Dream job alert: live and work on the UK’s most remote inhabited island

If you’ve ever fantasised about quitting your job, throwing your phone into the sea and going through a total lifestyle change, this might be your moment.

A rare opportunity has opened up on Scotland’s Fair Isle, the UK’s most remote inhabited island perched between Orkney and Shetland, where a new tenant is being sought for a crofting tenancy.

Crofting is basically a small-form land tenancy in Scotland where the tenant (aka crofter) contributes to the area’s common grazing pasture land for raising livestock.  

For this particular role, the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) hopes to find someone experienced in crofting, and who has their own trade (preferably electrician or joiner) or could contribute to the isle's knitwear industry.

The role is aimed at someone resourceful and self-sufficient who can embrace the challenges of isolated island living. Fair Isle has a population of about 60 people, and you’ll be number 61, so it’s a chance to step into a slower, communal, more hands-on existence. In return, the new islander gets a four-bedroom house and about 15 acres (6ha) of land. 

‘Ideally, we're looking for younger people, people of working age,’ said the director of Fair Isle Development Company, Eileen Thomson to the BBC. ‘Most of us have a croft but also work in the school, on the ferry and in various community organisations’. 

But let’s be clear. This is no charming countryside getaway. Taking on the croft means committing to a new way of life with significantly more manual labour and significantly less screentime.

Still, what you lose in convenience, you gain in atmosphere and deeper connections. Think windswept coastlines, uninterrupted horizons and a chance to form a meaningful, tight-knit community. It’s about rewriting your entire rhythm of life, and that’s about as far from a nine-to-five as you can get. For more information, contact the Scottish Land Matching Service (SLMS).

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