And the local economy. At Tarbert Stores, Jane Morrison has been doing a roaring trade in everything from fishing rods and torches to batteries and sweets. "They buy quite a lot of things from us locally," she says. "They're no different from anyone else we have coming into the shop.

"I don't disapprove of what they're doing. They're not bothering us at all. They seem to be very nice people, all of them that have been in. It's quite a change for them to be stuck there for a year. We were brought up on that, but they weren't. It's nice to see the lights there - it looks more homely."

Mary Munro, too, has seen the benefit. "My son runs the bunkhouse that they stayed in the first weekend and my other son, who runs a shop, has had quite a lot of orders from them. All the stuff they're eating. I think they pick it up. They have a helicopter to take in everything they need. Tarbert's doing well from them."

Not everyone is so pleased, though. Bill Lawson, a wellknown local historian, feels the community has been duped by the strangers in their midst. He visited Lexy and her family when they still lived on Taransay and remembers the warmth and welcome of a real home.

"The hotel is doing very well because it's filled with those who are supposed to be on the island," he says.

"The shops are doing well and the tradesmen in Stornoway, on the nearby island of Lewis, are doing nicely repairing all the storm damage. It's bound to help the tourist industry as well.

"My thoughts are that if you're going to waste £2 million on something then, `yes please', waste it here.

`If this now was a real social experiment I wouldn't mind so much but there's much misinformation coming out now about what's happening. There is a bit of bad feeling. We keep getting told that everybody's over on the island and the people you meet in Tarbert are just a figment of your imagination.

"The helicopters that you see ferrying back and forth aren't really there. It might have started off as a survival exercise but it's all mod cons now. It's nothing like the life that Lexy had."

Most here say lack of preparation and lack of understanding of the nature of Taransay have been the biggest hurdles to the project's success. But anyone within a stone's throw of the island could have advised them on the best time to start the project.

For all its beauty, Taransay is a harsh, unforgiving home when the winter storms come rolling in.

"This past week the climate has been very, very mild but at the new year, when they were going over, it was wild," says Jane Morrison in the stores.

"The worst it's been on Harris for many a year. They should have started earlier building their houses and been ready before the bad weather set in. That kept them back."

Mary Munro, meanwhile, thinks if they can hang in, one good spring day will sort them all out and they will fall in love with it. How could they not with the air so clear and the sea turning turquoise as it churns on to the shore?

And in the meantime, she says gently, who are we to be so hard on them for feeling beaten by the weather and the lack of facilities?

After all, even Lexy Campbell quit Taransay when she felt it was time.