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Drawing Courses and Wildlife Watching Holidays

Courses in drawing and painting are available all-year round, focusing on the outstanding natural beauty of the Orkney Islands, the surrounding seascapes and their teeming wildlife. Seals, porpoises, gulls, terns, ducks, waders and, perhaps most spectacularly, the inhabitants of the vast seabird cities of the precipitous Orkney cliffs.

For the landscape enthusiast, Orkney is unique in having such a vast diversity of landscape within such a relatively small area: upland moors; deciduous woodland; lake, mire and bog systems; ouse, sand and shingle beaches; coastal meadows and reedbeds; immense rock-wall cliffs and remote islets and skerries add colour and texture to the artist's palette.

To access the majority of sites, we use our 'Bird Bus', a twelve-seater Landrover Defender, which gets us up close to the action. Some remote sites may require a short hike (indeed the more energetic can always find an attractive and challenging route to almost every location we visit) but all courses are tailored to suit the individual's needs and expectations.

An exiting and memorable aspect of both the drawing courses and the wildlife watching tours is, undoubtedly, our sea-based activities. We cruise around the inner South Isles and remote islets, experiencing the seabirds from a completely unique perspective. Getting so close to the whirring wings of guillemots, razorbills and puffins, near-deafened by the screams and calls of kittiwakes and the awesome sight of a peregrine attack across the cliff-face, or a maurauding Great skua plucking a puffin out of the air – this really is wildlife watching at its most grizzly, yet spellbinding! While we watch the birds, of course, the seals will be watching us! Never far away, these inquisitive and appealing mammals lose much of their inhibition and fear of humans when at sea and close views are to be had.

Accommodation

Orkney is famous for its hospitality and its excellent locally caught seafood. Both 'Scapa' and 'Highland Park' whiskies are distilled in the county and are superb additions to one's malt collection (or just a wee dram come sundown). When booking for either an art course, or a wildlife watching holiday, we can arrange excellent place to stay to suit every budget; from functional and fun hostel accommodation, country pub hotel, bed and breakfast or self-catering cottages, please contact us for information and availabilty.

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• Accommodation
• Orkney Islands