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| Herm away from home: the Channel Island charmer | Herm away from home: the Channel Island charmer |
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| As a private-jet pilot, Mark Hubbard could holiday anywhere in the world. "Next week I'm in Ibiza. I'm often in Switzerland, sometimes the Caribbean. I spend half my life in modern, five-star hotels. But it's all a bit blah – I'd rather be here." The tanned and trim 44-year-old gestured behind him to The White House, the only hotel on Herm, the smallest publicly accessible Channel Island. | As a private-jet pilot, Mark Hubbard could holiday anywhere in the world. "Next week I'm in Ibiza. I'm often in Switzerland, sometimes the Caribbean. I spend half my life in modern, five-star hotels. But it's all a bit blah – I'd rather be here." The tanned and trim 44-year-old gestured behind him to The White House, the only hotel on Herm, the smallest publicly accessible Channel Island. |
| At 1.5 miles long and less than half a mile wide, Herm has a strong case for being the prettiest of all the British crown dependencies, with golden beaches, resident puffins and – with cars and even bicycles banned – year-round peace and quiet. No wonder there is a lot of repeat custom: 85% of guests to the island this year have visited Herm before, according to Jonathan Watson, the island's hospitality manager. | At 1.5 miles long and less than half a mile wide, Herm has a strong case for being the prettiest of all the British crown dependencies, with golden beaches, resident puffins and – with cars and even bicycles banned – year-round peace and quiet. No wonder there is a lot of repeat custom: 85% of guests to the island this year have visited Herm before, according to Jonathan Watson, the island's hospitality manager. |
| Every summer since his birth, Hubbard has holidayed on Herm. He is not the only high-flyer to choose the slightly dog-eared charms of The White House over a Four Seasons suite with a mini-bar and 24-hour concierge somewhere abroad. On the wall by one of the bars is a framed £5 note signed by a former chief cashier of the Bank of England – another regular who comes back time and time again to a place with no TVs, telephones or clocks, and where you still have to wear a jacket and tie to dine in a restaurant that smells faintly of cabbage. | |
| "That's our biggest challenge – maintaining standards while making it seem as though nothing has changed," said John Singer, the island's current leaseholder. | "That's our biggest challenge – maintaining standards while making it seem as though nothing has changed," said John Singer, the island's current leaseholder. |
| The 68-year-old could certainly afford to be somewhere more exotic himself. By the time he was in his 40s, he had made his fortune in the home-building company Fairview. Never needing to work again, he ploughed his bounty into various large-scale commercial properties then sailed around the world for 14 years with his wife, Julia. By 2008, Julia was fed up with life at sea and wanted her feet back on dry land, said Singer. "So I was thinking: where could I live where I would be surrounded by water but not be on a boat?" | The 68-year-old could certainly afford to be somewhere more exotic himself. By the time he was in his 40s, he had made his fortune in the home-building company Fairview. Never needing to work again, he ploughed his bounty into various large-scale commercial properties then sailed around the world for 14 years with his wife, Julia. By 2008, Julia was fed up with life at sea and wanted her feet back on dry land, said Singer. "So I was thinking: where could I live where I would be surrounded by water but not be on a boat?" |
| When the £15m, 40-year lease for Herm came up in 2008, it seemed the perfect solution. Not only can you walk from a beach on one side of the island to the other in 10 minutes, but the Singers had had their first date there. | When the £15m, 40-year lease for Herm came up in 2008, it seemed the perfect solution. Not only can you walk from a beach on one side of the island to the other in 10 minutes, but the Singers had had their first date there. |
| Originally, Singer wanted to buy Jethou – the twin island opposite. Both islands are owned by the States of Guernsey, Guernsey's government, but whereas Jethou is private – and currently leased by the computer magnate Sir Peter Ogden – whoever takes on Herm has to open it to the public during daylight hours. | Originally, Singer wanted to buy Jethou – the twin island opposite. Both islands are owned by the States of Guernsey, Guernsey's government, but whereas Jethou is private – and currently leased by the computer magnate Sir Peter Ogden – whoever takes on Herm has to open it to the public during daylight hours. |
| Apart from the Singers and their two dachshunds, Maisie and Bess, no one else is allowed to live on Herm except those who work there or have direct family who do. Sixty-two people are in residence all year round, including eight children aged from five to 11 who attend the one-room school. Older children attend boarding schools over the water in Guernsey during the week. | Apart from the Singers and their two dachshunds, Maisie and Bess, no one else is allowed to live on Herm except those who work there or have direct family who do. Sixty-two people are in residence all year round, including eight children aged from five to 11 who attend the one-room school. Older children attend boarding schools over the water in Guernsey during the week. |
| In the "on" season, which runs from March to October, 93 seasonal staff are employed from as far away as South Africa and Austria. The island also opens for business for a few weekends in the runup to Christmas, when up to 500 Guernsey residents a day catch the boat over to buy presents in the island's shop. On Christmas Day, plucky daytrippers are invited to take a dip in the sea. | In the "on" season, which runs from March to October, 93 seasonal staff are employed from as far away as South Africa and Austria. The island also opens for business for a few weekends in the runup to Christmas, when up to 500 Guernsey residents a day catch the boat over to buy presents in the island's shop. On Christmas Day, plucky daytrippers are invited to take a dip in the sea. |
| Like the other Channel Islands, Herm has a colourful history. In the 16th century it was home to monks, before being used between 1570 and 1737 as a playground for the governors of Guernsey, who would sail over to shoot rabbits. There followed a period when a granite quarry and then a silver mine dominated the island, before Prince Blücher von Wahlstatt, grandson of the Prussian Field Marshall Gebhard Blücher (a comrade of Wellington at Waterloo), bought the island lease in 1889. The novelist Compton Mackenzie was the next resident – he fictionalised the island in his novel Fairy Gold. Mackenzie sold the lease to Sir Percival Perry, chairman of the Ford Motor Company, who introduced the first car to the island. | Like the other Channel Islands, Herm has a colourful history. In the 16th century it was home to monks, before being used between 1570 and 1737 as a playground for the governors of Guernsey, who would sail over to shoot rabbits. There followed a period when a granite quarry and then a silver mine dominated the island, before Prince Blücher von Wahlstatt, grandson of the Prussian Field Marshall Gebhard Blücher (a comrade of Wellington at Waterloo), bought the island lease in 1889. The novelist Compton Mackenzie was the next resident – he fictionalised the island in his novel Fairy Gold. Mackenzie sold the lease to Sir Percival Perry, chairman of the Ford Motor Company, who introduced the first car to the island. |
| Herm's darkest hour came during the second world war, when Hitler's troops moved in. | Herm's darkest hour came during the second world war, when Hitler's troops moved in. |
| After liberation on 9 May 1945, Guernsey's parliament agreed that Herm should be handed over to a tenant who would care for the island, allowing its natural beauty to be enjoyed by everyone. | After liberation on 9 May 1945, Guernsey's parliament agreed that Herm should be handed over to a tenant who would care for the island, allowing its natural beauty to be enjoyed by everyone. |
| • This article was corrected on 2 July 2012 because the original mistakenly referred to the Royal Bank of England. |