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The family of four who were chosen to manage a remote island nature reserve had to quit their new life after just one day.

Ned and Sophie Schärer and their two children set up home on Ynys Enlli (Bardsey Island) but had to leave just hours into the start of their three-year "family adventure" when their 10-year-old son, Sam slipped and fell on rocks badly injuring his leg.

It meant Sophie had to return to Llanrwst to look after him and the burden of the work proved too much for Ned to do singlehandedly.

Now the Bardsey Island Trust are having to readvertise the "challenging but rewarding" role, which involves maintaining the trust's 10 letting houses and looking after the 2,000 visitors who come to the island each year.

Speaking to the BBC, Sophie revealed how Sam had fallen after waving off the boat that ferried them in and had to be airlifted to hospital on the mainland by Holyhead Coastguard.

She said: "The warden has a direct line to the coastguard, so even though you're on the island, you have this amazing back-up.

"The seas were too rough to launch the boat so they sent the helicopter and he got to hospital quicker than if we tried to drive from our home in Snowdonia."

She added: "It was such a shame but in the end, it made the decision to leave the island easier for us because we effectively had no choice.

"What happened was just one of those things. It could have happened anywhere.

"Sam has only recently healed but he now has a beautiful scar in the shape of the island. It's a wonderful souvenir."

The Schärers were chosen from among 50 applicants to move to the reserve off the tip of the Llyn peninsula earlier this year.

Ned had been running the National Building Centre in Llanrwst for the past seven years, while Sophie is a potter and artist. Their two children were to be home schooled on the island and live there full time.

There is a long-term population of 11 people on Bardsey and a winter population of just four.

The new wardens will have an annual salary of around £25,000, and will live in a home for free with all utilities included but must be prepared for no mobile phone signal.

Fluent in both English and Welsh, the wardens must also recruit and manage the volunteers who help out on the island.

Sophie said: "It's an amazing opportunity for a family who love to spend time together and to have an adventure."

* The closing date for applications is June 24. For more information, click here