River Avon island sells for £280k: Osier Island which has just one dwelling and no road is snapped up at auction

No man is an island, as John Donne’s poem famously reminds us. But an island that has no other inhabitants was snapped up at auction last night for £280,000.

With a guide price of £190,000, the small, grassy haven of Osier Island on the river Avon garnered a lot of interest - with one man even calling up from Canada - and more than 100 people turned up to bid for the lot.

"It was very exciting, in the end there was competitive bidding between four people," says Knight Frank's office Manager, Ellie Howells. "People really seemed to fancy that lifestyle change."

The one permanent residence dates back to the 1940s and is a timber ranch-style two-bedroom house built on a raised platform away from floodwaters.

Osier is full of wildlife with barn owls, kingfishers and a wealth of ornithological interest. Spanning 0.44 acres, it has several boat moorings, a garden and not much else.

No services are connected to the property although the previous owner used a solar panel for electricity, bottled gas for cooking, a wood burning stove for heating and a rainwater holding tank.

It sits a quarter of a mile downstream from Worcestershire's pretty village of Wyre Piddle where you’ll find a marina, pubs and a village hall.