Welcome to Gnome Island: Remote spot with tons of garden gnomes

By Elizabeth Hunter via SWNS

Welcome to 'Gnome Island' - a remote outcrop covered with garden ornaments but nobody knows how they got there.

The garden gnomes live on the rock of Swallow Craig which sits just off Inchcolm Island in the Firth of Forth in Scotland.

The first gnomes appeared there in 2010 - with some people speculating they were left by a local fisherman or woman.

But other local legends claim the gnomes escaped from a local garden center attempting to flee up the Forth under the cover of night.

Other myths are they were shipwrecked - and have spent the last 14 years on the island.

The population is always growing and the island has since been dubbed "Inchgnome Island".

Scott Aston, skipper of the Maid of the Forth, takes up to 100 tourists per day to the island and says that visitors "crack up" at the sight.

"One story behind it is that these gnomes escaped from a garden center under cover of darkness.

"They made a bid for freedom, escaped over to Inchgnome – and they’ve established their own colony out there. That’s how the legend goes.

"We hear people on the boat all the time asking, "Is that a gnome?” and then they see the sign that says Inchgnome and they laugh at that."

Scott has run sightseeing cruises on the Forth for 18 years, with trips running daily from Easter until October.

During his time on the job, he says he has seen the gnome population mysteriously increase each winter - but says he has no idea how.

He said: "Nobody knows how they got there, and nobody knows why they’re there – but they do seem to multiply every winter!"