My slaves (actually super helpers, actually super sons) are changing with the times. William will graduate this year and needs to be free to move on. Arthur is in school and can only help at weekends throughout the height of the tourist season.
   As it was only with their vital contributions that we were able to make the Creel operate in the way and to the standard we liked, the time has come for the establishment to change hands.
   The Creel is therefore as of yesterday on the market at a remarkably reasonable price. It is being sold by Lows Law Property and Finance in Kirkwall – click here for details . They are the particularly nice estate agents in Kirkwall thanks to whom I breezed through the purchase of the Creel myself a number of years ago.

   I wonder what will happen next to the Creel. Personally, I think it would make a wonderful large family home. This is because the Blue Lobster Bar, currently furnished as such, has the capability, by simply changing the furniture, of becoming an absolutely wonderful day room, with its view over St Margaret's Bay. Then the large dining room could be re-organised to become a large and cosy sitting room near the front with the back half continuing to serve as the family dining room. And imagine having a house where every bedroom has its own en-suite! (And in Orkney too, one of the best places to live in the UK – see this, for example.)
   On the other hand, of course, the Creel as it is stands is completely ready to continue as a wonderfully located bed & breakfast under enterprising new owners. Or, given the fact the house has a proper professional kitchen, it could even go back to being a restaurant with rooms, as it once was.

​   So, now we wait to see what the future holds.

And while we wait, I pause to remember all the wonderful guests we had from all over the world – NZ, Australia, USA, Canada, many from Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, Italy, Portugal, even a Hungarian family, and others (not to mention England and Scotland!). The vast majority of all these guests were a delight to have staying with us and made for very enjoyable times. My sons and I are all very glad we did this B&B thing and hold very warm feelings for all of our guests. (Pssst... Except for one English business lady – no names, no pack drill – who was our one and only experience of the guest from hell. But that's another story...)

What I wouldn't give to live on this waterfront:

St Margaret's Hope - The Waterfront
​(actually, I do and still will live here as I will be staying for my 'second retirement' in the house next door to the Creel.)

One of the great things about the Creel which I will miss, is the view from the day room, one of the best places I know to sit and enjoy the peace and quiet of the Hope with an ever changing view to enjoy at any time of the year.

and finally

There's a grand new thing to do on South Ron and it fills an aching void as there is not much on offer in this line. You can now see Scapa Flow and our cliffs from the sea thanks to Orkney Marine Charters, a new start-up here in Saint Margarets Hope. The Mary Ann, based right here in St Margaret's Hope, is a 33ft boat that can take 6 passengers out for sea angling, birdwatching, and generally enjoying the scenery from sea level. This is going to be a special treat.

Cliff gazing

Go fishing!

I wrote about the Altar in this blog the other day, an extraordinary rock formation that I said I called the prehistoric fossilised giant octopus. Discussing it with a fisherman friend, he told me that from the sea, it looked like an elephant. Of course, I didn't really believe him. And??? Well, here's the 'octopus' again as a reminder.

And here's what it look like from on board the Mary Ann:

I should have been more trusting!!!

And this is the boat one can see and do all this and more from – the Mary Ann

To book a tour, contact Orkney Marine Charters by email here or through their Facebook page here or, of course, contact me at the Creel. Their very new website is here (note – there is currently a typo in the email address so it does not work. The link given here does work.)

So I was doing a supply run to Kirkwall this morning (we have 6 guests from the USA arriving today) and needed to get my favourite eggs from Eddie, the breeder of champion chickens, who lives in Tankerness. The route takes me past some of my favourite standing stones, which I have written about previously here. These nice and modest stones, two of which get dunked daily by the rising and falling tides, are in fact in a line of 5, the others lined up further inland. And since we have plenty of 5000-year-old stones up here, they still get to make themselves useful. Like this:

What3Words location: ///blackbird.outlines.tasters

and it's beautiful and very different. A ferry-ride of a little over an hour from Kirkwall takes one to tropical views in cool (on 31 March – very cool!) crystal clear air and crystal clear water. Can you believe this is a view on a island to the North of Scotland?

What3Words Location: ///snuggled.smokers.starter

We had to wonder why the island was called Sanday...

We had a lovely lunch at the Kettletoft Hotel (///fussy.handy.pile) with seals wallowing on the beach outside the window.

Entranced by the island, its, beaches and sea, we happened to come across the GALLERY IN THE NORTHWA' (///roving.carbonate.anode) the home and gallery of Bill McArthur, who really knows how to depict Sanday's seas. Bought a painting too!

Now you can buy your postcards of South Ronaldsay before even coming here and post them from your favourite post box back at home (or bring them with you to pop into the post here and get a St Margaret's Hope postmark, or even, now that you have the postcards, cancel your trip and booking at the Creel and save yourself a pretty penny). I have just made a series of 10 postcards of South Ronaldsay. These can now be bought at the Creel or at The Old Trading Post (and post office) just around the corner from us.
If you would like to buy the set (£8 -UK, £10 Rest of World including p&p), please email the Creel (click here) and with the name and address you would like them sent to. We will send you an invoice that can be paid by the click of a credit card and then post to the address you have given.
PS on the day following the post - p&p charges lowered as, when I went to the Post Office to post a pack yesterday, it turned out cheaper than I expected).

Saint Margaret's Hope  (///severe.dignity.myths​)

Our local church/cemetary on the far side of the island with the North Sea beyond
                                                        ///library.abacus.chestnuts

​A calm sunset one day just outside the Creel (///chilling.breaches.pushy)

View from the old battery at Hoxa, guarding the entrance to Scapa Flow. (The Pentalina takes a risk as it passes here 6 times a day as it crosses from here to Gill's Bay in Scotland.)
                                                            (///midfield.scrub.ulterior​)

And here she is, seen from Hoxa too, but further up the Flow and safely past the battery
                                                    (///​equipment.gratitude.outboard​)

​The Altar, near Herston. Three and a half miles by car then two muddy fields and a slightly hairy clifftop walk away from the Creel.  (///breeze.labs.tonal​)

The Hope basking on a fine summer's day (///deflection.fastening.guarded)

​Tomison's Academy (going to ruin) in the South Parish and a fine Orkney sky
                                                    (///onwards.animal.reporting)

The Sands of Wright, 2 miles from here. Some brave folk swim here (but not me).
                                                 (///bleaker.recoup.forgotten)

Here are the snow-capped hills of Hoy, seen from South Ronaldsay a couple of days ago. Time to plan that skiing excursion!

Shame there's no ski-lifts, the snow is only an inch thick, and it all melts in a couple of days.

This rainbow was a full semicircle but too close for my lens, even at its widest, to capture it. That was just something to enjoy while I took the shots.

Today was a lovely autumn day and definitely one on which to check up on our seals. There had already been some pictures in various Facebook pages of the new arrivals, so William and I headed off for the South Parish to the sealy spots we had found in previous years. And bingo, they were there! 

These were on the beach at one of my favourite beauty spots on the island. There was a fine view from the clifftop:

It was incredibly bright and everything sparkled. Several dads seemed to be guarding the baby beach from the sea:

And there was plenty to guard. Why do the seals choose to lie in mushy seaweed when there are nice clean stones right nearby?

​These seals were in the sort of sunny spot I might have chosen for myself (but it was another beach and it didn't have any seaweed):

​They also had some cormorants to watch over them