The manager of a 20-strong community on a remote island is looking for a real life "Castaway" couple to help look after the tiny island's livestock.

Lundy island, situated in the Bristol Channel, is just three miles long by half a mile wide.

Paul Roberts, the general manager of the island famous for its population of rare puffins, is looking for a shepherd to manage the flock of around 600 sheep.

But Mr Roberts warned the isolated island existence was not suitable for a single man.

On Lundy, people get on very well in a very small community.

Paul Roberts

"It is definitely not a single person's environment. We are looking for a couple, although the difficulty we have is that there are no schools here," he said.

Mr Roberts said a childless couple or the parents of adult children would be most suitable for the post.

Owned by the National Trust, the island boasts its own pub, one shop and a single public telephone.

Properties on Lundy are powered by electricity from a generator which is switched off at night.

The island attracts scores of tourists in the summer but Mr Roberts warned potential applicants that life during the winter months could be tough.

He said: "It is a very rural, isolated place. The people who go there on holiday go there for the peace, quiet and tranquillity."

But he said Lundy and its inhabitants bore no resemblance to television's Castaway.

Free accommodation

"Castaway was something that was manufactured and created.

"On Lundy, people get on very well in a very small community."

The island's present shepherd is due to leave next month.

In addition to looking after sheep the Lundy shepherd is responsible for checking on the island's population of wild Sika deer, goats and ponies.

In return, the Trust provides free accommodation in a two-bedroom house, pays the rates, and provides an undisclosed salary.

"The only things the couple will have to pay for are food and telephone calls," said Mr Roberts.