Rolling farmland and stunning beaches set amongst huge skies and shifting light. This tour lets you get close to the real Orkney with superb cliff top walks and stories of the land and people, past and present.
Broch of Gurness
This is one of Orkney’s best preserved brochs. It was constructed around the 1st century BC and occupied well into Viking times. The view down Eynhallow Sound is one of the best inOrkney looking across to the small island of Rousay.
The Brough of Birsay
The Brough is a grassy island off the north west coast of Orkney reached by a tidal causeway. It was an inhabited from the 6th century and today the remains of a large Viking settlement can be seen.
St Magnus Church
This beautiful small church is situated in Birsay village and was built in 1760. It stands on the site of a much earlier cruciform church which dates from the 11th century.
The Earl’s Palace
Built by the notorious Earl Robert Stewart in the late 16th century and although it is now a ruin, it was described in 1633 as a ‘sumptuous and stately dwelling’, In the remaining two storey building many gun loops can be seen as well as the remains of a 17th century armorial panel.
Marwick Head
Spectacular bird cliffs and one of Orkney’s largest nature reserves. The imposing Kitchener Memorial on the edge of the cliff commemorates the loss of HMS Hampshire in June 1916. A local stone dyke records the names of the 730 crew who died that day.
Yesnaby Sea Cliffs
Standing on the west coast of Orkney and facing out into the Atlantic Ocean, these spectacular cliffs are a scene of nature’s architecture. Pictured is the Castle of Yesnaby, a natural sea stack eroded into its present shape by the action of the sea.
The Mill Stone Quarry
Hidden amongst the cliffs is an ancient quarry famed for its very hard rock. In use until the early years of the twentieth century, it provided millstones for Orkney’s watermills for hundreds of years.
Borwick Broch
Perched on the edge of a cliff in a stunning setting, this Iron Age tower dates to 500 BC. Local tradition tells that there was once a passage under the broch that led to the sea shore below.