Jane and Peter Makemson – Jane is convinced that fate brought them to Herm, where Peter is an engineer. (0724740)

NEW islanders Peter and Jane Makemson reckon it was fate that brought them to Herm.

The couple met 33 years ago in Derbyshire when Jane’s brother Paul brought colleague Pete home one day. It was love at first sight for both of them, and they spent the next 17 years renovating their Victorian home in the Peak District and bringing up their two sons, 27-year old Ben, and Sebastian, 25.

In 1992, although settled in their family life, Pete, who had worked for Kodak for more than 10 years, started to think about jobs further afield.

Then Jane noticed an ad in a paper that was a few days old for a job on Herm. She had never heard of the island but looked it up at a library and thought it was exactly what they were looking for.

The couple applied for the position with then-manager Adrian Heyworth, but the job had already gone, and the Makemsons’ lives carried on as normal.

Last year, however, the urge to move on grabbed them again. By this time, Peter had been self-employed for three years and Jane was a project worker for families affected by substance abuse. Their boys had grown up and left home and they had put their house on the market with a view to downsizing. They were looking for something different, something like the island job they had lost out on all those years ago.

On a whim, Jane typed into an internet search engine three words that changed their lives.

‘Herm engineer job’ brought up the island’s website, with an advert for a job which had become available only days earlier. Determined not to miss out this time, Jane set about typing up Peter’s CV.

‘He had never needed one before, having worked at Kodak for so long,’ Jane said,  ‘so I was in a big rush to put it together and send it off.’

While she was working on it, the episode of Coast featuring the Channel Islands just happened to be on TV, and as the crew flew over Herm they were playing Jane’s favourite piece of music by Rachmaninov.

‘There were so many little coincidences that Jane took it as a sign,’ said Peter.

He was more sceptical until a friend of theirs was looking at Herm pictures on the internet and noticed a boat that appeared to have the word MAKO on the side, which just happened to be the name of Peter’s business.

‘All these little things kept happening,’ said Jane. ‘It was as though the island was calling out to us.’

On visiting it, they were delighted to find that their home would overlook St Tugual’s Chapel. For the past 14 years they have had a holiday home in France overlooking Mont St Michel, which happens to have been built by the same monks.

An avid motorcyclist, the only thing Peter misses is long open roads and the freedom of riding every day. Last year the couple toured eight countries in three weeks, camping in Austria. His job will keep him busy most of the year, but for their annual holidays they intend to take his BMW bike out exploring again.

Jane has been filling her days with decorating their new flat and helping out in self-catering. She hopes to renew her love of art and painting and to capture some of the Herm views.

‘I love sitting at my window just watching the boats come in,’ she said. ‘We still can’t believe we’re really here, but it seems like it was meant to be.