There are several buildings of note in the vicinity, including the White House, St Tugual's Chapel, Fisherman's Cottage, The Mermaid pub and restaurant, and a small primary school with about eight pupils.

During a busy summer season, up to 100,000 tourists visit the island, arriving by one of the catamaran ferries operated by the Trident Charter Company.

Cars are banned from the island as are bicycles, although quad bikes and tractors are allowed for staff and luggage transport, respectively.

[4] In the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, settlers arrived; the remains of chamber tombs have been found on the island, and may be seen today; specifically on the Common, and the Petit and Grand Monceau;[4] it has been suggested that the northern end of the island, i.e. the Common, was set apart for burials.

[4][7] In 1810, an inn was founded; and during the Industrial Revolution, roads, paths, a harbour, accommodation, a forge, blacksmiths, a brewery, a bakery and a prison were built to cater for the largest number of inhabitants since prehistoric times.

It has been suggested that Mackenzie was the basis for the character Mr Cathcart in D.H. Lawrence's The Man who Loved Islands, about a man who moved to ever smaller islands much as Mackenzie moved from Herm to the smaller Jethou, but Lawrence himself denied it.

[4] Herm's sandy beaches were soon used for practising landings from barges, in preparation for the invasion of England, but otherwise the island saw little of the Germans beyond officers making trips to shoot rabbits.

[15] Operation Huckaback was a British Second World War military operation that was originally designed to be a raid on Herm, Jethou and Brecqhou, but instead became only a raid on Herm undertaken on the night of 27 February 1943, following an earlier attempt that had been aborted.

4 Commando under Captain Patrick Anthony Porteous VC landed 200 yards to the north-west of Selle Rocque on a shingle beach and made several unsuccessful attempts to climb the cliff in front of them.

In 1949, the States of Guernsey bought Herm from the Crown because of the "unspoilt island idyll that could be enjoyed by locals and tourists alike".

[25] In September 2008 it was announced that Starboard Settlement, a trust, had acquired the remainder of the lease[26] for considerably less than the asking price.

[33] In 2008, Adrian Heyworth, who was at the time the island's tenant, said that two or three metres of sand were being lost annually at Alderney Point.

[30] In Belvoir Bay on the eastern side of the island are the islets of Mouliere, situated off Frenchman's Point, which is to the northeast of the manor village, and Caquorobert,[31] the latter of which can be accessed at low tide via a vaguely marked path.

[30] North of the cove and south along the beach from the harbour and White House are the Rosiere Steps, with a quarry and cottage of the same name in the vicinity.

[41][42] Unlike the largely autonomous islands of Sark and Alderney within the Bailiwick, Herm is administered entirely by the States of Guernsey.

[44] Money is also made from vegetable growing, livestock and the occasional issue of postage stamps,[45] which occurred between 1949 and 1969.

[47] The island is very popular for camping, particularly favoured by schools in nearby Guernsey or Jersey conducting overnight field trips.

There are three volunteer Special Constables resident on the island, trained and supervised by the States of Guernsey Police Service.

[20] A small team of first aiders and community first responders is maintained amongst the resident population,[50] and receives regular training from the Guernsey Ambulance and Rescue Service, a private company operating on a charitable basis under the umbrella of the Venerable Order of Saint John.

Supplies also arrive on the Travel Trident ferry daily, such as newspapers and stock for island businesses.

Of particular note is its stained glass windows featuring Noah's Ark and Guernsey cows and Jesus talking to the fisherman at Herm harbour.

[56] Other buildings on the island include the White House hotel, "The Mermaid" pub and restaurant, and 20 self-catering cottages.

[25][58] Herm has no consecrated religious buildings or resident professional clergy,[59] but visiting clergy conducts non-denominational weekly services during the summer months, and monthly services, led by local lay people, are held during the winter.

Film of walking around Herm in 1948 is held by the Cinema Museum in London Ref HM0364 [63] A number of French/Norman place names remain, from the period when the island was in the jurisdiction of the Duchy of Normandy.

[67] Paul Sherman has written two collections of short stories set on the island: Where Seagulls Dare[68] and One Flew Over the Puffin's Nest.

[69] The northern part of the island was recognised in 2016 as an area of international environmental importance under the Ramsar Convention.