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 If disconnecting from social media and going back to basics is your idea of a dream holiday, the French government's latest job ad could be the perfect new career . 
 
 It's looking for a couple to run a deserted island, in Brittany, and guaranteed solitude in its farmhouse. 
 
 The new occupiers would be tasked with looking after Quéménès, a mile-long stretch of beach off the Breton coast, home to seals, sea-birds and a flock of Urshant sheep . 
 
 According to the BBC , the island was inhabited for thousands of years, but 25 years ago, the last residents moved off, and so the Conservatoire du Littoral, the French Coastal Protection Agency, stepped in to buy it. 
 
 (Image: BBC) 
 
 (Image: www.alamy.com) 
 
 (Image: BBC) 
 
 A decade ago, David and Soizic Cuisnier became the new residents of the island, but they have decided to move on, falling out with the agency over rent. 
 
 They are also keen to make sure their children are closer to school. 
 
 The BBC reports that there are 20 serious candidates and the new people will be installed in the new year. 
 
 (Image: BBC) 
 
 (Image: www.alamy.com) 
 
 They may have what seems like an idyllic life, but those on the island have to earn their own keep, so the Cuisniers have been growing Mona Lisa potatoes, which they export, and running a guesthouse for half the year. 
 
 Mr Cuisnier told the BBC: "The fact is we live in modern times. 
 
 "From the farm we can see the mainland and the other inhabited islands. We have the internet, we have constant visitors. 
 
 "Never once have we felt alone!" ||||| Image caption The successful couple will inherit a house that is totally self-sufficient 
 
 It could be your chance to live on a deserted island. 
 
 The French government is looking for a new couple to take over the tiny Brittany island of Quéménès. The current occupants, who were chosen 10 years ago, have decided to leave. 
 
 Wanted: Person(s) to run Brittany island. Must be practical-minded and resilient. Farmhouse provided. Solitude guaranteed. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption David and Soizic Cuisnier talk about their time on the island 
 
 Exactly a decade on, France's Coastal Protection Agency (Conservatoire du Littoral) has advertised for new volunteers to take over a unique experiment. 
 
 Quéménès is a mile-long speck of sand, rock and grass in the Molène archipelago, just off the far-west Breton coast. It is home to seals, sea-birds, rabbits, and a flock of black Ushant sheep. 
 
 And someone has to live there. 
 
 Image caption Quéménès is a tiny island that is home to a flock of Ushant sheep 
 
 The background is this. After thousands of years of human occupation, the last owners of Quéménès quit the island farm 25 years ago. 
 
 Exercising their prerogative, the Conservatoire stepped in to buy. 
 
 At that point they could simply have created a nature reserve, but they decided otherwise. The farm would be kept as a going concern, and they would advertise for a couple to run it. 
 
 Image copyright EPA 
 
 And so it was that in 2007 David and Soizic Cuisnier were given possibly the most romantic job in the world: to live on a deserted island, and to keep the island alive. 
 
 Ten years on, and the Cuisniers, now supplemented by children Chloé and Jules, are preparing to leave. 
 
 They have fallen out with the Conservatoire over the issue of rent. In any case, they feel the children need to be living near school. 
 
 There are 20 "serious" candidates to replace them and the deadline for applications has just closed. The lucky successors will be appointed in the coming weeks and they should arrive in the new year. 
 
 If the experience of David and Soizic is anything to go by, they are in for the time of their lives. 
 
 "If we'd listened to people's advice 10 years ago, we'd never have done it," says David. 
 
 Image caption In the decade spent on the island David and Soizic Cuisnier have had two children 
 
 "Coming here was an act of glorious folly. But it turned into the most wonderful adventure. We developed the farm into a successful business. We raised a family. It has been unforgettable." 
 
 The main condition of the Cuisniers' lease was that they would have to earn their livelihood. 
 
 So over the years they have diversified into different areas. They grow Mona Lisa potatoes, which they market over the internet and post to purchasers from the neighbouring (inhabited) island of Molène. 
 
 They run a guesthouse for six months of the year; they manage the sheep; and they gather edible seaweed. This last they see as a major opportunity, and after leaving Quéménès they hope to become pioneers in the emerging business of seaweed cultivation. 
 
 Back to nature 
 
 The other challenge has been to use only those resources provided by the island. 
 
 So their electricity comes from a wind turbine and solar panels, and their water is drawn from the island well, itself fed by rainwater. Toilets are of the dry variety: scoop-and-sawdust rather then flushing. 
 
 Image caption Life on the island is not completely solitary: there is access to mobile phones and internet 
 
 "We have shown that it is possible to have a normal, modern life, while consuming only what nature has given. We have all the electronic gadgets we need, including an electric buggy to get round the island," says David Cuisnier. 
 
 The one hiccup is that under typically recondite French regulations, the island water is classed only as "buvable" and not as "potable". Both words mean drinkable, but unless water gains the higher health status of potable, it cannot be used in any process of food transformation. 
 
 This meant their idea of setting up a small factory to convert seaweed into pickles and other comestibles never took off. 
 
 Ten years of island adventures 
 
 An evening with the Cuisniers is an evening of stories about the island, about its history and about their own adventures there. Chloé, aged seven, and five-year-old Jules have had surely the most idyllic of childhoods. 
 
 There was the time they found four skeletons on the beach. 
 
 The sea had eroded their place of burial. At first, experts thought the bones were of soldiers killed in a fracas with the English. 
 
 The Royal Navy knew these waters well, from its frequent incursions against the French Atlantic fleet and its base in Brest. The nearby island of Ouessant is known in English charts as Ushant. 
 
 "But in the end they decided they were probably shipwrecked sailors, washed up," says David. 
 
 Image caption Island life: The Cuisniers have become experts in cultivating seaweed 
 
 There are in fact scores of wrecks in the sea off the archipelago, notably that of the Drummond Castle, a British passenger ship sailing from South Africa which went down with 350 lives in 1896. 
 
 Then there was the tale of the Irish balloon. One evening, walking with the children, Soizic Cuisnier found a large balloon in a thicket. It had a message attached, from a couple in Dublin who had just lost a baby boy to a fatal genetic illness. 
 
 Sending the balloon into the air was part of their process of grieving. He wrote to the couple, and they are still in contact today. 
 
 There were the storms of 2014, which lasted for weeks. One evening, struggling back from a walk in force-10 winds, David saw what looked like a low, billowing cloud moving towards him. 
 
 "It seemed out of place in the storm, because it was coming so slowly across the sea. Only when it hit did I realise what it was. It was a 'salt fog' - salt whipped up from the sea by the ferocity of the blast," he says. 
 
 But what of the hardships? The solitude? 
 
 "Obviously we had our crises," he says. "One year the potato crop was totally eaten by rabbits. Luckily myxamatosis arrived, and the rabbit population fell from around 2,000 to the 100 or so we have today." 
 
 "And there was the time Soizic cut the end of her finger off. But the amazing thing then was how quickly the helicopter ambulance came. In 20 minutes she was being seen to by a doctor, which is quicker than she would have had on the mainland!" 
 
 And that is the final message from the Cuisniers. Please don't call them France's answer to Robinson Crusoe. Cut off they are not. 
 
 "The fact is we live in modern times. From the farm we can see the mainland and the other inhabited islands. We have the internet, we have constant visitors. Never once have we felt alone!" ||||| AFP 
 
 A remote island off France’s Brittany coast will soon be home to new residents, but who’s crazy enough to want to live out their Swiss Family Robinson dream on a 1.6km long deserted outcrop? 
 
 Unfortunately for anyone interested, applications to live on the island of Quéménès, close to the Brittany coast, closed at 6pm on Tuesday evening. 
 
 The unique opportunity was advertised by the French coastal protection agency Conservatoire du littoral from mid-June. 
 
 “We received around 60 enquiries and 40 applications, but only 15 or so of those were serious,” Isabelle Gay, the Finistere area manager for the Conservatoire du littoral, said speaking to The Local. 
 
 “Some sent us a simple cover letter, others sent a more complete application. All the profiles are very different: everything from young couples, to singletons, families, retired couples.” 
 
 Dutch and Belgian couples had made enquiries about living on the island, said Ms Gay, but the shortlist is now only down to French citizens. 
 
 Google Maps 
 
 Those on the shortlist will have to make it through a rigorous selection process. 
 
 A panel of seven or eight French conservation agency’s members and its partners will have to be convinced that the chosen inhabitant can survive and live happily on the island which is part of the Molène archipelago. 
 
 "We are particularly looking for people who can live in an isolated area, but also welcome the public to the island," Ms Gay said. 
 
 Residents who'll make the island their home for at least five years or more would be ideal, she added. 
 
 Soizic and David Cuisnier, the couple who live on the island now, made the decision to leave in May. 
 
 AFP 
 
 The Cuisniers were given the keys to the island ten years ago, and have since expanded their family with two children: seven-year-old Chloé and five-year-old Jules. 
 
 Accessible only by boat, the parents decided to leave to let the children get to school more easily. 
 
 But they also fell out with the agency over rent. 
 
 The agency charges a yearly €7,000 ‘licence fee’ to live on the island, and the inhabitants are expected to look after the farm: growing potatoes, collecting seaweed, rearing Ouessant-breed lambs. 
 
 On top of that, they will also have to run a small B&B; which is open from April to October, where they can earn a little income. 
 
 Before the Cuisniers made Quéménès their home, the island had been inhabited since the 19th century and was owned for 40 years by one family until they sold it to the Conservatoire in 2003. 
 
 Marie-Thérèse Darcque-Tassin, whose family lived there from 1953 to 1993, told FranceInfo life there was “atypical and tough but I’m proud of it”. 
 
 For some, living on a remote island off the French coast sounds ideal. 
 
 So the french government is looking for a couple to live on their own island. Where can I apply! #dreaming #quéménès #pickme — Tess Policastro (@TessPolicastro) 29 September 2017 
 
 While others might say there's nothing worse than being stranded on an island, far from civilization. 
 
 The announcement on who will be Quéménès new residents is expected to be made in October or November. 
 
 By Anna Schaverien
– It's the perfect job for someone who prefers the minimum amount of human interaction. The French government is looking for a couple to take care of the deserted Brittany island of Quemenes. The mile-long island in the Molene archipelago off the Breton coast was occupied by humans for thousands of years, but the last owners left 25 years ago. The Conservatoire du Littoral (French Coastal Protection Agency, per the Mirror) bought the island, which includes a farm, and selected David and Soizic Cuisnier to run it and take care of the flock of sheep living on it. That was in 2007, and the couple and their two children, ages 7 and 5, are ready to move on, leaving a job opening, the BBC reports. Unfortunately for would-be island caretakers, the deadline for applications is over and the Conservatoire has narrowed it down to a shortlist of applicants. "We received around 60 inquiries and 40 applications, but only 15 or so of those were serious," a manager tells the Local. A decision is expected by October or November. "Coming here was an act of glorious folly," David Cuisnier tells the BBC. "But it turned into the most wonderful adventure. We developed the farm into a successful business. We raised a family. It has been unforgettable." The Cuisniers' lease required them to earn a livelihood, which they did by growing and selling potatoes, gathering edible seaweed, and running a B&B for half the year, among other things. They could also use only the resources provided by the island, meaning they get electricity from a wind turbine and solar panels, and water from a well.