CELEBRATIONS

Orkney has some unique shindigs. The North Ronaldsay Sheep Festival (July) celebrates the island’s seaweed-eating sheep and helps repair its dry stone dykes. The Festival of the Horse (August), held in St Margaret’s Hope, South Ronaldsay, sees girls dress up as working horses and boys compete in a ploughing match (right).

Shetland is Viking country, and such ties are clearly illuminated at the annual winter fire festivals known as Up Helly Aa. The main event, in Lerwick in January, sees costumed Viking ‘guizers’ with blazing torches parade a galley through the streets before setting it alight. The celebrations continue through to the following morning.