Offshore

Offshore

In Search of an Island of My Own

Published 27 April, 2006

Ben’s latest book took him to a number of intriguing places around the British Isles including Gruinard, also known as Anthrax island, the sovereignty of Sealand, ruled by Prince Michael, the remote island of Rockall, disputed between Britain, Ireland, Denmark and Iceland and the former British island of Heligoland off the coast of Germany, and Caldey.

Synopsis

Islands have always held a peculiar fascination for Ben Fogle. Inspired by their solitude and escapism, he sets his heart on finding one of his own. After failed attempts to buy his retreat, he starts looking. It’s a search that takes him on a journey along the UK’s coastline to some of Britain’s least well-known but most fascinating extremities. Along the way he discovers communities still living by 16th century laws, meets the king of a country founded on an abandoned floating fort, and attempts to launch a full-scale invasion on a forbidden island with a GBP12.99 Mr Incredibles inflatable dinghy. In the end his only hope, it seems, might lie on a barren windswept crag of black rock in the middle of the North Atlantic. Islands evacuated, islands forgotten, islands left behind by time. Ben’s offshore adventure takes him in search of inspiration from those who have made their home on the periphery of our society. And just maybe, somewhere along the way, he might discover an island all of his very own.