Orkney is an archipelago of 70 islands, 20 of which are inhabited, stretching northwards across the Pentland Firth from mainland Scotland. Orkney has an incredibly rich past, for people have lived here since the fourth millennium BC, and the islands have the greatest concentration of prehistoric sites in Western Europe. So many stirring events have effected Orcadians, from the days of the Norse sagas to the scuttling of the German High Seas Fleet in 1919, and the establishment of one of the first North Sea oil bases in recent times.

Orkney’s coastline is its greatest scenic glory, as the ceaseless pounding of Atlantic waves has sculpted its sandstone cliffs into spectacular shapes. These cliffs are home to more than a million seabirds – one in six of all seabirds breeding in Britain nests in Orkney, thus birdwatching is compulsive. Away from the Atlantic furies, the coasts are low lying, with broad, curving bays which attract seals, otters, dolphins, and thus naturalists enjoying the wildlife and the coastal scenery.

The past always leaves clues on the landscape and nowhere does it do this more clearly then Orkney. For archaeologists, Orkney offers on average three prehistoric sites per square mile. The 50,000 year old Neolithic village of Skara Brae, Orkney’s most famous attraction, is a quintessential Stone Age site where dwellings are perfectly preserved with stone beds, dressers and chairs. The Standing Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar are two of Britain’s most spectacular stone circles erected about 2300 BC and 1200 BC respectively. Orkney is simply peppered with historic sites and antiquities, an archaeologist’s paradise.