Island living
SHELLEY MARSDEN speaks to Michael Faulkner, who went from the rat-race to island life on Strangford Lough… - 30/03/10
Still On the Sound, with its anecdotes of island life, tales of picnics in the sun, making friends with the local wildlife and its beautiful accompanying photographs, would surely tempt the most hardened City worker to pack it all in and get back to nature. The second book by Michael Faullkner continues the story of his new life after his business went bust in Scotland, living in what they call the ‘Blue Cabin’ on the little island of Islandmore on Strangford Lough.
Once the summer home of his father, former Prime Minister of Northern Ireland Brian Faulkner, it is now home to Michael and his Scottish wife Lynn, and the source of much inspiration and adventure. A heart-warming, witty and magical paean to this tiny corner of the world, Still On The Sound follows the couple through the four seasons and a myriad of visitors – human and otherwise
Your lifestyle sounds idyllic in many ways…
Well, where we are is a beautiful corner of Ireland anyway, but we always feel we live in the prettiest part of this very beautiful part of the country! This area is the western side of Strangford Lough; the mainland is only a quarter of a mile away and behind us is a whole group of islands. From the point of view of messing about on small boats, it’s an absolute paradise. There’s always something new round the corner.
Can you tell me about the events that led to you living here?
I had a furniture business in Edinburgh, which went caput, as a result of which we lost our house in central Scotland where we’d lived for ten years. As part of the fall-out from all this, we needed somewhere to take stock. The cabin had been in our family since 1969, and we’d been coming here on holidays. My mother asked us if we’d like to use it as a place to start over. We only had to think about it for five minutes, because we loved the place anyway! We knew it well, but it’s a very simple cabin, there is no mains electricity. Nobody had ever stayed here in wintertime, and when we moved it was in November of 2001.
Brrrr. I feel cold just thinking about it…
I know! Our first few months were spent in the winter, so it was a very steep learning curve, having been used to a snug, centrally-heated farmhouse, where you come through the door, hit a switch and the light comes on! We look back on those days as pure luxury. It’s the challenges of cabin living, and getting used to using the boat every time we wanted to go anywhere; it’s the only island without a causeway that takes you to the mainland, with a jetty right in front of the cabin. It was a huge lifestyle change.
Was it a place you already knew you would love living in though?
Yes; because it had such great family memories attached to it. I have an older brother and sister who were in their late teens when we got the cabin – I was about twelve – and it was during those few years when you could still have family holidays together. My father at that time would have been under increasing pressure with his political career so, family being very important to him, it was a wonderful place to bring us all for a few days. We didn’t often get more than that because he’d normally get called back to the mainland for some new political crisis! The idea of being able to stay here longer; and look to the future from the cabin, grew on us pretty quickly. The longer you stay, the more it gets under your skin, because you’re seeing it in all conditions and all seasons.
For the full article, buy this week's Irish World at your local newsagents, or pick up a copy online from only 50p!
‘Still On the Sound’ is available in all good bookshops.
Visit www.blackstaffpress.com and www.thebluecabin.com for more
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