The Jarlshof !
The Jarlshof…. Or Earls House….. in the Shetland Islands, is surrounded by 400 ancient dwellings. Visiting Jarlshof means looking upon more than 4000 years of British history, from 2500 BC right through to the 17th century. This fabulous journey takes you from the Bronze and Iron Ages right up to the era of Scottish lairds. When exploring Jarlshof, you will first investigate the vestiges of a Bronze Age village where sailors and farmers lived in oval houses with thick walls, today half-buried in the ground by the accumulation of sand and peat from centuries of disuse. Back in 2000 BC, people made a living from fishing, raising sheep and pigs and raising simple crops. Walk a few more steps, and you are suddenly in the Iron Age, face-to-face with one of those famous brochs, a round hollow-walled tower, typical of north and west Scotland. There are more than 500 of them in the land of the thistle. A little further on, the original foundations of Pictish dwellings mix with those of a Viking chief’s longhouse. Finally, there are the impressive and iconic ruins of a Scottish nobleman’s fortified farmhouse dating from the beginning of the 17th century.
This is a wonderful place from which to start a tour through the Shetland Isles….. understanding the landscape helps us understand why people live as they do, upon it.
Contact me for info on our small group tours of Scotland in 2022