i'm in kirkwall the bustling little capital of the orkney islands. in this
short film i'll be providing some historical background showing you the sights and also
meeting up with local creatives judith and Jane glue, so come on the journey.
kirkwall is a corruption of the old norse word kirkjuvagr meaning church bay, in the early days
boats would anchor here in the peerie sea but as the settlement grew expansion was needed,
today's harbour receives cruise ships during the summer season,
the northlink ferry to shetland and is also the starting point for ferries to the north isles
dating from the 12th century kirkwall's saint magnus cathedral is a true viking masterpiece.
built from red orcadian sandstone it bears many similarities with nidaros cathedral in trondheim
norway. who better to describe it than orkney's most famous man of words george mckay brown - here
is magnificence power glory adventure sanctity. in the cathedral as well as the tomb of saint magnus
himself you'll find the bell from hms royal oak sunk in 1939 in scapa flow and also the tomb of
orkney's most famous arctic explorer John rae. i wonder if he ever felt as comfortable as this
on his polar expeditions. the centre of kirkwall follows the ancient street pattern
but these days you'll find orcadian jewellery stores, delicatessens, artisan cafes, book shops
and knitwear stores. facing the cathedral for over 40 years you'll find a kirkwall institution
and i was lucky enough to speak to judith glue herself. i'm judith glue and i own a shop in
Kirkwall in front of the cathedral been here for 40 years - and you're really committed to
local designers and local produce aren't you Judith? yeah the whole ethos of the whole business
you know to involve as many you know the people in the creative industries as possible and then we
make our own knitwear we design our own knitwear and we support lots of local food producers too,
and also the cafe and you own the storehouse tell me what's the ethos behind the storehouse.
but it's a really interesting building fantastic building an ex-herring factory so you know it was
b-listed so it's a huge conversion, you know the building itself was totally built out of
recycled materials so we took all those materials out and put them back in again. the food is as
good as the design? yeah yeah, exactly it's all about staying and having fantastic food
and there's all local produce there as well. i was also very fortunate to meet judith's twin sister
probably orkney's most well-known contemporary artist Jane glue. jane your artwork is synonymous
with orkney what gives you the inspiration? the nature and um light really the light's really
good here. when you talk about the colour and the light in orkney why is it different?
i think it's probably the open skies i mean we do get bad weather but when it's beautiful
you get this changing light from one part of island that you can get four different weather.
i started doing just water collage but doing them in quite a colourful way but now i'm
using acrylics and stronger colours it's nearly 35 years now since I started, you just have to do it!
kirkwall's most famous export is undoubtedly highland park whiskey. the distillery has been
here since 1798 constantly winning awards for its smoky sweetness
and its balance of heather honey spicy fruitcake and peat smoke. tours can be booked in advance
and the shop is a great place to discover special editions. here's a little beauty that i bought on
a previous visit and which i still haven't dared to open! it may have the international fame
but highland park is not the only local distillery, just a mile away is the
scapa distillery, one of the last remaining manually operated distilleries in scotland
producing an artisan single malt which i also highly recommend, and finally for lowers of gin
here in kirkwall the orkney distillery produces the delicious kirkjuvagr gin.
opposite the cathedral and dating from the same period you'll find the ruins of the bishop's
palace and the larger pile of ruins adjacent to that is the 17th century earl's palace.
this was the palace of earl Patrick stewart. now he didn't have much time to enjoy this palace
before he was beheaded but don't feel too much sympathy for the earl. this extravagant palace
cost an absolute fortune and it was his ill-treated subjects that paid the price
the best place to learn about the history of these islands is in the orkney museum,
it's opposite the cathedral in the 16th century tankerness house. the displays take you through
the neolithic period. the viking period. and all the way up to the present day. so that's
kirkwall in a nutshell, stay tuned for more travel films and make sure to press subscribe!