Papa Westray is one of Orkney’s smaller isles, only about six square miles in extent, and much less hectic than its bigger neighbours in Orkney.

Papay, as the locals know it, is travel writer Bill Bryson’s favourite spot in all of Britain.

With a population of around 70 people, including a significant number of new arrivals from the south in the past decade, Papa Westray is renowned internationally for its bird life, its archaeology, its wonderful beaches and most recently its attempts to sustain a genuine and distinctive small, integrated community.

On Papay the obvious “must see” targets are the Knap of Howar, still regarded as the oldest standing house in Northwest Europe, the first occupants perhaps being in residence 6000 years ago,even before the pyramids were built. The North Hill bird sanctuary with its terns, puffins and great skuas and its rare maritime heath (among which you’ll find a colony of the beautiful Primula Scotica) and the church of St Boniface, a pre-Reformation Kirk on the site of an early Christian mission station.

Lying roughly on the same latitude as Stavanger in Norway the island is one of the most remote of the Orkney group. Just over four miles long by a mile wide the scenery ranges from impressive cliffs, through wide sandy bays to rolling agricultural land. The cliffs at the northern tip, heavily eroded by the fearsome seas, are steep and densely populated by seabirds. The North Hill (next stop the Arctic Circle!) is a lonely and inspiring location - a must for anyone still with a love of empty spaces and a bit of poetry in their soul. Off Mull Head right at the northern tip of the isle is the Bore, a fearsome tidal race where the Atlantic crashes into the North Sea - under certain tidal conditions this is a boiling cauldron with waves breaking many fathoms below the surface.

Here we have a heady cocktail of tranquillity, fresh air and a sense of a genuine small community – where you will feel “at home” within minutes, whether landing from the boat from Westray or alighting from the twice-daily air link from Kirkwall.

In a world of hustle and bustle, of deadlines and dramas, Westray and Papa Westray offer you a chance to truly unwind.

Papa Westray also have their own web site at www.papawestray.co.uk

Share Link: