A helicopter thunders overhead as we wait for our lattes, and I find myself wondering which A-lister is about to be deposited nearby to join us. We’re in a secret sort of place you see: a privately owned island, just for those in the know. There tends to be a bit of a buzz about the people who turn up. And where am I, exactly? The Maldives, you might guess: full of tropical allure. Martha’s Vineyard, perhaps, for the US glitterati.
No: it’s a little closer to home. Essex, in fact. The island of Osea, in the Blackwater Estuary. The helicopter has likely travelled just 20 minutes from London to get here. It’s now now flying so low, it’s shaking the windows of the rickety wooden shack where we’ve waited half an hour for our caffeine hit and who might be on board quickly becomes the topic of conversation in the good-natured queue. All the island’s 24 rentable cottages are booked this weekend, and it seems everyone is right here in this line. Someone whips out a phone to google Osea’s former guests.
“Rihanna rents unlikely celebrity magnet in the middle of the Blackwater Estuary,” the chap behind me reads a headline aloud. “Adding to the already lengthy list of artists – Jessie J, Charlie XCX and The Weeknd – who have used the state-of-the-art recording studio slap-bang in the middle of its 380 acres.”
We all nod sagely, like we know who Charlie XCX is.
A low-key music studio
Perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise that Osea Island’s guest book should be so starry. Its owner is music producer Nigel Frieda, Sugababes founder and producer and brother of celebrity hairdresser John. He reportedly bought it for £6 million over two decades ago as his own New England-esque retreat, running it as an unlikely holiday destination since 2012. Perhaps more surprising, given its pedigree, is how low-key and lovely Osea actually is once you’re here. There is something genuinely magical about it, an atmosphere it shares with other islands in the vicinity. Close by is Northey, run by the National Trust, accessible to daytrippers March to September, and Horsey, which you can visit for a few hours with permission from the owner (or book its simple three-bedroom cottage).
