They have spent years battling local opposition and have forked out considerable sums of money as they sought permission to build a stunning home on their very own Scottish island.
However, just months after they were finally given the green light to start work, TV presenter Kirsty Young and her multi-millionaire husband are selling the lot.
‘Desert Island Discs’ presenter Ms Young and husband Nick Jones bought Inchconnachan Island for £2 million in 2020, hoping to create a luxury private retreat with a rare colony of Wallbies for neighbours.
However, the Cotswolds-based couple have said they are now re-imagining their life plans after 62-year-old Mr Jones was diagnosed with prostate cancer, a condition for which he was successfully treated.
Auction house Sotheby’s are now seeking offers of £3 million for the Scottish island as it is now, or £10 million on construction of a two-storey lodge, with three bedrooms, a boathouse and inter-connecting boardwalks.
Mr Jones, founder of the private members club chain, Soho House, said of the decision to sell: ‘My priorities have changed.
‘When you go through what I went through, you’re looking for a slightly smaller life, rather than a bigger life.’
Ms Young, 57, who was born in East Kilbride but brought up in Stirling, has also suffered from ill health in recent years.
Kirsty Young and husband Nick Jones bought Inchconnachan Island for £2 million in 2020
The island has a colony of red-necked wallabies, introduced there in the 1940’s
From 2006 to 2018, she was the main presenter of BBC Radio 4’s ‘Desert Island Discs’ before taking a four-year break from presenting after developing the chronic pain condition fibromyalgia.
She returned to present coverage of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June 2022 before playing a key role in the corporation’s coverage of the Queen’s state funeral in September of that year and King Charles’s Coronation in May 2023.
The value of Inchconnachan Island has doubtless been enhanced by the awarding of planning permission for the bespoke property the couple had planned to build, designed by Nicos Yiatros and Gunnar Groves-Raines of Edinburgh-based GRAS Architects.
First lodged in 2021, the planning application included a vision for a short-stay holiday rental with a new boathouse and a jetty on the 103-acre island.
The ruins of a 1920s colonial-style timber bungalow would also be demolished as part of the development and a natural wet woodland created on the land.
Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority, which granted permission, said the proposal would result in ‘a small loss of habitat’ but it would also have biodiversity benefits through ‘naturalisation of the former site’.
Of greater concern to environmentalists was the impact on a colony of red-necked wallabies, introduced to the island in the 1940’s and now representing one of the few such populations outside of Australia.
Inchconnachan was once owned by the aristocratic Colquhoun family and it’s thought the wallabies were introduced to the island shortly after World War II by Fiona Bryde Gore, Lady Arran Colquhoun.
Lady Arran is said to have transported them from her home in Hertfordshire where she also kept pot-bellied pigs, llamas and alpacas.
The couple were given permission to build a two-storey lodge, with three bedrooms, a boathouse and inter-connecting boardwalks on the island earlier this year
The wallabies, which are native to Australia and New Guinea, have survived on the island by eating oak, holly and birch trees.
Fears surrounding their future on the island led to a huge campaign to save them, with more than 100,000 people signing a petition against the planning application.
Over the years, the island began reverting to nature, becoming overrun by invasive species such as rhododendrons.
The recent owners' plans include employing a full-time warden to oversee a conservation recovery scheme, with the status of the wallabies protected during any development.
In the sales brochure, Sotheby’s outline the island’s outstanding natural – and practical – attractions.
It says: ‘Designated an Area of Special Scientific Interest and Special Area of Conservation, the island is richly wooded with ancient Scots pine, oak, and birch, and serves as a haven for sea eagles and nesting ospreys.
‘Elevated viewpoints and the sweeping shoreline offer uninterrupted views towards Ben Lomond.
‘Despite its extraordinary seclusion, Glasgow International Airport is just 30 minutes away, offering connections to London, Europe, and direct transatlantic destinations, while Cumbernauld Airport, with private aviation facilities, is approximately 40 minutes away.’