Working from
Smiddy.
An Orkney workation on Stronsay's east coast — Openreach FTTP fibre broadband into a bistro-table workspace, panoramic pasture views from your monitor, and 32 acres to walk between meetings. Off-grid on our own micro-grid, but never off the internet.
The office
nobody expects.
Stronsay is small, quiet and connected. In 2024 Openreach completed the FTTP fibre rollout across most of the island, so the workation reality here is different from what most people imagine when they hear “remote Scottish island.” The ferry connection to Kirkwall is reliable, the pop-in café at Whitehall does a decent flat white, and once you close the door of the burrow the only interruption is the weather doing something interesting.
The point isn't to disappear — it's to work well, in a place where the light and the sea reset your attention every time you look up from the screen.
A table, a view,
and silence.
Movable bistro table
Chairs, table and a plug run — pull it anywhere in the burrow. Most guests park it facing the glazed frontage.
Video-call ready
South-facing natural light, no visible clutter, an interior that photographs like a rented studio. Your calls will look great.
Coffee to hand
Freestanding fridge-freezer, expanded kitchen storage, and (on request) a Bialetti stovetop moka pot ready for the morning.
Fibre in.
4G on standby.
The burrow is fed by an Openreach fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) line — the same infrastructure being rolled out across the UK's better-served urban neighbourhoods. If the line ever hiccups (weather in the north is weather), a dual-carrier 4G router takes over automatically. You'll barely notice.
Note: Openreach FTTP is available to most Stronsay premises as of 2024. If you're bringing a workload that needs guaranteed bandwidth for a specific day, drop us a message at booking — we'll confirm the current line stats for the burrow that week.
Off-grid,
not off-line.
Every socket in the burrow runs from our on-site micro-grid — sun and wind through battery storage. In practice, that means a full charge on everything you plug in, no interruption, no different from a city flat. The only difference: you can see where the electricity comes from.
What a workation
actually looks like.
Not a template — just the shape most workation weeks fall into once the first day settles.
- 07:30
Coffee at the door
The bistro table pulled onto the recessed timber porch, first coffee of the day, sea light.
- 08:30 – 12:30
Deep work
Two focused blocks with the glazed frontage behind the monitor. No stand-ups here.
- 12:30 – 14:00
E-bike lunch loop
Unclip the included e-bike and ride the coastal lane — 20 mins to the Whitehall Fish Mart Café, 20 mins back.
- 14:00 – 17:00
Calls & shallow work
South-facing natural light lands well on video. Fibre uplink handles HD comfortably.
- 17:00 onwards
Close the laptop
Walk the field boundary. Watch the horses. In winter, wait for the aurora. Repeat.
What to know
before you book.
Add to your home screen for quicker bookings and the map at your fingertips.