Carefully Selected Scottish Holiday Homes in Beautiful Locations
Westray
Although exposed to the full force of the Atlantic weather in the far northwest of Orkney, Westray shelters one of the most tightly knit and prosperous island communities. It has a fairly stable population of 700 or so, producing superb beef, scallops, shellfish and a large catch of white fish, with its own small fish-processing factory and an organic salmon farm. Old Orcadian families still dominate every aspect of life, giving the island a strong individual character.
The main village and harbour is PIEROWALL in the north, a good eight miles from the Rapness ferry terminal on the southernmost tip of the island. Pierowall houses the excellent Westray Heritage Centre (mid-May to mid-Sept Tues-Sat 9.30am-12.30pm & 2-5pm; £2), a very welcoming wet weather retreat if you've got kids, and somewhere to grab a cup of tea. The island's most impressive ruin is the colossal sandstone hulk of Noltland Castle (June-Sept daily 9.30am-6.30pm; £1.50; HS), which stands above the village half a mile west up the road to Noup Head. This Z-plan castle, which is pockmarked with over seventy gun loops, was begun around 1560 by Gilbert Balfour, a shady character from Fife, who was Master of the Household to Mary, Queen of Scots, and was implicated in the murder of her husband Lord Darnley in 1567. To explore the castle, you must first pick up the key from the nearby farm.
The northwestern tip of Westray rises up sharply, culminating in the dramatic sea cliffs of Noup Head. The whole area is an RSPB reserve, and during the summer months the guano-covered rock ledges are packed with over 100,000 nesting seabirds, primarily guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes and fulmars, with puffins as well: a truly awesome sight, sound and smell. The sea cliffs in the southeast of the island around Stanger Head are not quite as spectacular as at Noup Head, but it's here that you'll find Castle o'Burrian, a sea stack that was once an early Christian hermitage. It's now the best place on Westray at which to see puffins nesting.
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