Tuck...have you some pics of odin? Stephen On Mar 29, 2009, at 2:16 PM, Tuck Langland wrote: > Stephen et al, > > A further word about Odin. This is a quite remarkable house. There is > a drive leading to the road, a drive about 50 yards long. It opens > onto the road running between the Lochs of Harray and Stenness, the > one that runs alongside the Ring of Brogar (or Brodgar). > > At the end of this drive, on the opposite side of the road, is the > Watch Stone, about a 14 foot tall neolithic megalith. It apparently > lines up somehow with Maes Howe and the Unstan Tomb across the water. > In the back garden of the house is Barnhouse Village, an excavated and > restored neolithic settlement. In the next field are the Standing > Stones, with Maes Howe not far behind them. And down the road a > quarter mile is Brodgar. (or Brogdar - I can't seem to find unanimity > on the spelling.) My feeling is that this spot on which the house is > built was the spiritual and probably political center of prehistoric > Orkney. If the land were empty and someone wanted to build there today > there is no way in hell permission wold be given. > > Further, the house is built from timbers, stairs, cabinets etc. of the > old Mauritania. It has two en-suite double bedrooms, plus, upstairs, > two single bed rooms, both en-suite, and one further bath downstairs > just for fun. And out back, next to the loch, is a bird hide. Arctic > terns nest on a tiny point just outside the sitting room windows, > swans grace the Loch, and we counted some 25 or so species of birds > seen from house windows. And it is walking distance to the Standing > Stones Hotel, (you can see it from the front porch) which means a nice > meal out with no worries of driving afterwards. > > Once, years before, we rented Braeside, near Twatt, next to Little > Canada, overlooking Boardhouse Loch. This was less convenient since > there was only one multi-purpose bath room, and we had about 8 people > there, so there was, indeed, dancing in the streets, but it had a > Rayburn, plus a regular cooker, and a nice fire in the sitting room. > > Stephen, you raise a very good point when speaking of we, as > outsiders, taking a perfectly good house at bargain prices from > perhaps a local couple who could well use it, putting it to better use > than an occasional holiday cottage. Better, I feel, is renting, > putting money into the Orkney economy, while disturbing it less. And > of course the other advantages play as well, such as not having to > worry about deterioration, etc., and being money way way ahead in the > short and long term. > > The only thing that makes me want to own a place is pure romance - > this is my piece of Orkney. But what with taxes, and the many > bureaucratic hoops one must jump through, it seems more and more out > of the question. > > However, if any here are planning a trip and planning to rent a house > sleeping several, a little communication might get others to join up, > saving money for each, and ensuring a good time for all. Travel wise, > we are sailing on the QM2 in late July to England and will spend time > there, culminating in our joining a choral workshop to sing at > Worcester, Gloucester, and Great Malvern. The following summer, > however (2010), might be a time to consider a few weeks in Orkney. > > > Tuck > >> Interesting Tuck. Kewl place to stay you chose. good on ya! Some of >> the land near the stones was old Isbister property. I have a Davie/ >> Isbister relative who's old stone house overlooks that area and >> indeed it is beautiful near there and must have been for you, a >> great place to stay. Not too far from the hotel or to town for that >> matter, but still very natural and rural. I had dinner one night >> there with a lovely red headed lady from the USA in the stones hotel. >> Twas funny. The new english owners, were having pain because of a >> handful of largely drunk young men out doing the warmup for the >> blackening thing. Boy, the young proprietor's wife was somewhat >> stressed, yet the wee celebrants were not aggressive or threatening >> towards anyone. Just drunk. I guessed that they were at the Standing >> Stones hotel, standing stoned and well, so it all made perfect sense >> to me. >> >> >> The place I found and loved, belonged to an aging fellow who knew one >> of my last relatives who lived there. He lived alongside some new >> wave baronial wannabe from London who made his last years >> uncomfortable to miserable some days, so rather than sell out to the >> guy, he simply canvassed the idea of selling to us. My countless >> cousins here and in the USA were not organized to make the move, and >> it became clear that the legal control affecting renovations with >> additions, is something that bathes in bureaucracy like an otter >> bathes in water. Just to develop a plan and budget requires a lot of >> time and gabbing with officials. MOre hurdles than a steeplechase >> event. While the protectionism is to be applauded, there still seems >> some obvious mysteries involving the new houses there to some extent, >> and the location of some of them. Frankly, the old stone croft >> dwellings have a lot of appeal to me, whereas some of the new >> rectangular box, sheeting and parging look houses without the old >> slate roof, equates to some of the vinyl and aluminum hasty-house >> tragedies in this country. After all that "planning" some of the >> results surly sway far from the integrity of the traditional. >> >> We had some stone masons in the family over there, which I thought >> was interesting or unique, until I figured out that due to the time >> to build with stone, before the day of the electric socket, power >> mixers and hydraulics, masonry was a time consuming tedious pursuit >> which involved the only readily available building material. Stone. I >> visited a thing called Davie's Brig near Finstown, with a reporter >> from the paper there. Twas a fine example of what patience and a >> trowel with a very strong back can achieve. I do not know how old >> that bridge is, but I suppose it is very elderly for sure. Yet it is >> sound, like so much of the old stonework. (ie St. Magnus Cathedral) >> >> In our case, the Hudson's Bay Company stripped our young men from the >> Isles there, from three and four successive generations. Thus our >> name has been stricken from the phone book there. Relatives who have >> visited there in the fifties through nineties, all sorta say..."nice" >> and return with a picture and a bottle of scotch or some jewelry. >> However in the current generation, our own wing of the family is over >> 150 strong, and there is a keen interest to find a place there to >> camp. But the approach has changed, which new approach is supported >> by this global meltdown. >> >> So this time around, tis better to line up the partners first, and >> when the funds are in the bag, then go shopping. I thing that the >> next decade will give opportunity anew to people wanting to invest in >> property virtually anywhere in the world. A self styled syndicated >> little "time share" operation is one way. The other is to buy and >> fund and staff a b and b for members only, who would own a place >> which would be available at an amazing rate for owners, but at >> regular rates for others when the family was absent. It would be good >> employment for a couple, properly designed. >> >> An old and very wise business man once told a friend of mine, that >> insofar as real estate is concerned, "ownership equals >> responsibility." We found that even with properties in south Florida, >> and once in Costa Rica, without a solid management plan, the bloom is >> soon to fall off the rose, and your practical suggestion Tuck, of >> renting, falls into play for all the right reasons. At this time, >> from California to Panama, properties are offered at steadily >> reducing prices, and to buy without knowing better what the economy >> in the world will do, is to walk on thin spring ice. When I asked a >> friend of mine wintering in Mexico if he would buy near Progreso/ >> Merida where he was enjoying himself this winter, the virtually >> accomplished old developer said..."why buy, there is no up?" He paid >> fifty dollars a day for four thousand square feet of luxury on the >> beach, with two boats, and a house full of hot and cold running >> wonderful mexican staff to cook, adjust the pool settings, and to >> take him fishing. A hurricane in the off season will not be his >> responsibility or concern. >> >> A falling...or plunging market is a sad thing indeed. Strips away the >> positive feelings of younger people, and depresses the older ones. >> But in the case of Orkney it may well give a few local kids a chance >> to buy a home there, at prices not affected by the "invasion" of >> outside money. Where I live here, prices are as sure to drop, as are >> Bill Clinton's britches. So everyone is just scaling down for the >> long haul back. Underline long. >> >> We now think that maybe buy the land and sit, and think and plan the >> structure, and then build an old new orkney place from scratch, not >> snatching away an existing home from some young Orcadian couple, but >> building additional tax revenue, and supplying some jobs in the >> process. The green construction techniques are appealing, right down >> to the mini windmills, infloor heat, and dc lighting and solar >> panels. So that is where it ended. Wye or Finstown...but near the >> water, with enough land for a highland cow or two, and some chickens >> and maybe an alpaca. In truth, a person would be better to build a >> day care facility with accommodation and leave something there to be >> utilized in absence, in a way that benefits the place. Or an indoor >> pool and spa with a unit or two. But as was suggested by our friend >> from Lethbridge, we's have to bust out of the life of generalities to >> do something that astute. >> >> Tuck, my memory flashes back to somebody that was indeed an architect >> on this "chat and spat" expat site. Indeed I see you are a sculptor. >> Wow. I am visiting a sculptor in Santiago de Cuba the end of next >> month. Did you see the Haida pole that is installed in Orkney? >> >> Take care on this rainy windy spring "stay indoors" day. >> >> Stephen (Kol) Davie >> On Mar 29, 2009, at 12:14 AM, Tuck Langland wrote: >> >>> Stephen, Robert, et al, >>> >>> My wife and I once spotted a wonderful little stone house with stone >>> flag roof, right down near Scapa flow in Orphir, and thought it >>> would >>> make a grand place to own, but on a later trip we went to look at it >>> and it was gone, torn down and replaced with a huge house being >>> built >>> by a guy who owns a disco or something in Kirkwall. Sad, but it >>> would >>> have taken so long and so much money and so much time spent there to >>> make it habitable it was totally impractical for someone like me, >>> with >>> a career here, to be away that much and spend that much. But we did >>> enjoy "planning" it in our heads, where the AGA would go, things >>> like >>> that. >>> >>> However, a house all ready to move into, paid for by about 8 people >>> would be a different story. But then all 8 would be fighting for >>> prime >>> time in it, like the St. Magnus festival and so on, and no one would >>> want it in February, so it would stand idle a lot. >>> >>> In the end, simply renting a self catering place is cheaper and >>> easier, and then you don't feel pressured to go there every trip. We >>> have rented Odin, the house with the red roof just beside the >>> Stones >>> of Stenness, three times now, and find it perfect. It overlooks the >>> Loch, which is just a few feet from the front room, it has a >>> beautiful >>> front glassed in porch, a great living room with a fire, a wonderful >>> kitchen complete with all mod cons, including a fan oven, plenty of >>> cooking gear, nice wine glasses and so on, and sleeps 6, with 5 >>> bathrooms for the six, so no one need stand dancing in the hall of a >>> morning. At somewhere around 500 pounds a week you are a whole >>> lot of >>> money ahead in the long run - and the short one for that matter. >>> >>> But if someone comes up with a good bargain and a list of folks who >>> want in, spread the word and there may just be interest anyway. >>> >>> >>> Tuck, >>> >>> Sculptor, >>> retired professor of Sculpture Indiana University South Bend. >>> South Bend, Indiana >>> On Mar 28, 2009, at 8:44 PM, Robert Sutherland wrote: >>> >> _______________________________________ >> Orcadia Group Photo Album >> http://tinyurl.com/28bx9x >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ORCADIA- >> request@rootsweb.com >> with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and >> the body of the message > > _______________________________________ > Orcadia Group Photo Album > http://tinyurl.com/28bx9x > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ORCADIA- > request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message >