Louise and her mum Laura have moved from Birmingham to Stronsay, one of the Orkney islands off the north coast of Scotland. Home to around 350 people, this beautiful island boasts two shops and a pub/hotel. Louise and Laura have moved to a typical Orkney stone cottage, and Animalcouriers had the pleasure of transporting their 15-strong family of dogs, cats, rabbits and guinea pigs to join them.
Almost the minute they arrived on Stronsay, Louise and Laura added two Shetland ponies to their menagerie, adopted from a neighbour who was leaving the island!
The three dogs travelling with us are Fleur, Bailey and Oliver.
Three-year-old Fleur is a mix between a German Shepherd, a Rottweiler and a Husky. Despite missing one of her front legs, she’s very agile; and also very motherly to the other two dogs…
… Bailey (L) and Oliver (R), a pair of Dachshund cross Chihuahuas. This young sister and brother are great fun and are devoted to Fleur.
The four cats are Scrapper (who declined to be photographed), Faye, Gypsy and Piper.
Faye
Gypsy
Piper
Also on board are six rabbits and two guinea pigs, including:
Coco
Spots
Oreo white spotted
Smokey grey
One of the two guinea pigs enjoying a drink
We drove from Surrey to Carlisle, then headed to Aberdeen where we caught the ferry to Kirkwall, then another ferry from Kirkwall to Stronsay.
We spotted the intriguing ‘Text House’ in Denholm, near Hawick. It was designed and commissioned by Dr John Haddon, and the house in its present form was constructed in about 1910.
Texts number one…
…and two remind the reader to take care with time, or it will pass by quickly
Number three…
…and four remind the occupier that people lived in the house before them, and others will come after them
Shopping for local delicacies
Aberdeen’s busy harbour
Looking back at the lighthouse
Aberdonian sunset
Orkney bird feeder
Orkney weather station
Leaving Kirkwall for Stronsay
Arriving at Stronsay harbour after a two-hour journey through the outer Orkney islands, watching lots of seabirds and the occasional seal
Stronsay is a patchwork of small farms with fields bounded by dry stone walls. Each field has a name, and the pattern of fields has remain unchanged for centuries.
Short-eared owl
Laura and Louise greeting Oliver and Bailey
A circle of seabirds at Eday
Sunset over Loch Harray, Orkney
The Standing Stones of Stenness, a Neolithic monument on the Orkney mainland
Louise and Laura are wonderful human beings.
They have given a very large number of waifs and strays a wonderful life and now a rather splendid home!
what a beautiful place to live; I envy them
It is very special – quite isolated but what more could a large pet family want.
It looks like a beautiful trip, as you had there 🙂
Why can’t we share your blog posts at fx Twitter here?
It could help to share your services.
Irene
It was a very beautiful trip, there and back. We’ve been having server issues and turned everything off to do some fault checking. We’ve got the like button working again 😉 and have now got the sharing options back. Hope they work for you going forward! We always appreciate your shares 😀
WOW…….what an amazing journey with a house full of happy and healthy looking animals – I’m sure they are all glad to be reunited with their humans in an amazing place!
Hugs, Pam and Sam
Imagine they are all very happy in their beautiful new location.
What a lovely pair, and lovely fur-babies to go with them!
Stunning place, it does look a lot like Ireland but some distinct differences.
It does certainly have the feel of parts of Ireland, just not quite the diversity. They’ve all landed on their feet/paws.
Beautiful photos, the rabbits are cute.
Aren’t they lovely and all travelled very well.
Mee-you what an adventure you had Lady Annie an thee Courierss….
LadyMum sayss Kirkwall an Stronsay are gorgeeeus placess an shee wishes shee lived sumwhere there…
that ferst doggie Fleur reemindss us of mee Doggie Sisfur JADE….mee-you Fleur iss beeuteefull!!!
All thee 4 leggedss are luvley ah Lady Louise an Lady Laura sound like thee bESTEST people adoptin 2 poniess all so…
Thee scenery iss luvley an that OWL iss berry kewl…
Mee-you you have good adventuress!!!
~~~head rubsss~~~ Siddhartha Henry~~~
You’re right, Fleur does look incredibly like Jade. Aren’t Louise and Laura wonderful people!
Mee-you Ladiess Lousie an Laura thee THEE BEST Lady Annie…just like YOU!!!!!
**paw kissesss** Siddhartha Henry xxxx
the text house is super great… and I wish I could travel to the orkneys once, I enjoyed the photos so much, many thanks!!! I think fleur is a wonderful name for a pet… it has something what touched my heart immeowdiately :O)
We adore trips to the Orkney islands and fit them in whenever possible. Do hope you get a chance one day.
These more recent posts seem to be absent from my WordPress reader! The Orkneys seem like such a beautiful place, and full of history. Beautiful passengers, as always!