The map of the British Isles is a cornucopia of islands, many of which are so transporting and preposterous they almost seem like make-believe.
Cradled by the Ardnamurchan peninsula in Scotland, Eilean Shona inspired Peter Pan author JM Barrie to dream up Neverland – tidal Loch Moidart on which it sits is almost a magic mirror. Another Scottish island, Inchconnachan, has an almost unbelievable population of wallabies, a marsupial predominantly native to Australia and New Guinea. Adrift off Anglesey in Wales, meanwhile, is Llanddwyn Island – the so-named “Island of Love“, where the Welsh celebrate Saint Dwynwen, the country’s patron saint of lovers.
And then there is a place in the Channel Islands – the scattered archipelago of British dependencies hooked off the coast of Normandy, France – where horse-drawn carriages are still a necessity and tradition comes over like the conventions of a Jane Austen novel.
This is the cherished island of Sark: a recently-changed fiefdom that’s still caught in medieval times.
Sark is the archetypical English seaside escape. Just three miles wide by 1.5 miles long, it is fringed by pale beaches and alive with the possibility of shore fishing and boat trips. Seabird-nested cliffs tumble to frothing waves, and its rural lanes are flanked by orchards, hedgerows and walled gardens pollinated by honeybees. There’s an ice cream shop overlooking Creux harbour, draft horses in emerald-green fields and sheep racing in summer. At nightfall, the Milky Way hangs low to meet the naked eye.