Lower Quoys and Orkney News

Spring 2018….It isn’t long now until we welcome our first guests to Lowerquoys this Spring for the start of the 2018 season. Like the rest of the UK, we have had some snow recently, albeit not as much, but quite a bit by Orkney’s standards! so the garden is now springing into life and it feels good to be going out to work and returning home in the light after what has felt like a long winter which hit us pretty hard when our summer came to a rather abrupt end last September. 

The cruise ship season also starts next week with two cruise liners visiting Orkney. They are a sight to beholden, some carrying nearly 5,000 passengers from all over the world. This provides a real boost to Orkney’s economy but also places a real strain on Orkney’s resources. Guests might want to consider checking out cruise liner visits when planning a day trip to some of our major attractions such as Skara Brae, Ring of Brodgar and the Broch of Birsay.

There has been much excitement on Sanday recently, with a Walrus spending a fair amount of time on one of the beaches and he is a much photographed visitor at the moment!

It’s also been a great month for those who love Aurora hunting. If you are interested in seeing the Northern Lights in Orkney, then March is a good time to come. The big star filled skies have been really clear on many occasions this month and some great shots shared on the Orkney Aurora Group Facebook page.  

We would like to thank all those guests who have chosen to stay with us this year and looking forward to meeting you. The 2018 Orkney Visitor Guide, featuring all the information needed to plan a trip to the islands, has been launched by Orkney Tourism Group (OTG).You might want to preview this ahead of your stay. https://www.visitorkney.com/news/orkney-guide-2018

We are very well booked up for most of the season with a surprising few free weeks left in April, but other than that, September is the first month with some availability.

Despite, plans, we did not complete Mole End (our we cosy cottage for two) over winter, but hope to have this completed by October 2018. We also decided not to accept pets going forward which has caused a little ripple with some callers and we are genuinely sorry to let people down, we did not make this decision lightly. We like all pets, however, when you have guests leaving and new one’s arriving the same day, it is sometimes very difficult to remove l’eau de pet entirely and some guests have allergies. So taking all things into consideration, we decided to remove our pet friendly badge for which we are truly sorry.

We got some great reviews on Trip Advisor during 2017, thanks to all our customers for those. We appreciate a holiday is always very much needed to unwind, spend quality time with loved one’s and they don’t come cheap! so our aim is to go out of our way to please and ensure our guests go away feeling relaxed and happy having chosen Lowerquoys as their base here in Orkney.

 See You Soon! 

So during the Spring and Summer of 2017, we experienced our first full season as hosts to many guests who had selected Lowerquoys as their base for an Orkney holiday. We were blessed with back to back bookings throughout the season which was great from a business point of view, but a bit of a rollercoaster! That said, it was so lovely to meet so many people and to receive very positive feedback from everyone who stayed here. For a number of people it was their first time to Orkney, but for many it wasn’t their first stay. All enjoyed their time here and the majority experienced good weather. (We had a good summer this year!). I am extremely envious that one of our families spotted Orca off the Broch of Birsay – what a splendid sight that must have been. They have also been spotted off Hoxa Head and other parts of Orkney, so if you are planning your trip for next year, I hope you get lucky.

So, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of those guests who chose us this year. We hope you took away some special memories of Orkney and we hope to see you again at some point.

The seasons in Orkney are so defined, Summer ended rather abruptly as if someone had flicked a light switch. So it’s on with the winter jackets and scarves now as we’ve had what seems like, weeks of wind and drizzle. I am hoping for some sun later this week so I can get into the garden and finish off those winter jobs. I have chopped all the mint down and pruned the fuschias, but there is more to do including planting some more spring bulbs, which i’m a bit late with this year.

Whilst the site suggests Lowerquoys is open all year round, we have now closed for the winter and into early Spring while we move onto our next project; renovating our wee ‘but and ben’ cottage (Mole End). The cottage sits on the same site and fingers crossed will be available for the Summer months in 2018. Donning new windows, doors, and a completely new interior, Mole End is listed on Trip Advisor and is available to book now via this site too. I am afraid I have no internal photographs as yet, but will post some as soon as they become available. Mole End will be a cosy base for two, with one double bedroom, a bathroom (with bath and shower over), and one large living/dining/kitchen area complete with wood burner. It will have private parking and an enclosed private garden/patio area to the rear.

So far, at Lowerquoys, we have 8 booking for 2018, most of these are the summer months, so if anyone is contemplating booking with us, I wouldn’t leave it too much longer.

Best Regards.

Jayne

Well there is so much going on isn’t there! From the very very sad events in Manchester to the rather irritating and sometimes lacklustre election campaign and what a result! That high five though from Corbyn! oh dear oh dear! Life really is a rollercoaster and I am needing a holiday! I’ll have to wait until later in the year though once things fall quieter at Lowerquoys and everyone is back to their Autumnal routines.

It would seem according to the Office for National Statistics figures recently reported that Scotland attracted more than 2.7 million overseas visitors in 2016, an increase of 155,000 on the previous year, recognising Scotland’s appeal as a world-class tourist destination. Really proud to be a part of that and we have had some lovely feedback on Trip Advisor this week from our holiday guests which makes it all worthwhile. Thank You!

The weather in Orkney at the moment is a little changeable with a little more rain at times than is normal which is not good news for the farming community who have just sewn their new grass. I can’t quite believe I have got the woodburner going.

The weekend looks brighter though and more normal temperatures should resume soon! With the folk festival now at an end, there is still lots to look forward to in Orkney. There is a musical feast on July the 1st at the Standing Stones Hotel with a buffet, live music, a bouncy castle, face painting and raffle at this all ages event.  Nick Card, the Director at the Ness of Brodgar is giving a talk on the 15th June at 7pm at the Orkney Theatre, Kirkwall regarding Structure 10: A Neolithic Cathedral at the Ness. With monthly song nights at the REEL in Kirkwall, and Stromness Shopping Week not far away, there is always plenty to do in Orkney.

If you are a facebook user, there are lots of facebook pages you can follow to find out more about things to do – ‘ORKNEY Communities, what’s on and news’ is just one of these. Or if its a rainy day, why not visit Stromness Museum or have a night out at the pictures at the Phoenix Cinema at Kirkwall’s Pickaquoy Centre.

Orkney is queen of the festivals, and tickets are on sale for the St Magnus International Festival, founded in 1977 and one of the UK’s best respected Arts Festivals, if you happen to be in Orkney during the period, then I would definitely recommend purchasing some tickets. This year marks the 900th anniversary of St Magnus’s death and Royal Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit will visit the Orkney Islands on the 16-17 June at the start of the St Magnus Festival to take part in the celebration of the longstanding historical ties between Norway and Orkney.

It is wonderful to watch Orkney’s spring come to life and as we move into summer, the grass growing season is definitely underway. We have plenty of it too! With the drone of our lawn mower going each week, I just love the smell of fresh grass and better it looks neat and tidy for our guests. Our fuschia bushes have just bloomed, the climbing clematis montana has bloomed and its blooming marvellous, although it is slowly going off a bit now sadly. We took our first booking in September 2016, and we have had some great feedback from our guests, some of which have been from our beloved home county of Yorkshire. We have some sheep in the field next to the holiday accommodation, so it’s been lovely to see the lambs messing about of an evening. We have had some beautiful sunshiny days on Orkney and I am so looking forward to many more. The beautiful sunsets are something to behold and the lighter nights are special in Orkney as often it never really gets truly dark. On a good day you could garden at 11pm quite easily.

Our first full season is well and truly alive. We listed Lowerquoys on Trip Advisor and we are now fully booked until mid September. Lots of busy changeover days and guests to meet. I love organising the house and making sure it is the best it can be for all our guests.

Orcas have been spotted around Orkney’s waters a few times now and quite recently in Scapa Flow. We walked the cliff tops out at Hoxa Head this weekend to see if we could spot them, but no luck sadly. But it was a beautiful day and breathtaking to see Scapa Flow in all its glory from there. The café at Hoxa Head is definitely worth a visit too whilst your there!

We look forward to meeting all our guests this season and would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for choosing us this year and thanks to those who have already stayed with us and provided some brilliant feedback!

Jayne