A London couple who left city life to move to a remote island on the west coast of Ireland without electricity or running water have revealed how their mysterious illnesses disappeared due to a lack of stress in their new life.
Nurse Emily Campbell, 28, who is originally from Cork, and her boyfriend Daniel Regan, 30, a civil engineer, met on an overnight Tube journey while they were both living in London.
While renovating Daniel’s flat in Clapham, Emily saw an advertisement to become caretaker of Great Blasket Island, off the coast of Ireland, the westernmost point in Europe.
On a whim, she decided to apply and beat out thousands of applicants.
Since the move, Emily’s health has improved, with the couple wondering if they will ever be able to leave.
Nurse Emily Campbell, 28, who is originally from Cork, and her boyfriend Daniel Regan, 30, a civil engineer, met on an overnight Tube journey while they were both living in London.
While renovating Daniel’s flat in Clapham, Emily saw an advertisement to become caretaker of Great Blasket Island, off the coast of Ireland, the westernmost point in Europe.
Emily appears in Ben Fogle’s New Lives in the Wild, which airs tonight on Channel 5, revealing how the sun sets in November and doesn’t appear until February.
Emily appears in Ben Fogle’s New Lives in the Wild, which airs tonight on Channel 5, and reveals how the sun ‘sets in November and doesn’t appear until February’.
Great Blasket Ireland, about two kilometers from the Irish mainland, was inhabited until 1954, when it became unliveable, but is now visited by tourists who take the ferry from the Irish mainland.
Emily and Daniel run a cafe and three holiday lodges on the island, but are often not visited for days when bad weather prevents ferries from crossing.
Speaking to Ben Fogle on tonight’s show, Daniel revealed they stock up on hundreds of cans and often have ‘baked beans for dinner’ if they can’t get food from the mainland.
“There’s nothing out west until you get to Newfoundland, Canada,” he explains.
The couple also contributes to the conservation of the island’s seal population and takes a dip in the fresh sea, even when the water is as cold as 16 degrees Celsius.
There is no electricity – the only light comes from candles or heaters – and there is no hot water. The only fresh, cold water comes from a spring above some houses on the island.
Despite the challenge, Emily says the new life is less “emotionally draining” than before.
Emily and Daniel run a café and three holiday lodges on the island, but are often not visited for days when bad weather prevents ferries from crossing
The couple also contribute to the conservation of the island’s seal population and take a dip in the fresh sea, even though the water is as cold as 16 degrees.
‘I was burned out, my body was getting stress signals.’
Emily, who worked as a pediatric nurse at Great Ormond Street Hospital, said the stress had caused her eyes to be sore and painful and the skin around them to peel.
Doctors and specialists could not diagnose the disease.
But after moving to the Blaskets, the disease disappeared. She says her ultimate dream would be to live there and grow her own food, but the harsh conditions make it difficult.
In addition to the café, the couple also arranges 200 sheep for farmers from the mainland who keep their sheep on the island.
Billy O’Connor and his partner Alice Hayes own the three cottages and a coffee shop on the island, and hire new managers every year to look after the properties.
Emily, who worked as a pediatric nurse at Great Ormond Street Hospital, said stress had caused her eyes to be sore and sore and the skin around them to peel.
The blaskets were inhabited for centuries by a small but close-knit Irish-speaking group of 100-150 people. Emily is in the photo
The couple can cook and dine despite the lack of electricity
The couple can enjoy the view of the beach
‘When we were offered an interview we were absolutely thrilled to speak to Billy and Alice and told everyone. We had everyone crossing their fingers and toes and Emily’s mother even lit candles and had the rosary out,” Daniel shared. Breakingnews.ie in February.
‘Alice emailed us on a Monday morning to offer us the position and we jumped out of bed screaming with excitement. It only felt real when we spoke to Billy and Alice on a video call after we got the offer.”
Because it is too cold to live on the island after October, the couple left and are now traveling through Indonesia.
The blaskets were inhabited for centuries by a small but close-knit Irish-speaking group of 100-150 people.
They did not use money, but traded and followed a traditional way of life, farming and fishing for their food.
But in the 1950s, the remaining twenty residents were forced to move to the mainland because emergency services could not reach the island in bad weather.
Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild, Channel 5, Tuesday, 9pm