The mysterious Scottish islands that are an artist’s dream

With its neolithic stone circles, spiralling cliffs and sea stacks, Caribbean-esque coves and lush, loch-carved farmland, the Orkney Islands are blessed with inspiring scenery. And that’s before we even mention the otherworldly cloud formations, the 4am summer sunrises or the aurora borealis, the “merry dancers”, that sporadically colour the skies between the Orcadian autumn and spring.

It’s little wonder artists, poets, hikers and photographers are drawn here; adding to the mystique is the faraway location of this archipelago, which splinters off Scotland’s north-east coast.

Standing Stones of Stenness dates from at least 3100BC and are part of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney.Credit: iStock

There are 20 inhabited islands, and dozens more that aren’t, with Orkney, or Mainland, the largest. That’s seven hours from Edinburgh by road and ferry (or an hour by plane), but we’ve had a smooth overnight sailing here on our cruise with Ponant.

This afternoon we’ll visit Orkney’s UNESCO-listed ancient relics – including the “lost” village of Skara Brae, nicknamed Scotland’s Pompeii – but our morning is free to mill around Stromness, a wee port town with a big maritime heritage and a vibrant arts scene.

Only 2500 people, a ninth of the Orkneys’ population, live in Stromness, but its Pier Arts Centre is among the most impressive galleries of its size anywhere in the British isles.

Occupying a creaking old harbourside merchants’ building with a modern Nordic-cool annex, it has everything from Orcadian land and seascapes to quirky abstract pieces and audio-visual work. Sculptures by Barbara Hepworth and pop art by Eduardo Paolozzi add stardust to a centre founded in 1979 by Margaret Gardiner, a British activist and art collector who was beguiled by Orkney on a trip here in the 1950s and continued to visit well into her 90s (she died in London, aged 100, in 2005).

Gardiner wanted to give local artists a venue to showcase their work, and we admire Orcadian talents in both the permanent collection and temporary exhibitions, including photography by teenage art students and watercolours by Margaret Tait, the late poet and film-maker born in Kirkwall, Orkney’s capital (population 10,000).

Film production crews were recently on the Orkneys shooting The Outrun, a new movie starring Saoirse Ronan, due for release this year.

Shorelines Studio and Gallery in Orkney.

There are more arts and crafts to browse and buy in the studios, galleries and boutiques on Stromness’ flagstone main street, which is set back from the blustery harbour, its window displays coaxing you with jewellery, pottery, knitwear and prints.

Popping inside art studio Jeanne Bouza Rose At 59, we get chatting to this native New Yorker, who came to Orkney 40 years ago and is an artist-in-residence at the island’s Ness of Brodgar, a 5000-year-old archeological site. As we mull Jeanne’s oil paintings and woodcuts of Orcadian scenes, she waxes lyrical about the islands’ ever-changing light and shadows. We carry on walking to Bay Leaf Deli, where we order a flat white and consider the Orkney gins, oatcakes, fudges, jams and smoked cheeses.

Strolling through Stromness, you’ll see blue plaques pointing out spots of historical interest in a seaport the Vikings knew as Hamnavoe or “safe harbour”. During the days of the British Empire, Stromness thronged with mariners, traders, whalers and explorers.

The Pier Arts Centre, Stromness, Orkney.

One plaque marks the one-time abode of Eliza Fraser, who, in 1836, along with her captain husband James, was shipwrecked off Queensland before landing at what would become Fraser Island, now K’gari.

Near the former home of George Mackay Brown, a celebrated Orcadian poet, we find Login’s Well, where ocean-going vessels, including Resolution and Discovery on their return voyages from Hawaii in 1780 after Captain James Cook was killed, once loaded up with fresh water

In 1845, the doomed final expedition of Sir John Franklin also watered here. His ships, Erebus and Terror, would end up trapped in the ice of the Canadian Arctic and both wrecks were only discovered in the past decade. But it was an Orkney explorer, Dr John Rae, who learned of their crews’ tragic fate from the local Inuits as he mapped the final link in the elusive Northwest Passage in 1854.

Ponant’s Le Boreal.

You’ll learn more about Rae, and other chapters of the town’s storied past, at Stromness Museum. By Stromness Hotel, an army headquarters in World War II, there’s a bronze statue of Rae looking out over the harbour, towards where our ship is anchored, tempting us back for lunch.

The details

Cruise
Orkney is a highlight of Ponant’s 10-day Scottish Archipelagos and the Faroe Islands: Nordic Heritage and Island Identities cruise which departs Glasgow on May 21, 2025.

Book
The fare, including wining and dining, excursions and Wi-Fi, is priced from $10,420 a person. See au.ponant.com

More
orkney.com
visitscotland.com
visitbritain.com

The writer travelled as a guest of Ponant.