Scotland’s most northerly archipelagos.
Orkney, the closer of the two, is littered with archaeological treasures, including Skara Brae, a 5,000-year-old housing complex, while there’s a lively arts and folk music scene in Kirkwall, the capital. The picturesque harbour town of Stromness was home to the late poet George Mackay Brown, who wrote: “The essence of Orkney’s magic is silence, loneliness, and the deep marvellous rhythms of sea and land, darkness and light.”