Now you see it . . . .

. . . . soon you won't. It's right at the edge of the new housing development on the island. There are lots of new houses going up and I don't imagine for one moment they'll leave this standing. Traditionally all houses in Orkney were built of stone like this. Nowadays they are usually kit built, with concrete blocks cladding the outside. There are no brickworks in the islands, but the concrete blocks are locally made.

The roof is thin Caithness slate, each one attached with a wooden peg. Some roofs were made of heavier flagstones or turf. I love the way the slates are coloured by the lichens growing on them - it is supposed to be a sign of clean unpolluted air - and even our modern roof have a good covering of them.

When we first moved to this house there was a peat store with a roof made of heather. This was tied on the ropes of plaited straw and weighed down with stones. Sadly it was in a pretty poor state and had to be knocked down, but it had probably stood for well over a hundred years - much like this shed.