Banjo Beale's latest project isn't just close to home - it is his home

A tiny Scottish island, 16 residents, a crumbling mansion, and two Australian dreamers - it's the perfect recipe for a riveting home renovation show.

Interior designer Banjo Beale has become a firm favourite with viewers thanks to programmes like Scotland's Home of the Year and Designing the Hebrides.

But his latest TV outing is personal - and not so much close to home as his actual home.

Banjo and his husband Ro are attempting to turn a derelict mansion on the Isle of Ulva into a stunning boutique hotel.

BBC Scotland's Banjo & Ro's Grand Island Hotel will follow the couple as they try to bring Ulva House - the former Laird's house - back to life.

The island of Ulva is around 150m off the west coast of Mull, where the couple had previously made their home.

Ulva is one of the smallest inhabited islands in the Hebrides.

To get there, the foot passenger-only ferry takes around five minutes to cross a narrow strait between the two islands.

It was on this ferry that Banjo and Ro squashed their worldly belongings, and with their dog, Granpa, started their newest adventure.

Banjo said: "We have taken on what's called the repair lease on the old laird's house on the island.

"So we are renting this big crumbling mansion and we are hoping to turn it into our home and maybe a hotel if we ever get there."

Ro added: "If we can live in a great place, do some renovations, make some money and some of the profit goes back into the community then great - it's a fun thing to do."

"That's the plan," said Banjo. "But the reality is a lot muddier and messier and lots of stress and more expensive that you can imagine."

Ulva used to have a population of 800 but now just 14 call it home - plus Banjo and Ro.

At the centre of the island stands Ulva House, a once enchanting Regency home, the former residence of the first Governor of Australia, Lachlan MacQuarrie.

The category B-listed mansion was built in 1955, on the footprint of the previous Ulva house.

But the house, now caught between splendour and decay, has been sitting empty for eight years.

The mission is to turn this crumbling villa, currently without electricity or running water, into a one-of-a-kind boutique hotel.

Banjo admitted: "This is my biggest project yet with an absolute nightmare of a client - myself.

"With no roads and no clue how we're going to pull it off, it's going to be my boldest adventure yet.

"There'll be midges, madness, and hopefully a miracle or two."

He said the tradespeople that come are up for the adventure - and if they are not - they quickly leave.

"We are lucky because we have a really supportive community which we rely on a lot," said Ro.

"We are definitely going to owe quite a few favours by the time we are done."

The two work from their makeshift workshop - an old horsebox parked up in the garden. Banjo is sanding paint off a table.

"This one might go in the orangery. Yes - we have an orangery," he said.

"Well, it's just a sitting room but I am going to fill it with plants and call it an orangery because that sounds fancy."

The six-part series starts in the collapsing old library.

As "chief imagination officer", Banjo is not interested in a simple patch-up and is instead dreaming of a sumptuous whisky library, complete with mohair chairs, glossy black cabinets and an oversized theatrical bar.

Ever the pragmatist, Ro reminds him that everything must arrive by boat, so when Banjo appears on the quay with a 3 metre zinc-topped bar, the question isn't whether it suits the room - it's whether it will fit on the ferry in the first place.

Time is against them, and they have only the summer months to get the house wind and watertight or they risk a crippling insurance bill once the Hebridean winter rolls in.

However, just as the whisky library nears completion, a new test looms, as the influential chair of the Island Trust is heading over to inspect the work. Banjo and Ro are keen to make a good impression.

Although not without its challenges, the project has been a heartfelt undertaking, according to Banjo.

"The building is getting saved," he said.

"We are going a little bit mad in the process but we will have a very nice building at the end of the day and maybe it will have some people come and stay - hopefully".

For the couple, transforming this house into an island hotel isn't just about testing their renovation and design skills.

It's a mission to breathe new life into a small island, driven by the 16 people who call it home.