Owners of Taransay to return Scottish ‘Castaway’ island to its bronze age state

The white beaches of Taransay, with Harris in the distance. Photograph: Murdo Macleod/The Guardian

With spectacular white beaches and an abundance of wildlife, the island of Taransay has seen pagan Celtic settlers, a massacre involving warring medieval clans and in 2000 was made famous by the BBC reality television series Castaway.

Now the owners of one of the largest Scottish islands in private hands plan to return it to its natural condition and into a survival retreat.