The island off the west of Lewis formerly owned and greatly loved by the French-born aristocrat on whom author Ian Fleming modelled his character James Bond has been offered to the people who live on it.

Almost overhead Little Bernera (pic Chris Murray)

In his will, Count Robin Mirrlees left Great Bernera, which the playboy and Queen’s Herald bought without visiting it after seeing it advertised in 1962, to his grandson, Cyran le Lanne, who lives in Germany.

Now solicitors for his family have written to the islanders to say he does not wish to keep the island and they will get first refusal – as long as they make up their minds within a couple of months.

News of the offer has been widely welcomed on Great Bernera where plans were already being drawn up for a possible costly legal battle if Cyran and his father Patrick de la Lanne, the mayor of the town of Delmenhorst in Lower Saxony, had decided not to offer them the island.

It was thought likely they could have resorted to using the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 to try and force a hostile buyout of the 7,000-acre island but that will now be unnecessary.

Before his death in June last year, Count Robin told how he helped Ian Fleming research adventures for 007 to thrill readers with in the 1963 novel On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

He revealed that in the book, Bond’s cover as the genealogist Sir Hilary Bray was directly based on himself as at that time he was the heraldic researcher, appointed by the Queen, at the College of Arms.

Sir Hilary Bray, who was played in the film by George Lazenby, had the title of Sable Basilisk Pursuivant – which was merely a play on Mirrlees’s own official title of Rouge Dragon Pursuivant.

Great Bernera is a vibrant island with many activities based in its well-used community centre

A solicitor for the Count’s son Patrick , who is the executor of the estate, and grandson wrote to the Great Bernera Community Development Group saying that because Count Robin’s immediate family and principal beneficiary lived in Germany, the distance made the prospect of maintaining and developing Bernera Estate “very challenging”.

He went on: “Consequently, it has been decided that Great Bernera should be sold and, given Robin’s great affection for the island and its people, the Executor wishes to offer the community the opportunity to purchase the island. The family is acutely aware of what Great Bernera meant to Robin and would be happy to meet with islanders to address any concerns they may have in relation to the sale of the island.

“If the community does not wish to pursue purchase of Great Bernera, the island will be placed on the open market. We should stress that the island will not be offered for sale elsewhere until the community has indicated its view on purchase.”

He left an estate worth about £1.3 million in his will. In it, the Count, who was a descendant of King Louis Philippe I of France and a godson of the 11th Duke of Argyll, had left the uninhabited 340-acre neighbouring island of Little Bernera to the National Trust for Scotland.

However, after islanders indicated their disapproval as many of them hoped to to keep livestock there, the NTS announced it did not wish to take up the offer because of the “logistics”. Separate arrangements will now be made for the disposal of Little Bernera.

It is now likely that the 230 islanders will also take up the offer of a meeting and will invite the late Count’s family to Great Bernera to discuss the way forward.

Tom Macdonald, the chairman of the Great Bernera Community Development Group, said: “We are very pleased about the offer. We have a fair idea that a buyout is what most people here want but we will have a community consultation to confirm that.
“We had a meeting of our steering group when we got the letter this week. At our next meeting we will put down a timetable because we will need to let them know our decision by the beginning of April.”

He said it was too early to discuss what their plans were for developments on Great Bernera to raise funds and develop its potential but it is known that several are already under consideration.