Family's island adventure televised

The dramatic, life-changing opportunity came about after answering an advert in the Daily Mail, and fighting off 11,000 other hopefuls

Libby and David, (pictured) previously of Reginald Road, were given the lease of a farm on Bardsey Island, for 20 years.

Now one year has passed and this week BBC Wales broadcast the first episode of how Libby, David and two of Libby's daughters, Rachel,14, and Vicky, 12, have adapted to their new life.

Film footage of the emotionally and physically challenging year has been made into a three-part documentary called Love on the Rock, being shown on BBC Wales on three successive Wednesdays evenings (digital channel 961).

In Bexhill, Libby worked as a forestry extraction driver and David as a forestry contractor: on Bardsey they run a community of 450 sheep, hens, ducks and turkeys and travel across the island by a tractor.

Their only company, other than the animals, is the Bardsey Island Trust warden, shepherds and a nun.

The move was a testing time for Rachel and Vicky - two of six children the couple have between them from previous marriages, and the only children on the island. They had initially planned to live with their dad in Staffordshire.

Then they tried island life for a week, before deciding the plan to live with their dad would suit them better.

"If I live here it will get a bit boring, but if I come in the holidays I'll like it more," said Rachel. "And I get to go to a proper school and go shopping."

They changed their minds again three months later and returned to Bardsey.

Little did David know when Libby went to pick them up from the mainland, he would be left alone for almost two months.

"What kept you? I send you out for a pint of milk and a packet of fags and you come back seven weeks later with children and a boatful of shellfish."

The family had been kept apart by high tides and strong gales.

"I found myself talking to myself, and having both sides of the conversation." he said.

Once they were back safely on the island, the family had truly given up creature comforts.

It was time for them to get used to a limited supply of electricity. Telephone calls could only be made from the top of the hill on the island.

With no running water, toilet facilities involve a stone out house and a bucket. Emptying the bucket is one of those chores that David ruefully calls "the best job on the island. We'll grow great vegetables eventually."