A man has shared his experience of attending a remote island off the coast of Wales as its owner held a farewell party, after it was placed on the market for £3 million.
Jay Curtis has run JC Explores for the last seven to ten years, where on social media he documents his travels, discovering hidden gems across Wales and beyond. On June 22 he visited Thorne Island, a Victorian sea fortress sitting just off the Pembrokeshire coast which was built in the 1850s.
It came after Ben Connor, son of its owner, Mike Connor, reached out to the creator and asked him to be part of their final day on the island, which they have owned since May 2017, purchasing it at the time for £550,000. What followed was a dramatic multi-million pound transformation of the abandoned former military fort, which took several years to complete, and enhancing its value exponentially.
Luxury Living on a Former Fort
It now sleeps up to 20 guests, features luxury living spaces, underfloor heating, a rooftop bar, its own helipad, solar power, private water supply and Starlink internet.
Discussing his visit, Mr Curtis told WalesOnline: "I'm a travel explorer and content creator, and I was going on trips all over the world, but then Covid hit, and the five-mile rule came in. I had to find a new niche, so I decided to explore my local area."
"It started when I found a Royal Observer Corps (ROC) nuclear bunker near where I live in Clydach, Swansea, and it prompted me to explore more local stuff. Since then it has just gone crazy. I had more reaction to that than anything I'd ever done."
"Exploring the hidden history of Wales and things off the beaten track, forgotten buildings, abandoned Victorian time capsules, I learnt there was a big audience that love that kind of stuff."
"A lot of time people reach out asking me: 'Have you thought about this?' Or: 'Have you noticed this?' So I get a lot of tip-offs or recommendations and that was the case with Thorne Island."
Meeting the Owners
Mr Curtis explained: "They'd seen some of the work I'd done in Pembrokeshire and they approached me to say they were selling the island and asked whether I'd like to come and take a look around before it was sold."
"Ben Connor, who is the owner Mike Connor's son, lives in London, but spent most of his summers down there with his dad. He told me they were selling up and were going to have one final farewell party on the island and asked whether I'd fancy popping along, and my response was 'absolutely'."
Mr Curtis said on July 22 he was picked up by a "hybrid speed boat" at West Angle Beach in Pembroke in "true James Bond fashion". He spent the entire day there and was given a tour and told the story of its transformation. He was then treated to dinner and a few drinks with family and friends of the Connors.
"It was incredible. It was like something out of a Bond film," Jay said. "On the boat, coming up to the side of the thing, talk about impressive."
"It was huge - the walls around it - the fortified work that went into it when it was built in the 1850s. It was just something I'd never seen that close up before in terms of how well it has been preserved and how well they have modernised it."
"I was taken by its sheer scale and how impressive it was. They've spent the best part of £2 million renovating the island and the attention to detail returning it to its former glory was just incredible."
"They've stripped back all the interior, sandblasted all the walls, fitted a bar, fitted an underground water system to provide its own off-grid energy and heating and water. It is like a self-sufficient bunker and I was super impressed by the finer details."
A Party Like No Other
Mr Curtis, a former radio DJ on Swansea Bay Radio and Nation Radio, described his experience on the island as "like a party you've never had".
The 39-year-old explained: "There were no nosey neighbours, no last orders at the bar, and you could make as much noise as you wanted - they were ramping up the music knowing full well that nobody in the best part of five miles would have something to say about it."
"I asked Mike the big one million dollar question; why they decided to sell it. He explained to me that it had been on the market twice before and that he had changed his mind both times because he loves it so much, but he told me that this time he was ready for a new challenge and that this time he was definitely going to sell. He said there had been huge interest from America already."
Summing up his experience, Mr Curtis added: "You forget what's on your doorstep, all these amazing structures and buildings, and it is probably up there with some of the best places I've been to discover."
"To go and see something that has been brought back to life, and given proper love and attention, there's something really quite rewarding about that."
