a number of museums and arts centres. It is 30 minutes from the state capital, Albany, and just over three hours from New York City.

Their new home on Fair Isle has just 70 residents and is a two-and-a-half-hour ferry journey from their nearest neighbours. The island has no pub, hotel or restaurant and just a small primary school, bird observatory and shop.

The Hyndmans beat off international competition for one of the two houses offered for rent by the island's owner, the National Trust for Scotland (NTS), last year. The other has gone to a family from Aberdeen.

As the search for new residents for one island ends, another starts, as the NTS is looking for two new families to boost the population of Canna, where only 15 people live.

Mr Hyndman, 44, who has a hat-making business, plans to operate the family's new home as a bed and breakfast establishment. His wife, who makes educational videos for New York state, heard the Fair Isle appeal on a radio show.

"She has a journalism degree and I guess she just thought it was a great story," said Mr Hyndman. "She came home like thousands of other people and looked up Fair Isle and the National Trust and applied.

"I thought 'OK, I'll just let her do it'. Then when it started to get narrowed down, I started to look at it more closely and thought I could have a lot of fun there."

He added: "We have one way of life here and we are going to go over there and have a totally different way of life.

"We went over last March and just thought it was just great, fabulous. It really is going to be a great experience and we are really looking forward to it.

"It is a sort of reverse migration. I have a few drops of Scottish blood, but my wife has more - although we are really just melting-pot Americans.

"I don't want to move to Scotland to play golf and drink Scotch, although that's what most Americans would want to move to Scotland for. But it's not me."

Mr Hyndman said the move has met with a mixed response from friends: "Some are jealous and wish they could go and some are saying 'but where do you shop when you don't have four department stores within easy access?'."

In all, 94 applications were received for the two houses, 70 from the United States and others from the UK, Australia and Hungary.

Two houses are also on offer on Canna, which has just one pupil in its primary school, but attracts 30,000 visitors a year.

Alex Lindsay, the NTS director for the Highland and Islands, said bringing in new residents would help to safeguard the school, community and economy of the island and increase the skills base.

Ten facts about Fair Isle

1. Fair Isle has been occupied since the Bronze Age.

2. It lies between Orkney and Shetland.

3. The island is just 5km long and 3km wide. Most of the 70 residents live in crofts.

4. The population has decreased to 70 from around 400 in about 1900.

5. There are no pubs, hotels or restaurants. It has one primary school and a shop.

6. It is mentioned on shipping forecasts.

7. The Fair Isle Electricity Committee is the smallest electricity utility in the British Isles.

8. The island is served by a ferry and an eight-seater plane from Shetland.

9. It was bought by the National Trust for Scotland in 1954.

10. Fair Isle is famous for its knitted jumpers, with knitting forming an important source of income.