Total silence, surrounded by nature, tides not traffic and a perfect place for parties and celebrity visits – island life in Wales
Boat is the easiest form of transport to and from the island(Image: adrianwhitephotography.co.uk)
Staying on an island means no neighbours other than the bird and wildlife but the owner of the truly incredible Thorne Island, Mike Conner, says it does have a frequent and awe-inspiring visitor – the wild, Welsh weather.
Mike explains what it’s like staying on the Pembrokeshire island in a storm, saying: “Probably one of the most exciting things that happens on Thorne is the winter storms-when they hit Thorne, it’s incredible. The spray goes over the top of the island, the gutterings get blocked up with shrimps, windows can get blown out. When we hear a storm is coming in, we just lift the boats out and wait for it to come in, and it is just awesome.
“You know, a day at Alton Towers can be exhilarating, but this is like next level, you know, wind gusts that change direction, waves hitting the courtyard. It’s really exciting, it’s incredible!”. But surely even more incredible is the fact that this one man took on the renovation of the empty fort on the island – and it’s been an epic journey. For more property stories sent to your inbox twice a week sign up to the property newsletter here.
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Very few people can tell you what it’s like to stay on a private island in a historic fort(Image: Strutt and Parker, National Country House Department)
Mike has owned the island that is crowned by the historic Grade II fort since 2017 and it’s been arguably one of the most challenging restoration and renovation projects in Wales by an individual for many years.
Across Wales at this moment people are in the process of saving and restoring buildings of all shapes and sizes – there are standard renovations, large renovations, epic renovations and then there’s saving the historic fort on Thorne Island.
Thorne Island off the coast of Pembrokeshire is for sale for offers in excess of £3m(Image: Strutt and Parker, National Country House Department)
While other renovators might moan about late deliveries and the increase in price of materials, current island owner Mike’s challenges included organising delivering materials by helicopter, building a crane on a rocky landscape to lift deliveries by boat, and trying to find tradespeople who were happy to stay on the island and work and not go home at the end of each working day.
While other people working on renovations needed to sort out walls that were unstable and about to keel over, Mike was tackling a whole cliff face under the huge stone gatehouse tower that was becoming unstable and needed attention.
The island has a mooring but more crucially a crane to do the heavy lifting(Image: adrianwhitephotography.co.uk)
It has taken many years and over £2m of Mike’s hard earned money to turn the historic Grade II fort on Thorne Island from an empty shell beginning its inevitable slide into dereliction, save it, revive it and transform it into a simply stunning home. See inside the completed, renovated fort here.
Some people find taking on a renovation project a sea of stress but it wasn’t worry that kept Mike awake at night – it was excitement for working out the process of how to save the fort, the logistics, the challenges and the problems to solve.
The Grade II listed fort looks imposing as you climb the cliff steps from the mooring(Image: adrianwhitephotography.co.uk)
Mike is no stranger to diving into a challenging project and turning it into an impressive success – he started his own tech company from a garage and has worked hard to build it into a worldwide business.
When he saw Thorne Island and the state of the fort Mike felt compelled to save it and could visualise the incredible home it could become, even though the challenges have been constant and, in some cases, unique to restoring and preserving a piece of Welsh heritage on an island.
Mike Conner has spent of £2m of his own money to save this Welsh historic building from inevitable dereliction(Image: Adrian White Photography)
Thorne Island fort was originally built in the 1850s, one of twelve forts that were constructed around the entrance to Pembroke Dock as part of “Palmerston’s Haven defences” to protect against Napoleonic invasion.
Where people in towns and cities need to consider busy road routes and commuter traffic, for Mike and his family travelling to the island it is all about tides, boats, and shipping lanes and being a ‘townie’ Mike confesses that at the start of this epic renovation he knew nothing about any of it.
Mike says: “You need to know when high tide is, when low tide is, when slack tide is – the range of the tide each day. You then need to become very aware of the weather and wind directions and swell directions and, you know, these things that every seafarer knows inside out.”
Stormy seas and wild wind that batter the island Mike says are ‘incredible'(Image: Mike Conner)
Obviously there are no neighbours other than the bird and wildlife and, coupled with the weather, Mike says the island teaches you to slow down, observe what is around you, and feel truly blessed to feel surrounded by nature.
Mike says: “I think one of the things I really enjoy about the island is the fact that it’s got its own ecosystem. Because, as it’s an island, the birds know no predator, so there’s a robin that follows me around and there’s a seal at the island at the moment that, when we first got here, was a pup, now she’s now had her own pup. You get to feel very close to something much, much bigger than yourself.
The substantial formal dining room with lounge area at one end(Image: Strutt and Parker, National Country House Department)
“I think it’s like being part of the sea, you know, we get woken by gulls, we get visited by dolphins and porpoises too, I had no idea any of this stuff kind of went on. It’s like Mother Nature screaming, ‘look at all the stuff that’s going on’ and I think that’s just good for you, gives you a bit of peace.
“It’s completely silent inside the fort because the walls are so thick and it’s double glazed. You know, it can be kicking off outside and you won’t hear anything.
The former soldiers’ barracks, where trademen also slept as they worked to save the fort, is now a spacious ‘dormitory'(Image: Strutt and Parker, National Country House Department)
“How often do you experience total silence? You know, you always hear a car in the distance, you know, but here it goes properly silent and, yeah, that’s pretty special. I sleep like a baby when I’m there.“
Every now and then though the island is not silent or cloaked in birdsong, sometimes there’s a party and they are arguably as epic as the island and fort itself – with no neighbours to complain about noise and guests arriving by boat and sometimes even helicopter.
Mike says some visitors opt for hiring a helicopter to get to the island(Image: Strutt and Parker, National Country House Department)
The unique location has attracted attention from TV programmes and companies with Mike saying filming has occurred with Dizzie Rascal and Jason Fox, and Channel 4’s property programme ‘Hugh Dennis Huge Homes’ also a visitor, as well as Red Bull as a potential base for an athletes’ retreat.
Perfect place for a party with no neighbours to complain(Image: Mike Conner)
Mike says the fort works very well as a place to party as he’s built a roof top bar and there’s a dance floor downstairs, a substantial internal outdoor courtyard, as well as a one of the bedrooms being a dormitory, that was once the soldiers’ barracks and with tents too, the island has slept around 80 guests.
But you have to be organised with the supplies you need as it’s not like you can pop down to a mini supermarket at the end of your street when you run out of milk. When Mike, now aged 52, was working on saving the fort it was these added island complications that had to be considered, and it was more complicated and expensive than running out of milk.
The roof top bar is a special spot with amazing views of the sea, the coast, the sunrise and the sunset(Image: Strutt and Parker, National Country House Department)
Mike says: “It’s been a development project and you know, I guess having the odd party there is upside of that. But most of the time, you know, I’m there with different trades, fixing stuff, and it’s not that glamorous.” For more property, renovation, and interior design stories join our Amazing Welsh Homes Facebook group here.
Of course the challenges have been many, Mike says: “I think the initial logistics of just helicoptering everything on to the island was actually a brilliant idea but it relies on a very specialist helicopter and skilled pilot who was willing to do 360 drops over two days.
Hugh Dennis arriving for filming for Channel 4 TV series ‘Huge Homes with Hugh Dennis'(Image: Mike Conner)
“You’ve got to do so many loads because you’re taking rubbish off the island like broken baths and fridges and old generators. So you have to plan every one of those rubbish packages and trips – emptying a skip can take a day.
“The staff at Travis Perkins were really helpful. They weighed all the bags of materials to make sure that everything was in 500 kilogramme loads, so when the helicopter came, we knew it could pick it up and take it over.”
Ample space for a badminton court too(Image: Mike Conner)
Mike says he used local tradespeople, skilled crafts people, local businesses and suppliers, and boat companies as much as possible but the team working on the fort every day had to see his vision too.
He explains: “Getting skilled labour at the fort who want to go home in the evening isn’t really an option, I had to find like-minded people who are probably a bit unhinged and get really passionate about projects like this.” But he did find those people to create the team and the result of their hard work is nothing short of spectacular.
The only neighbours are the bird and wildlife, the weather and the occasional passing ship(Image: adrianwhitephotography.co.uk)
Mike has always had in the back of his mind the struggles of the original builders too. He says: “The fort is made from massive granite, which would probably be about 10 tons a block. How on earth did they get this stuff up there? Wow! Before hydronics and electric winches and all that sort of thing? Because it would have all been block and tackle and blokes pulling ropes.
“So from the outside, the fort has got a kind of Stonehenge sort of aura, you know, how did they do that? A thousand men over two years – that really is remarkable”
But Mike is not the only one to have spent time living on Thorne and there’s one past islander that he has extra admiration for, he says: “Mary Pearson was a well heeled debutante who just was fed up with post-war London living and so moved to Pembrokeshire and bought the fort from the Ministry of Defence.
The internal courtyard and bespoke built roof terrace are perfect for social gatherings and have seen some parties – with no neighbours to complain about the noise(Image: Strutt and Parker, National Country House Department)
“All the windows in the external walls were cut by her – an unbelievable effort because those walls are about three feet thick – and she had children at the fort and used to get them to school by boat -incredible.”
Mike is a very busy entrepreneur and his business takes him around the world so he and his family don’t get to Thorne Island as much as he would like and so, with a heavy heart and a pinning for the inspiring 360 degree panoramic views he will miss, he has put the island and fort on the market for offers in excess of £3m with Strutt and Parker.
Options for a new owner include a home or a business, or both, from corporate events and weddings to exclusive holidays, with Mike saying in the past he has rented the island and fort out to private individuals for around £10,000 without doing any publicity at all.
Thorne Island off the coast of Pembrokeshire includes the fort built in the 1850s and now Grade II* listed(Image: Strutt and Parker, National Country House Department)
Mike says: “It will be a wrench because I bought the fort because I didn’t want to just let it fall apart, to become derelict, and I’ve put so much into it, I will really miss it. It’s such a great place but it just doesn’t get used enough.
“I think it could be turned into you know, something touristy that sort of helped drive the local economy that would be amazing. Yeah, it would be a shame if no one gets to see it. I think it’s got to be one of the most interesting buildings in Wales, I think you’d be hard pressed to find a more interesting place to visit or stay maybe in the world, not just Wales.”