Dates
Sunday 18th August to Sunday 25th August 2024
Overview
Shetland is a place where exceptional wool and textile heritage meets beautiful scenery and fascinating history.
Join us on the holiday of a lifetime, which gives you the opportunity to fully immerse yourself in all aspects of Shetland life.
Your local qualified guide will show you around the wonderful sights of Shetland. You will have the opportunity to learn from some well-known local crafters.
What Is Included - Contemporary Crafts Week- Transfers within Shetland on arrival and departure*
- All ferry fares
- All tours with a fully qualified tourist guide and experienced driver
- 7 nights accommodation at a Lerwick guesthouse
- Breakfast every day at the guesthouse
- 5 lunches at a variety of venues
- 6 dinners in some of Shetland’s finest food establishments
- Ring making workshop with Shetland Jewellery
- Fused glass making workshop with Glansin Glass
- Wooden spoon making workshop with Paparwark Furniture
- Knitting machine introduction with RAM Knitwear
- Needle felting workshop with Peerie Ooricks
- Trips to Whalsay, Unst and Bressay
- Free afternoon and evening to explore Lerwick at your leisure
- Lampshade workshop with Julie Williamson
- Talk with Linda Shearer, Patron of Shetland Wool Week 2022
- Entrance to:
- Quendale Mill
- Old Haa Museum
- Whalsay Heritage Centre
* Guests will be required to make their own way to Shetland to begin the tour.
Itinerary
Day 1
You will be met at Sumburgh Airport or Lerwick Ferry Terminal upon your arrival and taken to Lerwick to check in at the Solheim and Carradale Guest Houses. Located near the centre of town on King Harald Street, these small but cosy guest houses are owned by Caroline Miller and her sons Calum and Andrew, who have been looking after guests to Shetland for a long time and are very attentive hosts. The guesthouses are joined together so you will be in the one location situated close to Islesburgh Community Centre and just a short walk over the hill to the town centre. There is also a scenic walk nearby, around the Knab, if weather permits.
Please note: there is no elevator in the guest houses and the number of ground floor rooms are limited. There is assistance with luggage.
At 7pm that evening, there will be a welcome dinner and an overview of the days ahead. This will be your first official event and you should aim to be in Shetland in time for this. This will give you the opportunity to get to know your host, guide and fellow participants.
Day 2
Today is going to be a busy day as we head to the very north of Shetland (and the UK) to the island of Unst. The journey will involve a lot of time in the bus and requires two ferries there and two ferries back.
On our way there, we will stopover for cake and coffee in the Old Haa Museum on the island of Yell. Nita makes some of the best cake in Shetland. The museum itself houses a lot of local history and has a textile display.
From here, we continue to Unst, where we will have time to view a 400 year old castle, Muness Castle, before we have lunch at the quaint Victoria’s Vintage Tearoom, where there are also craft items for sale.
After lunch, we will head to the Glansin Glass studio where owner Cheryl Jamieson will talk us through how to make our own decoration using fused glass. The item you will make will be fired and returned to you later in the week.
On our return to Lerwick, we will stop to have dinner at the historic Busta House Hotel before we return to the guest house for the evening.
Day 3
Make our way to Bigton and join Cecil Tait from Paparwork Furniture, who will teach you how to whittle your own wooden spoon. Cecil has been making furniture since he left school and also makes knitting accessories. He runs a croft and now produces his own yarn.
After the class, we will have some lunch before moving onto Quendale Mill. The mill was built in the late 1880’s and was a working mill until about 1950. Today, the mill is completely renovated and restored and is a popular visitor attraction.
We make our way back to Lerwick for some free time before dining out.
Day 4
In the morning, we will head to the town centre and begin our walking tour of Lerwick. We will see the historic Lodberries, famous in its own right but even more popular nowadays thanks to it being the location of Jimmy Perez’s house from the TV series “Shetland.”
Afterwards, the afternoon and evening will be at your leisure. We will be happy to provide you with information and advice on how best to make use of your free time if required.
Day 5
Today, the group will be split into two groups for the workshops that we will be attending.
Group 1 will make their way to Bressay and to Speldiburn, where you will join Roisin McAtamney of RAM Knitwear in her studio and she will give us a basic overview of machine knitting, a few techniques and then the opportunity to make your own scarf or snood. You will then return to Lerwick for lunch before starting your felting workshop with Ann Marie Anderson, who felts cute little creatures called Peerie Ooricks. She is also the author of children's books talking about the adventures of the Peerie Ooricks. She will show you how to make your own Shetland scene piece by needle felting.
Group 2 will do the same classes but the other way around.
We will then have our dinner in one of Lerwick’s eateries.
Day 6
Today, we will make our way to the island of Whalsay, also known as the “Bonnie Isle”. We will have a drive around the island before making our way to the Whalsay Heritage Centre, where they have a lovely textile display and lots of local history, especially connected to Shetland’s important fishing industry.
We make our way to Auld Manse, a recently restored building that is now a café. We will have our lunch here before having a class with Julie Williamson, one of the owners at Auld Manse.
Julie will show us how to make a drum shape lampshade. Throughout the class learn fabric design placement and cutting techniques and how to assemble your shades.
After the class, we will be joined by Linda Shearer, who was the Shetland Wool Week 2022 Patron. She will give us a talk about the history of Shetland textiles to the present day.
We will make our way back to the Shetland mainland and have dinner before we return to the guesthouse for the evening.
Day 7
This morning, we will head west to the Shetland Jewellery workshop. We will learn how to make rings that can be neatly stacked and worn together, drawing inspiration from the Shetland landscape, nature, history or just something of your own design.
We will go to Bonhoga for lunch. Bonhoga used to be a working mill but it is now a café, gallery and gift shop. There are often exhibitions in the gallery from local craftspeople and local crafts for sale in the gift shop.
Afterwards, you will have time in the town centre where you will be able to do some exploring and make some last-minute purchases.
We will head back to the guest house for some free time before heading out for our evening meal. This will be our last meal together for those who are leaving tomorrow.
Day 8
For those of you leaving us today, you will check out of the guest house and be transferred back to Sumburgh Airport or Lerwick Ferry Terminal in time for your departure.
Please note: Itinerary may happen in a different order as advertised, subject to availability.
Price
£3,350 per person
£1,000 non-refundable deposit payable at the time of booking.
Remaining balance payable by 30th June 2024. An invoice will be sent to you 7 days prior to the deadline, which will contain a link to a secure website to make payment by credit card.
Travel Insurance
We strongly advise that you purchase suitable travel insurance before the trip.
Island Vista Assurance
The above holiday is covered by The Package Travel, Package Tours Regulations 1992. Island Vista also have public liability insurance and professional indemnity cover.
Covid Restrictions
There are currently no Covid restrictions in Scotland, however, we will follow any regulations that are in place at the time of the tours.
Multiple Tour Discount
For anyone wishing to join more than one tour, there will be a £100 per person discount per tour. Your discount will be applied to your final invoice.
Additional Nights
If you wish to arrive a few days early or stay a little longer, please contact Island Vista directly and not the guesthouse. It may not be possible to accommodate you in the same guest house due to other tours that will be running at that time, but we will endeavour to find you an alternative. Please also note that there will be an admin fee of £30 for this service, which will be included in your final invoice.
Other Activities
If you are arriving early or departing later, you may wish to consider additional activities, tours, car hire, etc. Island Vista are happy to help you plan and arrange these, however, please note that there will be an admin fee of £15 per additional item for this service, which will be included in your final invoice.
Sharing
Prices are based on single occupancy of rooms. However, if you and a friend/partner are willing to share one of a limited number of double occupancy rooms, there will be a £100 per person discount.
Cancellation Policy
Once the final payment has been made, should you wish to cancel, there is no refund unless the spot is sold to someone else. This would be the final payment minus a £300 admin fee. The £1,000 deposit is non-refundable.
Should you cancel within 2 weeks of the tour starting, there is no refund available.