In the 19th century St Helena was the most heavily fortified place on earth, protecting British ships en route to and from India laden with tea.

It is so isolated, Napoleon spent his final few years languishing on the island, banished there after his final defeat at Waterloo in 1815.

But precisely because of this desolation, it remains a historical gem - the architecture and heritage is from another century but many of the skills needed to keep them intact have been lost. Until now.

Melton plasterer Jeff Orton (61) is an expert in traditional techniques but sadly a brain injury four years ago prevents him from doing the job he loves.

Before Christmas though, he went with a team of volunteers to teach the lost art of old plastering in the capital, Jamestown.

He said: "St Helena is wonderful in it's uniqueness and the people are even better. They are some of the friendliest and well mannered people I have ever met.

"They all called me sir, but without sounding like they were crawling.

"It is an incredibly pretty place, that's what struck me the most but also the desperation of the islanders because they have no industry."

Without an airport it takes a week to get to St Helena via RAF Brize Norton, the Ascension Islands and several days on the last Royal Mail ship, the RMS St Helena.

About half the islanders want it kept that way, and so keeping their way of life, while the other half want an airport to improve the economy.

But they also need to repair their historic buildings and Jeff and his team, which included his son Henry (24) to help him overcome his injuries, were there to help.

Jeff said: "There is a large heritage of historical buildings on the island and they need to be repaired and maintained in a suitable material.

"We were originally there to repair a house but it needed too much masonry work and we didn't have time.

"So we were based in a warehouse on the front and we demonstrated all the different types of plastering.

"The idea is to get them away from using cement, which is very expensive because it's imported. They have all the ingredients for lime based mortars on the island.

"I wouldn't have missed that adventure for the world. I would love to go back to St Helena, but because of my injury I wouldn't be able to cope with the work. It will have to be as a tourist next time."