Entire Scottish island Shuna with ruined castle goes on sale for £5.5million

The Gully family have owned, farmed and lived on Shuna since 1945. The 1,110-acre island offers holiday accommodation and boasts incredible wildlife, with a regular feeding spot for porpoise and hundreds of red and fallow deer.

But its main attraction is the ruined Shuna Castle, built with ‘no expense spared’ by New Zealand-born adventurer George Alexander MacLean Buckley in 1911.

For all of his life, family patriarch Eddie Gully, raised on Shuna since he was three months old, has been farming sheep on the island. While he now lives and farms on Seil, he still visits the island weekly. It is easily accessible through a 20 minute boat ride.

The holiday accommodation has been run by Rob and Kathryn James for the past 12 years, and now the family have decided to move to the mainland to make life easier for their daughter to attend school.

Credit: Knight Frank

Eddie’s son Jim Gully said: ‘It’s not easy for them to get their daughter to school every day, it’s weather permitting, so they’re moving onto the Mull of Kintyre, it makes a huge amount of sense for them and their family. They’ve done a fantastic job over the years, we’ve been incredibly lucky to have them, and the Lloyds, Phil and Mandy who ran it before them.’

With Eddie now in his 80s, the family decided that now was the right time to sell, rather than look for new custodians to replace the James’.

Eddie will continue farming on Seil at Dunmor ‘until he can’t get up anymore’ said Jim.

Jim spent the first nine years of his life on Shuna, and described that period of his childhood as ‘idyllic’.

He spoke of how he and his brother were home schooled from the castle kitchen every morning by their grandfather, before being ‘kicked out’ in the afternoons to explore the wilderness.

They were only taught maths, English and lateral thinking, ‘the only subjects he thought mattered,’ said Jim.

Credit: Knight Frank

The family lived in the castle until it was quite literally falling apart around them, and it has stood as a ruin now for around 40 years.

The castle blueprints, along with the architect, are believed to have gone down with the Titanic.

‘He was about to export the plans to America and build a lot more of them,’ Jim said. ‘The fact that the castle had a flat roof on the West Coast of Scotland meant the dry rot and challenges were massive problems.

‘The plans for it went down with the Titanic and stopped lots of flat-roofed castles being built in America. It could well be a fixer, but not to the original design.

‘There’s a reason why the castle was built there in the first place, it would seem like a perfectly natural spot to build a house.’

In the days since the listing went live, Jim says he has received a lot of interest already.

Credit: Knight Frank

There are many options for what the island could be used for, a private retreat away from the online world, continued use as a tourism business or even a rewilding project.

Jim says that no matter what option the new owners choose, it will be really exciting to see.

Shuna has been listed by both UK Sotheby’s International Realty and Knight Frank.

Will Matthews, Head of Farms and Estates at Knight Frank said: ‘Islands always have their draw and Shuna is no different. It is the most beautiful place with stunning views, diverse landscapes, an abundance of wildlife and everything you would expect from the glorious west coast of Scotland.

‘The sale of Shuna represents an extraordinary opportunity for someone to take the island on its next journey. The opportunities are endless and particularly with the scope that the old castle offers – it would the most incredible project.’