In the Blackwater Estuary off the Essex coast just 40 miles northeast of central London, Osea is not your typical island escape. Accessible by boat, air, or an ancient Roman causeway that appears only at low tide, the sprawling 380-acre island compound is now on the market for £25 million (about $33.2 million) with Knight Frank and Fine & Country. It’s an audacious offering, not only in its scale and seclusion but also for its cultural imprint and its rich, secretive past. During World War I, Osea served as a clandestine naval base known as ‘SS Osea,’ and during World War II a bomb hit the island when it fell short of its London target, adding a layer of intrigue to its already storied legacy. Osea was later owned by Cambridge University but returned to private ownership in the 1950s.
Today, Osea is more than a private island—it’s a stage, a studio, a sanctuary. Since 2004, under the ownership of music producer Nigel Frieda (best known for his work with English girl group the Sugababes), the village-like compound has quietly evolved into one of Britain’s most discreet creative hubs. Stormzy wrote and recorded much of his This Is What I Mean album here, describing the process as “a very surreal, spiritual experience." Rihanna has stayed. So has Charli XCX, while Olly Murs chose it as the setting for his 2023 wedding, the Independent reported.
Knight Frank; Fine & Country
There’s a kind of magical, cinematic quality to the island, which hasn’t gone unnoticed by the film and literary worlds either. The Woman in Black—both the 1989 TV adaptation and the 2012 Daniel Radcliffe-led version—used Osea as a haunting backdrop, as did HBO’s The Third Day with Jude Law. Ellery Lloyd set his New York Times bestselling fictional drama The Club here, too.
In many ways, Osea is like a village, its buildings being a patchwork of styles from a variety of eras. A grand Edwardian manor and the Captain’s House sit along the waterfront, both styled for grand-scale entertaining, and a former orphanage has been reborn as luxury apartments. In all, there are 38 residential properties offering a total of 90 bedrooms and 61 bathrooms, plus a pub, a couple of swimming pools, a state-of-the-art recording studio, and a helipad.
Knight Frank; Fine & Country
The infrastructure is surprisingly robust—think: water treatment facilities, electrical substations, dry docks, and orchards—and the business model includes event hosting, holiday lettings, music production, and retreats.
But for all its celebrity pedigree and curated rustic charm, Osea is also a functioning enterprise. “Osea Island presents an exceptionally rare, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire a private island of remarkable scale and historical significance," says Georgie Veale, senior negotiator at Knight Frank. “Offering extensive land and multiple properties, it affords the purchaser unparalleled exclusivity, privacy, and a wide range of potential uses."
From the article by Abby Montanez
