I wrinkled my nose. “But it’s so…” The word I wanted to use was icky. “It feels really tired and old, Dad.”

He shrugged. “That’s hardly surprising. The lighthouse was built in 1807. At least the exterior and the keeper’s cottage were. It’s thought that the lighthouse itself is about a hundred years older than that. It was getting to the point that it needed strengthening, and they decided the best way to do so was to build another lighthouse around it. So it’s really a tower within a tower, which is kind of cool.”

“There’s a weed growing through the crack in that flagstone.” I pointed. “Everything’s sticky with salt, and there are flies everywhere.”

“The flies are a nuisance but it’s impossible to keep them out, I’m afraid,” Dad said with a sigh. “You open the windows and more of them just come buzzing in. They’re attracted by the birds, you see. It’s probably best to keep the windows and doors closed as much as possible so that the gannets don’t try to fly in. As for the rest of your complaints, well, we’re on an island in the middle of the North 45Atlantic. Permanently buffeted by the elements. Nothing stays pristine here forever.”

“I never said that I wanted everything to be pristine,” I replied, annoyed that he was already twisting my words and trying to make me sound unreasonable. “But it would be nice if the rooms weren’t full of flies and weeds.”

I tried not to think about all the fun stuff I was missing out on with my friends back home for this, but it was hard not to feel a rush of irritation towards Dad. If he really wanted to see us, was it too much to ask him to come to London as usual rather than dragging us out to the middle of nowhere?

“Try to think of it as ‘rustic’,” Kate suggested in a maddeningly cheerful tone.

I gritted my teeth to stop myself from snapping something rude at her.

“Is there a TV?” Rosie asked.

“Nope, just the radio.” Dad indicated to the one on the worktop. “You can listen to music in the kitchen if you’re lucky enough to find a signal, but don’t take it out and about with you – it’s literally our lifeline to the outside world. We brought a backup too, but it was damaged during the boat 46trip. Without this radio, we’ve no other way of communicating with the mainland. We’ve got a set of walkie-talkies, but they don’t have much of a range.”

“Well, it’ll still be fun to explore the island,” Rosie said with a beseeching glance at me.

“I guess it’s not every day you have a whole island to yourself,” I agreed, trying to find a positive for my sister’s sake.