June 2025

2nd June – We found an old estate agent photo of the corner of the house in 2018. After a bit of strimming and planting it retains the “wild” look but is dotted with native plants. Many are finished flowering and many still to come. It’s a work in progress.

4th June – A rare outing to Kirkwall on a blustery day. H had an appointment at the Balfour and we took the opportunity to give Lady Findhorn a lift over to do some shopping.

The number of cars in the carpark belies the number of people waiting to be seen inside. H had to wait all of three seconds in Radiology before being attended to.

What happened to the stacks of National Geographics in hospital waiting rooms?

12th June – We’ve had some strong winds over the last few days and many plants have had to be staked, but the viper’s bugloss has stood up well and is looking good.

13th June – Had a day out with Caroline, Lady Findhorn. We toured down to South Ronaldsay, visited a Ralph Robinson exhibition in gallery in the Hope and then had lunch in Robertson’s, it’s a quaintly styled bar diner and the food was very good.

Just near the pub is the Marengo Garden which is a nicely maintained pocket park, ideal for relaxing with a full tum.

No sunny day outing would be complete without a visit to Firth Park in Finstown. It is always full of colour and and in immaculate condition. It is maintained solely by seventy-seven year old Jockey Wood, an amazing achievement.

This photo shows a small part of the park which extends to half a hectare, mixed parkland.

21st June – After carrying out the afternoon vigil for Gaza in Kirkwall, we returned to Stromness and popped into the Northlight Gallery to view a new exhibition Ralf Robinson’s work. He seems to be everywhere just now but it’s always nice to have a chat with him.

22nd June – The BBC posted an interesting article about the actor, Robert Shaw, who grew up in Stromness.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgk378kp203o

25th June – A current exhibition on Orkney’s energy potential threw up this little known part of Stromness history.

In the 1970s high concentrations of uranium were discovered in a ‘corridor’ of rock between Stromness and Yesnaby. Plans were drafted to begin extraction but the power of local protest prevented its mining. It is rumoured that Margaret Thatcher finally vetoed the extraction project.