Orkney
Two miles west from the ferry pier, Rousay's only hotel is an attractively low-key place, with renovated rooms offering excellent bathrooms – one suitable for people with disabilities – and beautiful water vistas. The best views are from the dining room, which serves good-value meals. The friendly owners will collect you from the ferry.
Food is served from noon to 5pm Monday, to 9pm Tuesday to Saturday and to 7.30pm Sunday from May to September, with shorter hours in winter.
12.12 MILES
Predating Stonehenge and the pyramids of Giza, extraordinary Skara Brae is one of the world's most evocative prehistoric sites, and northern Europe’s best…
10.61 MILES
Constructed about 5000 years ago, Maeshowe is an extraordinary place, a Stone Age tomb built from enormous sandstone blocks, some of which weighed many…
27.3 MILES
Two significant archaeological sites were found here by a farmer on his land. The first is a Bronze Age stone building with a firepit, indoor well and…
10.62 MILES
Constructed from local red sandstone, Kirkwall's centrepiece, dating from the early 12th century, is among Scotland's most interesting cathedrals. The…
2.83 MILES
Six miles from the ferry on Rousay, mighty Midhowe Cairn has been dubbed the 'Great Ship of Death'. Built around 3500 BC and enormous, it's divided into…
15.9 MILES
By the seashore, this sturdy stone-built farmhouse and storeroom are solidly built testimony to crofting life on Papa Westray island…5500 years ago. An…
11.54 MILES
This distillery, South of Kirkwall's centre, is great to visit. Despite a dodgy Viking rebrand, it's a serious distillery that malts its own barley; see…
15.11 MILES
This superb museum, run with great passion, is full of knick-knacks from maritime and natural-history exhibitions covering whaling, the Hudson's Bay…
0.77 MILES
Rousay's major archaeological sites are clearly labelled from the road ringing the island. Heading west from the ferry, you soon come to Taversoe Tuick,…
1.55 MILES
Here is a fine example of the drystone fortified towers that were both a status symbol for powerful farmers and useful protection from raiders some 2200…
1.64 MILES
This is one of Orkney's largest private houses, undergoing some much-needed repair at the time of research. The grounds, with their thicket of native…
2.61 MILES
Wyre is just off Rousay, and accessed from the same ferry. It was the domain of the Viking Baron Kolbein Hruga (known as ‘Cubbie Roo’). The substantial…
2.83 MILES
Six miles from the ferry on Rousay, mighty Midhowe Cairn has been dubbed the 'Great Ship of Death'. Built around 3500 BC and enormous, it's divided into…
4.35 MILES
Egilsay is the larger of the two islands off Rousay, and is accessed from the same ferry. The RSPB have a base here; listen for the corncrakes at the…
9.18 MILES
About 4 miles from the Shapinsay pier, at the far northeastern corner of the island, is Iron Age Burroughston Broch, one of the best-preserved brochs …
9.39 MILES
This working watermill is a satisfying sight – it's still running, and producing flour from bere (a type of barley) that you'll find in baked morsels…