Carefully Selected Scottish Holiday Homes in Beautiful Locations
Unst
Unst has recently been thrown into something of a crisis by the drastic downsizing of the local RAF radar base at Saxa Vord, which used to employ a third of the island's thousand-strong population. Much of the interior is rolling grassland - a blessed relief after the peaty moorland of Yell - but the coast is more dramatic: a fringe of cliffs relieved by some beautiful sandy beaches. As Britain's most northerly inhabited island, there is a surfeit of "most northerly" sights: many visitors only come here in order to head straight for Hermaness, to look out over Muckle Flugga and the northernmost tip of Britain.
On the south coast, not far from the ferry terminal, is UYEASOUND, east of which lie the ruins of Muness Castle, a diminutive defensive structure, built in 1598 with matching bulging bastions and corbelled turrets at opposite corners (keys and torch from the house nearby). Unst's main settlement is BALTASOUND, five miles north, whose herring industry used to boost the local population of around five hundred to as much as ten thousand during the fishing season. The excellent Unst Heritage Centre (May-Sept daily 2-5pm; free) occupies the old school building by the main crossroads. From Baltasound, the main road crosses a giant boulder field of serpentine, a greyish green, occasionally turquoise rock that weathers to a rusty orange. The Keen of Hamar, east of Baltasound, and clearly signposted from the main road, is one of the largest expanses of serpentine debris in Europe, and is home to an extraordinary array of plantlife.
Beyond the Keen of Hamar, the road drops down into HAROLDSWICK, where near the shore you'll find the Unst Boat Haven (May-Sept daily 2-5pm; otherwise a key is available from the adjacent shop; free), displaying a beautifully presented collection of historic boats with many tools of the trade and information on fishing. The road that heads off northwest leads to the bleak headland of Hermaness, now a National Nature Reserve and home to more than 100,000 nesting seabirds. There's an excellent visitor centre in the former lighthouse keepers' shore station, where you can pick up a leaflet showing the marked routes across the heather to the view over to Muckle Flugga lighthouse and Out Stack, the most northerly bit of Britain. The views from here are inevitably marvellous, as is the birdlife; there's a huge gannetry on one of the stacks, and puffins burrow all along the cliff tops.
Book in advance for the regular ferries that shuttle from Gutcher on Yell over to BELMONT on Unst (every 15-30min; takes 10min; tel 01957/722259). The best and most unusual accommodation is Buness House (tel 01957/711315, www.users.zetnet.co.uk/buness-house; £60-70), a seventeenth-century Haa in Baltasound still owned and run by the eccentric Edmondstons (of chickweed fame). Another very good bet is Prestagaard (tel 01957/755234; under £40), a more modest Victorian B&B in Uyeasound, where there's also the clean and modern Gardiesfauld Hostel (tel 01957/755259, telecroft2000@talk21.com; April-Sept) near the pier, which allows camping and offers bike rental.
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