This line from Brenda Chamberlain’s Tide-race has stayed with me since I first read the book some five years ago. When the team on Enlli asked me to write this blog about my week of volunteering, from the perspective of a member of staff at St Fagans Museum in Cardiff, the line drifted back to me as a perfect encapsulation of both experiences. It speaks to the way a place changes our perception of time and how the specific demands of an environment colour the lives lived within them. At the museum, visitors and staff can step momentarily out of the world’s traffic and into another moment in time, told through objects and stories. And on Enlli, visitors and volunteers like me are given the chance to see what life is really like on an island so well known within our national mythology and
culture.

My role as Museum Assistant at St Fagans constantly shifts between public-facing duties, like welcoming the public and interpreting our priceless national collections, to the practical skills of building open fires and maintaining the beauty of our site. I see our team as custodians of stories, giving a voice to remnants of the past and guiding our visitors through the door to another world. The work that Lois and Aron do as Wardens on Enlli felt familiar in that sense. Each day – weather permitting – they help visitors to step onto the island and into their world. Time feels utterly different there: slower, richer and more abundant than in our often-chaotic daily lives. The wonderful buildings on the island remind us of a long natural and social history and at times I felt as if I was standing in an alternate version of St Fagans in the Irish Sea!

Nothing lights a spark of interest like coming face to face with these traces of the past, let alone being able to spend considerable time with them. Lois, Aron, Elin and the Trust have worked tirelessly to create experiences for the visitors that champion our national traditions, from literary retreats and artistic residencies to music nights and ceremonies for worship. I got the chance to see Brenda Chamberlain’s murals in person and spent my free days exploring the island, sketching and photographing its wonders. Since returning to my art studio in Cardiff, I have created a body of work around my time in Enlli and still feel the creative ripple effect. The island’s chaplain, Adrian, was a warm and open presence with whom I had many conversations about the mysteries of life and faith. And one of the most remarkable experiences of my life was setting out to Bae y Rhigol in the middle of the night with my fellow volunteers and seeing the Manx Shearwaters nesting.

Since January I have been lucky enough to start working with the Gardening team at the museum. Our work here is unique in Wales in that we operate as a public attraction as well as housing a living collection of native plants that support us in interpreting the historic buildings on site. We’re a small team with a little more than 100 acres to maintain, a familiar experience for the wardens on Enlli I’m sure! In the face of our current climate crisis, we have adapted to a more holistic way of working, especially when trying to promote biodiversity and protect those special heritage varieties. I was delighted to learn of the Enlli apple, a unique variety, thought to be 1,000 years old, that was discovered growing on the wall of Plas Bach in 1998. The tree was preserved through cuttings, two of which were bought by St Fagans Museum and still grow in our orchard today.

It was smooth sailing back to the mainland, the sea glittering under a big blue sky and the boat full of faces that were now familiar after a week spent together. Volunteers, visitors, builders, the Trust’s chair, the island’s Chief Officer and of course, our captain Colin. Sitting amongst this eclectic group of people, I was struck by the sense of unity that this shared experience had brought me. I had many discussions over the week about the island’s particular draw and the way it pulls people back year after year. In the same way I believe Sain Ffagan has a charm that is difficult to express with words. I think this shared love and attention towards a place is what keeps it so alive and vibrant and has kept Enlli in my thoughts long after my experience. As I drove away, the island and its wonders disappearing behind me, I found myself already planning my return.