From Sheffield to THIS: Adventurer ditches city to live alone on private island five miles out to sea

A Sheffield man is to swap city life - for living alone on a deserted island five miles out to sea.
Flat Holm Island in the Bristol Channel.  (Photo: Cardiff Council).Flat Holm Island in the Bristol Channel.  (Photo: Cardiff Council).
Flat Holm Island in the Bristol Channel. (Photo: Cardiff Council).

Scientist Mat Brown, 27, is leaving behind the rat race to become the sole inhabitant and warden of the 86-acre private Welsh island.

Flat Holm Island stands five miles out to sea in the Bristol Channel and has no other residents - but on the plus side, the island does have its own pub.

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The land is home to Victorian pub The Gull and Leek - and Mat will be its landlord.

But he won't be alone permanently - an old farmhouse on the isle serves as a residential centre for up to 24 people

The role will see him monitor wildlife, welcome tourists and repair buildings left empty all winter.

He said: 'To be able to come out on a remote island and to escape all of the rush and chaos of modern society, it's a dream true isn't it.

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'I'll be happy if I can leave the island better than when I found it.'

The island sits below Cardiff and is the most southerly point of Wales and is where Guglielmo Marconi sent the first ever radio signal across water.

Tourists regularly flock to the island which has been home to monks, Vikings, Victorians and World War II soldiers.

Flat Holm is also home to a 100ft tall Grade II-listed lighthouse, two helipads and gun batteries as well as a museum dedicated to Marconi - who transmitted the first wireless signal over sea from the island in 1897.

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The environmental scientist already has some experience on the island after volunteering over six months in winter.

Mat said: 'I fell in love with the island. It's such a healthy place to live.

'I am also passionate about sharing the cultural heritage and natural history of the island with visitors.'