The Scottish word for stitch is "steek", and on Fair Isle it has enormous significance: not only do far more sheep live on this island than people - there are currently only around 60 of them - but their wool is also processed on site - and has been for generations in an unmistakable and globally recognised style, the Fair Isle style.
Fair Isle has got the hang of it
Multicoloured, patterned, but traditionally with only two colours per row. Even if you didn't (yet) know the name, you will have seen a jumper like this before. Of course, it's hardly surprising that they know a thing or two about knitwear here: Fair Isle is located where the North Sea meets the Atlantic.
A bastion of rock in the surf of both seas. Even in summer there is a lot of weather, the heather-covered highlands are swept clean by the wind. A wild place on the edge of Europe. All the more popular with sailors travelling between Orkney and Shetland. Packed yachts are not uncommon at the short pier. And when it's time to leave, many a crew member is warm and cosy.
If you're looking for birds, you'll find them
What else is there to discover on Fair Isle? The attractions are manageable: in addition to the aforementioned knitwear studios, there is also the George Waterston Museum. The ornithologist once owned the island until he sold it to the Scottish National Trust for the Preservation of Cultural and Natural Monuments in 1954.
Waterston had a lot to do on Fair Isle: the island is an important stopover for migratory birds, and those who hike to one of the two lighthouses, North Lighthouse and South Lighthouse, can see this for themselves. Even today, ornithologists still make up the majority of visitors to the island who come by ferry or aeroplane. And whether hobby or science, a local woollen jumper also helps.
North Haven natural harbour
Fair Isle is located at 59º32'17" N, 001º36'18" West on the border of the North Atlantic and North Sea and is 7.7 square kilometres in size. Within Scotland it belongs to the Northern Isles, administratively to Shetland. With the North Haven, Fair Isle has a very well protected natural harbour, which can be used as a harbour at its two piers next to the ferry terminal. also space for visiting yachts offers.
