Keep ScOUT! TV adventurer Bear Grylls wins bid to put up signs warning tourists to stay off his tiny Welsh private island
- Bear Grylls purchased Saint Tudwal’s West island in North Wales for £95,000
- He was granted planning permission to install steel signs in English and Welsh
- Signs will notify those attempting to visit tiny island that it is private property
Bear Grylls has been granted permission to install two ‘Private Property’ signs warning tourists to stay off the Welsh island where he and his family live part-time.
The television personality, 46, purchased the island of Saint Tudwal’s West on the Llŷn Peninsula, North Wales, in 2001 for £95,000.
He is said to split his time between the Welsh island – which is less than half a mile long – and his main home in London, with his wife Shara, 47, and their three sons Jesse, Marmaduke and Huckleberry.
Now, Grylls will be able to ensure would-be visitors are deterred from visiting his island home by putting up signs warning it is private property.
The presenter has been granted permission from Gwynedd Council to install two stainless steel signs, one in English and the other in Welsh.
Bear Grylls (pictured) has been granted permission to install two ‘Private Property’ signs warning tourists to stay off the Welsh island where he and his family live part-time
The 46-year-old presenter, whose real name is Edward, purchased the island of Saint Tudwal’s West (picture) in 2001 for £95,000
The signs will be fixed to the slipway safety rail, with the English sign measuring 3.9 feet across, and 1.3 feet high, and the Welsh sign measuring 4.8 feet across, and 1.3 feet high.
They will read ‘St Tudwal’s Island West Private Property’.
There were no objections to the plans, but one neighbour said: ‘Information signs near the jetty on the Island are reasonable and the type and size are appropriate to the location.
‘Strongly suggest, however, that the Welsh name “Ynys Tudwal Fawr” is included on the Welsh sign to reflect language and the culture of the Peninsula that is part of the archaic unique character.’
The rocky, grass-covered island is one of two St Tudwal’s Islands, off the north-west coast of Wales.
It measures around 2,000 feet long and 650 feet wide, and is in an area of outstanding natural beauty and a landscape of outstanding historical interest.
Grylls, who is the youngest-ever Chief Scout, won planning permission to install a steel slipway on Saint Tudwal’s West in 2015.
The former SAS reservist encountered stiff opposition from conservationists, who feared his proposals would ‘impair the natural character’ of the island.
The signs will be fixed to the slipway safety rail, with the English sign measuring 3.9 feet across, and 1.3 feet high, and the Welsh sign measuring 4.8 feet across, and 1.3 feet high
The area surrounding the island is inhabited by grey seals, bottle-nosed dolphins, otters, choughs and porpoises.
But Gwynedd Council were onside with his controversial proposal to create the 129ft slipway, which supports and launches two of his boats.
And, in 2013 Grylls pulled down a cliff slide he had installed into the sea after the local council launched an investigation into whether he had broken planning rules.
He has also previously had an application to create a harbour on the island refused.
He is said to split his time between the Welsh island – which is less than half a mile long – and his main home in London, with his wife Shara, 47, (pictured on the island) and their three sons Jesse, Marmaduke and Huckleberry
There were no objections to the plans, but one neighbour said: ‘Information signs near the jetty on the Island are reasonable and the type and size are appropriate to the location’
Following the death of Prince Philip on April 9, Grylls hailed the Duke of Edinburgh as a ‘a total inspiration to me because he was all about encouraging other people, and empowering young people to get out there and live their lives with eyes wide open and full of anticipation and excitement and service.’
He also recently spoke out in support of Max Woosey, 11, from Braunton, Devon, who has raised more than £500,000 for charity by sleeping out in a tent for a year.
Max began his challenge after his neighbour Rick Abbott, gave him the tent to ‘have an adventure in’ before he died of cancer in February 2020.
He will donate the money to the North Devon Hospice which helped Max’s family care for Mr Abbott ahead of his death.
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