You could get paid to move to a windswept island with more sheep than people
A remote Welsh island with more sheep than people is seeking a new tenant for the first time in 20 years.
Ynys Enlli – known in English as Bardsey Island – is a tiny rocky outcrop in the Irish Sea.
It’s a wild, remote place where seabirds circle overhead and sheep graze around the ruins of ancient monasteries.
Life on the island is rustic. There are no cars, power lines, flushing toilets or wifi and most of the water supply comes from a well.
Just three people call the 2.5-kilometre stretch of land home year-round.
Farmer Gareth Roberts is one of them.
Roberts has lived on the island with his wife Meriel for nearly 20 years.
The couple oversee a flock of 200 sheep, a herd of 20-30 Welsh Black Cattle and a sustainable lobster and crab fishery.
Now, they are ready to pass on the tenancy to a new family.
The Bardsey Island Trust owns the island. It is seeking expressions of interest from people who are keen to move to Ynys Enlli for “an opportunity of a lifetime”.
“We’re looking for a family or a couple with farming experience,” a spokesperson for the trust told North Wales Live.
“Ideally, they will be Welsh speakers as that’s the island’s day-to-day language, and a significant part of its culture.”
The successful applicants can expect to move to the island in September 2026.
Roberts will stay on to mentor them during the handover period.
While the newcomers will be the only permanent residents, the island welcomes a steady stream of resident artists, conservation scientists and holidaymakers.
Day-trippers come in summer to watch seals dozing on the black granite beaches and scan the waves for dolphins and porpoises.
In 2023, the island became Europe’s first Dark Sky Sanctuary, making it a magnet for star-gazers.
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