Have you ever wondered what it would be like to own your own set of islands? Adam Nicolson's father had answered a newspaper advertisement in the '30s. Uninhabited islands for sale, it said. Outer Hebrides. 600 acres. 500ft basaltic cliffs. Puffins and seals. Cabin. Apply Col. Kenneth Macdonald, Portree, Skye. These were the Shiants, three of the loneliest of the British Isles, set in a dangerous sea, with no more than a stone-built, rat-ridden bothy as accommodation, five miles or so off the coast of Lewis. They cost u1400 and for that he bought one of the most beautiful places on the planet."