In my line of work I get some really great gigs and yesterday my duties took me to Flat Holm Island. Located in the middle of the Bristol Channel, some 6 miles off Cardiff, this SSSI site and bird sanctuary is quite amazing and really should be in anyone’s bucket list top 10.

For the taste of D Day experience, I went over on the wonderful front opening converted car ferry, Westward Ho. Flat bottomed and full to the gunwales with passengers including staff, volunteers, contractors, visitors and 2 different school groups….  and even a student from Exeter Uni who volunteered as  warden last summer and was just going back for a fix of island living before returning to her studies.

The place is truly magical and with its extraordinary history from the Neolithic settlers to Grade2 Palmerston’s follies and the Cholera hospital, not to mention Marconi and the world’s first ever radio transmission over water. Add all this to a wealth of wildlife on view every few meters, you almost end up with senses overload.

Guided tours, a Pub, the mini Museum, top class letting accommodation, furnished care of John Lewis, the 24 bed bunk house, wardens quarters and a large school room. Solar and wind energy, 2 biomass boilers, water catchment, a comprehensive ecology plan, partnerships with almost everyone inclding Trinity House, academic research, business collaborations with commercial ferry providers and a flock of wild sheep – it really doesn’t get much better……….

And finally, a boat trip that combines the thrills of Alton Towers with a journey round Cape Horn on a Whaler

You couldn’t ask for more.