Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
offers unpretentious accommodation in three rooms (two
with sea views) and does classic pub
mea
ls - fish and
chips, scampi or burgers (all under £10).
£75
Trumland Farm
T
01856 821252.
Just half a mile
west of the ferry terminal, this working organic farm has
a couple of dorms and a family room - you can
als
o
camp he
re,
and they offer bike rental. Dorms
£12
;
camping
£5
/person
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, prosperous and independent
island communities, with a population of six hundred. Fishing, farming and tourism
are the mainstays of the economy. he landscape is very varied, with sea cliffs and a trio
of hills in the west, and rich low-lying pastureland and sandy bays elsewhere. However,
Westray repays a longer stay, especially as there's lots of good accommodation and the
locals are extremely welcoming.
15
Pierowall
he main village and harbour is
PIEROWALL
, set around a wide bay in the north of the
island, eight miles from Rapness ferry terminal on the island's southernmost tip.
Pierowall is a place of some considerable size, relatively speaking, with a school, several
shops and a bakery (Orkney's only one off the Mainland).
Westray Heritage Centre
May-Sept Mon 11.30am-5pm, Tues-Sat 10am-noon & 2-5pm, Sun 1.30-5pm • £2.50 •
T
01857 677414,
W
westrayheritage.co.uk
he village's
Westray Heritage Centre
is a very welcoming wet-weather retreat, and a
great place to gen up on (and with any luck catch a glimpse of ) the Westray Wife or
Orkney Venus
- a remarkable, miniature Neolithic female figurine found in 2009 in the
dunes to the northwest of Pierowall - along with her incomplete companion, and the
recently discovered Grobust Grandad.
Noltland Castle
Pick up the key, which hangs outside the back door of the nearby farm
he island's most impressive ruin is the colossal sandstone hulk of
Noltland Castle
, which
stands above the village. his Z-plan castle, 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. Balfour was eventually forced to flee to Sweden, where he was
found guilty of plotting to murder the Swedish king and executed in 1576.
Noup Head
he northwestern tip of Westray rises up sharply, culminating in the dramatic sea cliffs
of
Noup Head
, particularly spectacular when a westerly swell is up. During the summer
months the guano-covered rock ledges are packed with over 100,000 nesting
guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes, fulmars and pu
ns: a heady sensation of sight, sound
and smell. he open ground above the cliffs, grazed by sheep, is superb maritime heath
and grassland, carpeted with yellow, white and purple flowers, and a favourite
breeding-ground for arctic tern and arctic skua.
Castle o'Burrian
he sea cliffs in the southeast of the island around
Stanger Head
are not that
spectacular, but it's here that you'll find
Castle o'Burrian
, a sea stack that is the best
