For sale: John Lennon's dream island where King of the Hippies reigned

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/22/john-lennon-clew-bay-island-for-sale


Inishturk Beg island in Clew Bay, Ireland.

When the boat engine dies, the silence is absolute. The water is still and clear down to the little towers of amber weed on a seabed that slopes up gently to the beach of Dorninish. Known as Beatle Island or Hippie Island, Dorninish has been both the dream island of John Lennon, who owned it until his death, and a colony for idealistic New Agers whose tepees were eventually defeated by the County Mayo winter.

Now the 19-acre island, with panoramic views around Clew Bay, is up for sale for €300,000 (£240,000), complete with a fresh water well, the ruins of an old house – and its remarkable history.

It is one of a slew of islands on the market off the west coast of Ireland. Even as the property slump continues in the stagnant Irish economy, land is holding value, and so those who need to sell are doing so.

Clew Bay is island soup; there are some 365 "drowned" drumlins, or elongated hills, out here if anyone's counting. Some are owned by farmers, others by foreigners as a holiday home, one by the Maharishi Mahesh's followers.