NEW LORD OF THE ISLE
Tycoon snaps up ‘Wicker Man’ bargain for £1.7m
HE may be one of Britain’s wealthiest men, but hedge fund tycoon Ian Wace has an eye for a bargain.
The 54-year-old has recently bought Tanera Mòr in the Summer Isles – the archipelago said to have inspired 1973 cult film The Wicker Man.
Registers of Scotland documents show Mr Wace, who is in 10th place in the 2017 Sunday Times Rich List, paid £1,695,000 for Tanera Mòr – far less than the £2.5 million asking price when it went on the market in 2013.
For the money, the financier and his wife, former Olay model Saffron Aldridge, get a derelict herring station, a school house which has been converted into a family home, nine cottages and a private beach. There is also a post office – the only one in Britain licensed to issue its own stamps.
Tanera Mòr is 1.2 miles wide and 1.6 miles long. In 1881, it had 118 residents, but by 1931 it had been abandoned. The island now has a holiday letting business.
Former owners Lizzie and Richard Williams decided to sell up after moving to the mainland.
The archipelago is thought to have inspired ‘Summerisle’, the fictional island on which The Wicker Man is set.