Orkney postcards

What could be better than spending a week in Orkney visiting friends and neighbours and rediscovering the beauty of these islands. Bliss...

And as you can see from the photos, the sun actually shone (until the last day when it snowed!) The Orcadians being hardy souls were out in t-shirts. P and I (being wimpish soothers) kept our coats on!

The scenes below show the part of Stromness and Scapa Flow, the hills of Hoy and looking over to the West Mainland.
Skies always seem huge in Orkney because of the rolling landscape and lack of trees.

Everything is a bit later on the Isles. Primroses covered banks and marsh marigolds filled ditches catch the eye as does an early butterfly.

Orkney is famed for it's farming, landscape and archeology. 

I went in search of some slightly less well known sites. The fairy and the metal work were found in "Happy Valley" (see the Wind and the Wellies excellent post on that hidden gem here )

The "I  ♡ REAL LIFE" was taken at the Pier Art Centre in Stromness. The building was extended in the past few years with great imagination. The design of the building incorporated old and new with light and unusual windows framing views of the harbour. To find out more about "The Pier" have a look at their web site.

Not surprisingly the sea plays a big part in Orkney life. Here it is in it's many guises.

Scenes from Orkney shores:  

Evie beach looking over to the island of Rousay, 

The Atlantic Ocean crashing onto the rocks at Birsay 

Freya on her old stamping ground at Dingies Howie beach. I was so struck by the light and the changes colours on the sea and the land.

A montage of beach collections. Please note there are no photos of "Groatie buckies" because I didn't find any! P found two... he can spot them at 20 paces....

And if you're asking what a "groatie buckie" is, you can find out here.

That's a flavour of our flying visit (by ferry) to the Orkney Isles.

Now it's back to more everyday pursuits of blogging, gardening and getting ready for the Montrose and Hillside Open Day on July 3rd. And there are a lot of garden blogs to catch up with...