One Mile Wide - Couple thwart hotel chain in buying paradise location

At little more than one-and-a-half miles long and boasting no more than 50 inhabitants, Herm Island has long been revered by residents and holiday-makers alike as a destination unsullied by the modern world.

The tiny Channel Island, sandwiched between Guernsey and the Isle of Sark, has one shop and one pub. The hotel – a television-free, telephone-free and clock-free zone – transports its guests' luggage in a tractor as cars and bicycles are banned.

So when leaseholders Adrian and Penny Wood Heyworth announced earlier this year that they were selling their rights to the island there were fears for its future.

Residents inundated the local press with letters warning that the island would lose its distinct identity were it to be sold to an outsider. Their fears were compounded when Von Essen, a luxury hotel chain with a portfolio of country houses in the UK and France, was named as one of the interested parties willing to part with £15m for the 40-year lease. Instead the island went for an undisclosed sum – thought to be considerably lower than the asking price – to the Guernsey residents John and Julia Singer, who met and fell in love on Herm 14 years ago. They have promised to preserve "the jewel in the Bailiwick's crown" when they take over from the Heyworths next week.