Fantasy island: a hidden idyll on Germany’s North Sea coast

Föhr, a speck off Germany’s north coast, was the scene of idyllic childhood holidays for our author, and decades later still hold a magical charm

My first memories of Föhr lie right on the edge of certainty, the images so clouded I can’t be sure what’s real and what’s been constructed from fading photographs and old stories. This much I can say for sure: I first visited the German island in 1987 as a four-year-old, when my hair was as white as that of many of the local children, including the family friends who were hosting us. Beyond this, I recall being placed in the handle-basket of my uncle’s bike; visiting a long-forgotten Viking fort; and watching steam sashay from fresh bread that had been delivered to the windowsill of our thatched cottage.

Returning this spring, I wanted to believe that Föhr had remained largely unchanged, but as the Dreyers – still friends after decades – drove us to their village, Borgsum, we had a shock in store. The fairytale house I’d so long held in my mind had been replaced with something much newer.