Aren’t people just so incredibly irritating? All that talking and laughing and nagging and whingeing. Everyone needs a break, every once in a while. A very quiet, very long (and potentially even permanent) break.
If that sounds like you, well, you’re in luck. We’ve found the perfect job opening. Canna, a tiny island in Scotland’s Inner Hebrides, is looking for someone to run its guesthouse.
Canna is south-west of the Isle of Skye. Owned by the National Trust for Scotland (NTS), the island is four-and-a-half miles long and one mile wide, and is home to just 15 people. In winter, it’s served by just three ferries per week (this increases to four during summer). The island’s population isn’t just extremely close-knit: it also speaks primarily Gaelic.
The guesthouse in question is called Tighard, which is Gaelic for ‘high house’. An Edwardian villa built in 1904, it’s got three guest rooms and, as its name suggests, is right at the top of one of Canna’s rolling green hills.
So what are the main roles of the person tasked with running Tighard? Pretty typical guesthouse stuff, to be honest. They’ll have to undertake general upkeep of the property, as well as provide guests with breakfast and dinner. The hardest part of the job probably doesn’t have that much to do with Tighard itself but the island more widely. The successful applicant will also have to put up with Canna’s long, cold winters, as well as be exceptionally comfortable with long periods of isolation.
If they can do all that, they’ll have Canna’s gorgeous natural beauty on their doorstep. The island is renowned for its views out over the Irish sea, the Small Isles archipelago and the western Highlands. It’s also got plenty of wildlife, and is a great place for spotting dolphins, whales and rare birds.
Perhaps unexpectedly, Tighard has apparently already received more than 100 applications, but if you fancy a last-gasp attempt (or, alternatively, if you’d like to stay the night as a visitor), see the Tighard Guesthouse website for more.
Did you see this other remote British island is looking for a new pub landlord (and monarch)?