It’s always an honour to write on one of my favourite topics – experiential history – for Visit Britain’s wonderfully eye-catching magazine. But to do so on the poignant ancient history of the Orkney Islands, where I used to live and work, was extra special. Like with a lot of things, I don’t think I quite appreciated how magical it was to live day-to-day in amongst these green, far-flung history-rich islands, until after I left. My daily commute to work, for example, went through the middle of Unesco World Heritage Site The Heart of Neolithic Orkney: yep, right by one of the UK’s most impressive prehistoric stone circles, the Ring of Brodgar (Picture One in the feature), and arguably its best-preserved chambered cairn, Maes Howe. And when I arrived at work? My ‘daily grind’ was on the wave-based shores of Western mainland, showing people around Northern Europe’s most in tact Neolithic village, Skara Brae, and the country estate of Skaill House that flanked the ruins (Picture Two). Not too bad, really. And the light on Orkney was something else too: surreal, lurid, dazzling, ever-changing. History with some spectacular illumination to go with it. So I feel like I am bearing my soul, to some extent, to share this…

Across the Unsailed Seas – Britain Magazine

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