Yours for £2.5m... 55 sheep and a pub
(oh, they’ll throw in private island, too!)
THERE can’t be many property and land sales that come complete with a pub, 55 sheep and a Beatle for a neighbour.
But now an island lying a short distance from Paul McCartney’s Scottish home has just gone on the market for £2.5million.
Sanda Island has been owned by Swiss businessman Michi Meier since 2010 but is now up for sale.
It lies off the Mull of Kintyre, immortalised in the hit by McCartney and Wings.
The former Beatle and his late wife Linda, pictured, enjoyed life at their home near the landmark isle.
Travelling south-west, the next stop after Sanda is Northern Ireland. The 417-acre island boasts a farmhouse, 55 sheep, puffins and a pub. Tom Stewart-Moore from estate agent Knight Frank said: ‘It definitely has some quirks that other islands don’t.’ When not using the island, Mr Meier has made Sanda available as a high-end let, keeping its five-bedroom farmhouse and six small cottages in good order. Most of the houses have been renovated, including the installation of double glazing and shower rooms with underfloor electric heating.
Mr Stewart-Moore added: ‘It’s almost like its own little village. Everything’s in one part in a very sheltered little bay.’
It was the island’s previous owners who opened the pub in 2003. Named the Byron Darnton after an American vessel that was wrecked off the island in 1946, it used to attract a steady trickle of patrons arriving by private boat.
It has been closed to the public in Mr Meier’s time, but it still has its alcohol licence should the next owners wish to reopen for guests.
‘It’s there to be re-established,’ Mr Stewart-Moore said. ‘Either way it’s going to be fun to own an island with your own pub.’