Clare Jenkins Reviews The Kirkwall Hotel Overlooking The Harbour In Orkney’s Capital
When we first started visiting the Orkney islands in the 1990s, my husband and I often stayed at the Kirkwall Hotel. It was a bit old-fashioned, needed some smartening up, but was always convivial, down-to-earth and popular with visitors and islanders alike.
Dinners in the large, open-plan Harbour View restaurant generally saw a mix of outdoor types in cycling or walking gear and smartly dressed local people celebrating a big event. You’d overhear conversations in Dutch, Spanish, German, Swedish – and strong Orcadian dialect.
After a couple of changes of ownership, the 37-bedroom hotel was taken over in 2018 by the Original Collection group. Since then, it’s been extensively – and expensively – renovated and refurbished throughout, while retaining its traditional air.
The brownstone, late Victorian building stands flush by the harbour, looking across the sea to the islands of Shapinsay, Rousay and Egilsay, where the Norse Earl Magnus was murdered in 1177 on the orders of his cousin Earl Hakon (Orkney has strong Norwegian roots). From some of the front-facing rooms, you can just about make out the church subsequently built on the site.
Beatified in 1135, Magnus also gave his name to Kirkwall’s magnificent 1,000-year-old cathedral, founded by his nephew Rognvald just a few years later. The bones of both men rest in two of the huge sandstone pillars near the altar.
Vintage revolving doors swing us through the hotel entrance into the spacious and much spruced-up reception area, with its displays of old apothecary bottles and new Orcadian goods (including Orkney Tweed mobile phone holders). The décor throughout is shades of dark olive and grey, occasionally lightened by fascinating framed collections of old Orkney postcards.
Through a door to the right is the Highland Park Bar, a trad-style bar with copper fittings, leather sofas, knickknacks (old clocks, brass kettles, tankards) and books about the sea and the islands. Here you’ll also find a wide range of Orkney gins and Highland Park whiskies, and beers with such names as Dark Island, Thor’s Hammer and Northern Light.
Our room is on the second floor, which means taking the equally vintage ‘cage’ lift, complete with clanging metal doors: very Are You Being Served (for fans of the 1970s TV sitcom). It also faces the harbour, so we’re irresistibly drawn to the window, where (binoculars always to hand) we watch the ferries – among them the Earls Rognvald, Thorfinn and Sigurd – coming and going to the outer isles, while smaller private boats bob up and down in the marina.
The king-size bed, complete with padded headboard, is covered in ultra-stylish Orkney Tweed cushions and bed throw. Even the table lamp has a very fetching tweed shade. On the walls are more framed photos, this time of the herring fishing station on the island Sanday in 1879, and the German Fleet in Scapa Flow at the end of the First World War, shortly before it was scuttled by its own sailors to avoid falling into ‘enemy’ hands.
To maximise space, there’s a hanging rail instead of a wardrobe – fine for a short stay, maybe not so handy for a week or so. And the bathroom, while definitely upgraded, is tiny, with a rather cramped cascade shower – and Nowhere To Put Things.
There is, though, a very informative printed guide, not just to the hotel but also to places to visit, including the town’s medieval Bishop’s Palace (where King Hakon IV of Norway, the then ruler of Orkney, died) and the neighbouring 17th Century Earl’s Palace, built by the notorious earl Patrick Stewart, who was eventually beheaded for treason by James VI of Scotland.
We’re here for the annual midsummer St Magnus Festival and have tickets for an evening concert at the cathedral. So we miss out on dinner in the smart Harbour View restaurant, whose menu encompasses Cullen skink (fish soup), haggis with neeps and tatties, beef and burgers, together with butternut squash and broccoli risotto and mushroom stroganoff.
Breakfast the next morning, though, is a tad disappointing. The fruit salad is strong on apple, the array of cereals and yoghurts is pretty standard, and the small trays of sausages, bacon, haggis and scrambled egg run out quickly and are replenished slowly.
Before leaving the hotel, we wander round the corridors, passing framed collages of Naval memorabilia – medals, caps, buttons and more black and white photos. Orkney, after all, played a key part in both world wars, largely due to the strategic importance of Scapa Flow, the natural harbour which served as the main base for the British Home Fleet.
We also check out the large Writing Room, where guests can sit and gaze out over the pierhead, watching passengers hurrying to board the inter-island ferries, or stepping ashore from the summer cruise ships – of which there are an ever-increasing number. However, even at the height of midsummer, Orkney thankfully has a way to go before becoming as crowded as Venice or Barcelona.
Images (C) Stephen McClarence and Kirkwall Hotel
Tell me more about staying at The Kirkwall Hotel on Orkney.
The Kirkwall Hotel has rooms starting at £167 for a classic double, B&B, off season.
Loganair fly from various British airports to Kirkwall, usually via Aberdeen, Glasgow or Inverness.
North Link ferries run from Scrabster across the Pentland Firth to Stromness.
Visit Orkney for more information about the islands.
