Orkney - The Rough Guide to Scottish Highlands and Islands - page 349

Scapa Flow Visitor Centre and Museum
May-Sept Mon-Sat 9am-4.30pm, Sun open according to ferry; March, April & Oct Mon-Fri 9am-4.30pm • Free • T 01856 791300,
W scapaflow.co.uk
The old oil pumphouse, standing opposite Lyness ferry terminal, has been turned into
the Scapa Flow Visitor Centre , giving a fascinating insight into wartime Orkney - even
the café has an old NAAFI feel about it. As well as the usual old photos, torpedoes,
flags, guns and propellers, there's a paratrooper's folding bicycle, and a whole section
devoted to the scuttling of the German High Seas Fleet and the sinking of the Royal
Oak . The pumphouse itself retains much of its old equipment used to pump oil from
tankers into sixteen tanks, and into underground reservoirs cut into the neighbouring
hillside. You can also wander over to the Romney Hut, where Admiral von Reuter's
Chefboot resides along with engines from the old wartime railway, and to the air-raid
shelter beyond.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE LYNESS

7

By ferry The roll-on/roll-off car ferry to/from Houton on
the Mainland (Mon-Fri 6 daily, Sat & Sun 2-5 daily;
35min-1hr; T 01856 811397) sometimes calls in at the

oil terminal island of Flotta, and begins and ends its daily
schedule at Longhope.

ACCOMMODATION
Ì Wild Heather B&B T 01856 791098, W wildheather
bandb.co.uk. The most outstanding accommodation on
Hoy lies just beyond the naval cemetery. It's a converted mill

with just two en-suite rooms, both with sea views and a
lovely breakfast cons ervatory - they provide evening meals,
too, on request. £65

ENTERTAINMENT
Gable End Theatre W hoyorkney.com/getco.html.
Established in the old North Walls school buildings, this
community-run theatre (with its own wind turbine) shows

regular films and puts on the occasional theatre piece and
music gig - check their Facebook page for the latest.

Melsetter House
4 miles southwest of Lyness • Thurs by appointment • T 01856 791352
The finest architecture on Hoy is to be found at Melsetter House , overlooking the deep
inlet of North Bay. Originally built in 1738, it was bought by Thomas Middlemore, heir
to a Birmingham leather tycoon, who commissioned Arts and Crafts architect William
Lethaby to transform the house in 1898. The owners will happily take you round a
handful of rooms in the house itself, all of which are simply decorated with white wood
panelling, floral plasterwork and William Morris-style fabrics, and leave you to wander
freely around the very beautiful grounds. Don't miss the little Chapel of St Margaret and
St Colm that Lethaby fashioned from the Melsetter outhouses, which features, four tiny,
stained-glass windows by, among others, Ford Madox Brown and Burne-Jones.

Longhope
East of Melsetter House, a causeway built during World War II connects Hoy with
South Walls (pronounced “Waas”), a fertile tidal island which is more densely
populated than Hoy. Along the north coast is the main settlement of LONGHOPE ,
an important safe anchorage even today.

Longhope Lifeboat Museum
By appointment • Free • T 01856 701332, W longhopelifeboat.org.uk
Near the causeway the Longhope Lifeboat Museum houses the homas McCunn , a
lifeboat in service from 1933 to 1962 and still launched for high days and holidays.