Remote Welsh island with population of three people searching for new tenant family

Despite its remoteness, the island is described as being "very much a living community"

A tiny island off Gwynedd's Llŷn Peninsula, with more sheep than humans, is looking for new nature-loving inhabitants to live and work there.

Ynys Enlli, also known as Bardsey Island, is wind-whipped, sea-sprayed and most definitely off-grid, boasting - as it does - a current year-round population of just three people.

In 2023, it also became the first International Dark Sky Sanctuary in Europe, meaning its unspoiled view of the night sky is protected for current and future generations.

And now, for the first time in almost 20 years, the trust which owns and runs the island, is welcoming one adventurous family or couple to its craggy shoreline - and the "opportunity of a lifetime".

Bardsey Island Trust is asking anyone who might be interested in moving there to come forward, with the successful applicant settling on the island in September 2026.

Once comfortably installed, the newest residents will be in charge of managing its 200 sheep and 25 Welsh Black cattle, alongside current tenant famer Gareth Roberts, from Aberdaron.

"Gareth and his family have been there since 2007, and he knows the island intimately - and the challenges and benefits of living on Enlli," said the trust's chief officer, Sian Stacey, adding Mr Roberts will mentor the new arrivals.

Measuring just 440 acres (0.69 square miles), the island is a national nature reserve and a site of special scientific interest (SSSI).

International Dark Sky Sanctuary certification saw the island join16 other sites worldwide, each of them recognised as the most remote and dark places on Earth.

However, with a handful of seasonal residents living there temporarily, as wardens, for some of the year, Sian described it as being "very much a living community".

"I lived there for three years myself - it's an amazing place to be," she said.

The island's sheep vastly outnumber its human residents

Hailed as one of the holiest places in Britain during the Middle Ages, Ynys Enlli has been dubbed the Island of 20,000 Saints.

Legend also casts it as the final resting place of pilgrims from across the world seeking salvation. An excavation in the 1990s unearthed dozens of medieval graves.