Here’s an idea to ponder while washing dishes or waiting for the bus in the rain.
If we were lucky enough to have our own private island, like Leonardo DiCaprio, Richard Branson or Johnny Depp, what would we want to have on it?
Maybe a yellow sand beach with a bunch of seaweed-covered rocks and a couple of resident seals?
Or a labyrinth of underground tunnels that may or may not extend under the sea to Devon and Cornwall.
Or perhaps a set of 25-ton muzzle-loading guns designed to keep the French out, and abandoned 16th-century military barracks now occupied by seagulls, cormorants, owls and bats.
Drake Island, steeped in history and shining in the sun today in Plymouth Sound
Jane Fryer visited Drake Island, named after the explorer Sir Francis Drake, who set sail from here in 1577 on his voyage around the world.
Well, anyway, if all that’s your thing, you’re very lucky.
Because Drake Island, steeped in history and shining today in the sun in Plymouth Sound, has it all.
And, as luck would have it, the island — named after explorer Sir Francis Drake, who set sail from here in 1577 to circumnavigate the globe — is up for sale. Seller Carter Jonas hasn’t revealed the price, but is asking for offers.
For your money, you get a slice of six-and-a-half acres of history, 30,000 sq ft of Grade II-listed abandoned military buildings and a wealth of underground tunnels and cellars. Also included is planning permission to turn the whole land into a luxury tourist destination – plans that could set you back around £30m.
And as I disembark the ferry from Plymouth and stride along the ramshackle jetty with owner Morgan Phillips, I am already drawn to the pristine sea, thick with seaweed, to the thick, springy grass growing on the volcanic tuff and lava, to the wild lupines, flowering blackberries and buttercups. Even the sign that says “NO TRESPASSING” makes my heart race a little.
It’s like an Enid Blyton Famous Five adventure meets History Today.
No wonder Morgan, a former Navy engineer who bought it in 2019 for £6m, loves it so much. “I always feel different when I’ve been here. It’s special,” says Morgan, who now works in security systems and is kindly showing me around today. “You’ll see what I mean when we leave. It moves you. There’s something special about it.”
But if it’s total solitude you’re after, this may not be the island for you. Because, according to a number of mediums, psychics and very excitable Time Team members, the island comes with a hidden extra (not mentioned in the sales details): its own resident community of military ghosts.
The most notable of these, Morgan tells me, is regimental sergeant major Mark Beresford, who served here in the 1850s and frequents the lower magazines (deep tunnels where ammunition was stored), although he did not actually die here (25 others did perish here when it was a military prison in the 17th century).
“He’s apparently very nice and not scary at all, but he’s very strict,” Morgan says. “So I usually yell, ‘Good morning, Sergeant Major!’ when I enter the lower basement level, just to be polite.”
The others, believed to be spirits of long-dead soldiers, are far less honorable.
Jane meets the island’s current owner: Morgan Phillips, a former naval engineer who bought the island in 2019 for £6 million.
Drake’s Island was used as a prison by Charles II in the 17th century and played a crucial role in the defence of Plymouth from French and Spanish invasions.
“Some women have told us they feel strange things when they visit the lower cellars,” Morgan says. “Apparently they like to nuzzle their necks.”
Wow! But maybe ghosts (or ghost stories) are a normal thing when you buy an island with such a rich history that it’s hard to pick out the best bits.
The fact that Charles II used it as a prison in the 17th century and it played a crucial role in defending Plymouth against French and Spanish invasions. The fact that Queen Victoria liked to draw it. The fact that a young JFK Jr learned to sail here in 1971. Or that it was a key defence against the Nazis in World War II.
Some locals, including Chris, the island’s muscled maintenance man, who sports a giant tattoo of Pocahontas on his left bicep and has a passionate interest in the Catholic military order of the Knights Templar, believe this goes back much further.
“Plymouth Sound is where Britain began!” he says, gushing about ley lines, Templar churches and Druids.
“This is one of the most spiritual places in the world.”
Maybe, but Morgan had more practical plans for what he calls the “jewel of Plymouth Sound.” Since 2019, when, to his wife’s horror, she stayed with him. “For a while we didn’t see eye to eye,” he says. “Although she’s a tour guide here now.”
As a sailor, he used to sail around Drake Island and lose himself in its mystery and history. Suddenly, it was his, and he had big plans. And, more importantly, planning permission and funding. Today, as we stand on the rusty, rickety jetty, he is flushed and wistful as he tells me of his dreams.
A 43-room hotel with luxury accommodation, a swimming pool, a café, a wellness centre (what self-respecting private island doesn’t have a wellness centre?), event space and a sparkling glass lift in place of the old, ramshackle boathouse.
There would be tidal turbines on the seabed producing power. Perhaps even a handy helipad on “Little Drake,” the rocky outcrop at one end of the island.
It sounds incredible, it would cost £22m and take three to five years to complete.
The picturesque island was also a key defense against the Nazis in World War II.
If you buy the island, you’ll get a six-and-a-half-acre slice of history, 30,000 square feet of Grade II listed abandoned military buildings and a wealth of underground tunnels and cellars.
But then came the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and rising interest rates, and Morgan’s supporters retreated.
As a result, he has had to become very entrepreneurial – he organises historical tours, nature tours, yoga tours, ghost tours, any kind of tour you can think of – but the £500,000 this brings in each year barely covers the costs.
He must be devastated to have had to put it up for sale, and he’s still praying for a last-minute investor to come along to help him make his grand vision a reality.
But according to Ali Rana, who is handling the sale for Carter Jonas, there is already a lot of interest, both locally and internationally. And everyone has their own plans, from a private home to a yacht club to reviving Morgan’s dream of a hotel.
Morgan will not be the first landowner to have tried (and failed) to develop Drake Island.
The previous owner, businessman Dan McCauley, bought it in 1996 and spoke endlessly of his ambitions for the place.
In 2017, after seven years of battles with local authorities, he finally obtained planning permission. But then he fell ill and the grass overflowed.
It grew 3 feet tall and birds nested in all the buildings.
Before that, from 1967 to 1989, it served as the Drake Island Adventure Centre. Visitors slept in Nissen huts and I would have given my left arm to have an adventure here.
Many locals would do the same, because for decades, although they could see it very clearly, just half a mile from the strait, they were not allowed to get close.
“Of course we did,” says Chris, who grew up in Plymouth. “I was always going over here.” He wasn’t the only one.
In 1957, a group of schoolchildren “invaded” the island and claimed it for Plymouth. They were arrested by the guard, who gave them bacon sandwiches and took them back to the city in time for their maths double exam.
And in 2005, a group of anti-nuclear activists briefly set up a peace camp and declared the island a nuclear-free state.
When Morgan bought it, he was determined that it would be open to everyone.
That’s why, in March 2020, she organised an open day to benefit the local hospice.
“We announced it on Monday (to a hundred visitors) and on Wednesday the website stopped working because we had received 535,000 requests.”
It was also Morgan who secured film crews for commercials, photo shoots and an Indian film company.
And the ghost hunters. At first, just for fun, but then the Time Team delved into the depths of the magazines and had a bit of a spooky night.
Footsteps leading nowhere in the dark. A video of the ghostly Sergeant Major of the Regiment in the dark, “like a bear with a cloth cap, huge and hairy and all lit up,” says Morgan.
As we go down to take a look, Morgan warns the photographer: “Be careful, the ghosts will play with your equipment.”
At first, the network of tunnels is a little overwhelming.
In the open central rooms, the atmosphere is damp and dark, and Morgan tells us: “This could be an event space. We’ve tried it with a small jazz group and the acoustics are wonderful,” he says. “Or a wellness centre.”
And even though no one is stroking my neck or tickling me, I am relieved to be back out in the sunlight.
And I must add that, oddly enough, my digital recorder stopped working and only recorded a strange hissing noise the entire time we were there.
So we headed to the eastern end of the island, to look for whales, dolphins and seals.
And I wonder who will buy this extraordinary place and if they will make Morgan’s dreams come true.
Even if I had the £30m it takes, it wouldn’t be me.
But I would go back in a heartbeat, although I’m not sure I would rush to the spa in the basement.