Stony and silent on the Orkney Islands

At the beginning of Ridley Scott’s science-fiction epic Prometheus, Noomi Rapace’s character discovers the key to our cosmic beginnings in a cave on the Isle of Skye. She should have headed further around the coast to the Orkney Islands, where she would have found even more complicated riddles about the earliest days of mankind: grand stone circles, burial chambers and Neolithic villages so well preserved it is as if prehistoric man walked out of his granite doorway just yesterday.

Five thousand years ago this northerly huddle of more than 70 low-lying islands was one of Europe’s most important religious centres, but today the Orkneys are a sleepy outcrop of the United Kingdom; the flat, green landscape devoted to farming, tourism and twitching. The largest town on the largest island (called, imaginatively, Mainland) is Kirkwall, and it is such a cosmopolitan place that one of the first things I saw was a sign warning: ‘Watch out, otters crossing.’

It was a short drive to our accommodation, East Heddle, a lovingly converted croft with slate floors heated by a ground-source pump, with fancy kilims and antique farmhouse furniture. The cottage nestles in a shallow valley and overlooks wild grassland where a pair of short-eared owls hunted most evenings (the Orkneys are a haven for birds and birdwatchers alike). East Heddle is also very close to the ‘Heart of Neolithic Orkney’, a cluster of archaeological wonders, the most awesome being the Ring of Brodgar. This would have once comprised 60 twinned standing stones — today only 27 tall and slender slabs remain — set between two lochs, the rolling glacial landscape rising up on all sides in a magical 360-degree panorama.

A short walk away is the grassy mound that marks the Neolithic tomb of Maeshowe, considered the finest extant example of Neolithic engineering in the world. It is entered via a long, narrow tunnel, through which the setting sun shines directly on the winter solstice, casting light on to the back wall of the tomb. This is also the place where a posse of Vikings sought shelter from a storm in the mid-12th century, and remained for three days, carving runes and pictures of mythic creatures into the old stone.

The Vikings first came to Orkney in the 9th century, and remained until the 14th, building the red sandstone St Magnus cathedral in Kirkwall and their longhouses all over the islands. Today the Norse connections remain, with Norway Day celebrated every year and Orkney boasting its own delicious brand of pickled herring.

Near to Brodgar is the port of Stromness, a handsome grey stone town curved around Haven Bay. The town was once the haunt of pirates and whalers but today it is most notable for Pier Arts Centre, which is devoted to the collection of Margaret Gardiner, who was friends with Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson. There is also an excellent chippie and a bakery selling drop scones and Orkney fudge — both very welcome after a day exposed to the elements.

The islands get battered by ferocious winds, but we were only caught out once when we visited Skara Brae, a Neolithic village that remained undiscovered until a particularly vicious storm in the 19th century tore off the sand dunes that concealed it, revealing a collection of single-room dwellings, each with a hearth, stone beds and dressers. We took refuge in a reconstructed house, complete with plastic lobsters and fur throws for that authentic Neolithic experience.

The sun shone for our trip to South Ronaldsay, the most southerly of the islands, and accessible via a road that connects it to Burray and the Mainland. Here we found a white-sand beach next to the town of St Margaret’s Hope and had a lunch of fresh scallops at Skerries Bistro, in the car park of which is a recently discovered Neolithic tomb. The restaurant owners offer ad hoc tours of the tomb and its human remains. We opted instead for a glass of the local Highland Park whisky, a singularly Orcadian pleasure.

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Getting there

Flybe flies from Gatwick to Aberdeen (flybe.com) and from there Loganair flies to Kirkwall (loganair.co.uk). Car hire: orkneycarrental.co.uk

Where to stay

East Heddle has three bedrooms and costs from £625 per week; it is one of four properties from Orkney Crofts (orkneycrofts.com)