Posted by Mark on Sunday, 30 November 2014
We have been asked by several people whereabouts we are on Orkney and what is around there. Those of you who know me, know that I am very interested in the Neolithic and one of the most magical places I have visited is the Ring of Brodgar. This large stone circle is open to the public, no dogmatic interpretation centres, telling you what it was all for, and free to all. There are even weddings still held within the ring. The ring is not solitary, just down the road there are the Stones of Stenness, another smaller but older stone circle with the Barnhouse Neolithic village alongside. Between these two circles is the current large dig going on in the summers, on the Ness of Brodgar which although currently only showing 10% of what might be there has revealed several large houses and temples some with the walls still six foot high in places. For any one interested in the Neolithic this might be enough, but there is also Maes Howe the tomb / temple with the curious Mid Winter Solstice effect and much, much, more in this area designated as a World Heritage Site called the ‘Heart of Neolithic Orkney’. Oh and did I also mention that three mins up the road westward is the Neolithic village of Skara Brae, perhaps the best preserved of it’s kind in Europe?
So why am I going on all about these places? Well its because of the two pictures with this article. I took them the other day and whilst they are not technically the best. One is taken from within the Ring of Brodgar and shows our house, the other is taken from our back garden and shows the Ring of Brodgar, oh and a lot of geese!
So that is where we are, and one of the reason why we chose this property.