Viking Stove
Moving To Orkney In Scotland's Northern Isles
Everyone who lives in a metropolis must sometimes dream of moving to a beautiful island surrounded by white sandy beaches and crystal clear waters. Obviously, even if you find such a place, it may be too much to uproot yourself, leaving established careers, good friends and loved ones behind. But, if you can summon up the courage (or sheer foolhardiness!) the rewards of moving to somewhere very distant can be amazing.
In 2002 Chris and I decided to trade in everything we had built up in Antwerp and make the giant leap to a small island across the Pentland Firth from Scotland. The rugged and wild nature, along with the wide open spaces and beautiful white beaches which are often all your own, even in high summer, are in stark contrast with the bustling city life of Antwerp, Belgium which we left behind.
The internet was a great help in our preparations and we already knew a lot about life on the island before moving there - to the point where we had made several good friends. Our new friends helped us in many ways once we arrived and it was wonderful having a support network in place. It really does help to make some reliable contacts before you move. Having spent a week on the island two years previously, we had a good idea what island life had to offer. However, we had not visited the property we had purchased unseen off the internet. In retrospect this might have put us off moving altogether. Our first impression of the cottage was how incredibly cold it was - even in July! - but the old oil fired stove soon took the chill away and we were soon snug in our new home.
Sanday only has 600 inhabitants, but they are great at making their own entertainment and we were soon invited to many local events and gatherings. Orkney, by and large, lacks the religious fervour and cohesion of the Western Isles and you don't have to worry about offending the locals' sensibilities by putting washing out on a Sunday for example. However (and this is very important!), don't expect the locals to alter their ways to suit your urban sensibilities. My husband's shooting and fishing hobbies and previous employment in agricultural machinery really helped him, but I found it difficult to adapt to some of the grimmer realities of food production. About 50% of Sanday's inhabitants were incomers and a delightfully eclectic bunch they were. Remote island life seems to attract interesting people and, on Sanday you will never lack for great conversation from locals and incomers alike.
We took two embryonic small businesses with us to the islands. Orcadia Design, is an Orkney web design company that makes websites for individuals and businesses around the world. Johanna's Art is my commissioned fantasy portraits business, within which I have a rock memorabelia business offering Stevie Nicks memorabilia. We were bringing in enough to live fairly well, but the 9-11 attacks had been a huge setback with US citizens annoyed at 'Old Europe' and taking their business elsewhere. It took years to reorient our businesses toward the UK and Europe.
The island's farms were entirely livestock operations producing top quality beef and some lamb with one dairy farm still in existence. There was also some creeling (setting traps for lobster and crab) and some tourism in summer months to make money from. The island would have been a lot poorer without the public sector as almost all the well paid jobs on the island were in teaching, health and social care and running the ferry. Retirees likewise brought a lot of money to the island, both directly and by needing social and health care support. Locals and incomers by and large got along fine - the tension that existed was often sparked by lack of consideration of the former by the latter. Wildly inappropriate planning applications caused some friction. If you decide to build your Grand Design on one of the few pieces of Machair in Orkney, don't be surprised if you're not flavour of the week!
Life on Sanday was good, but we soon came to the conclusion that it would take years to attain an income that would enable us to renovate the pair of cottages we had taken on. Likewise we had a number of cats that it was proving very expensive to fly to and from the vets on the main island known as Mainland. Winter storms could shut down air and sea travel on and off the island for days. The only option was for my husband to take a full time job, so we sold our property and moved to St. Margaret's Hope on South Ronaldsay, an island connected to Mainland by a series of wartime anti submarine barriers. It took time to find a job, but in time the business grew and became more prosperous and we were able to move to a rural location which suited us in West Mainland. Eight years on from arriving in Orkney we have a wonderful network of friends and an enjoyable life in an almost crime free County. I make my art and look after our cats whilst Chris works at the hospital and dives in Orkney's pristine waters. It would take an awful lot to make us consider moving anywhere else.
Copyright Johanna Pieterman. 2010.
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