Sunday 19th to Sunday 26th May 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 knitting tutors.
There will be three different tours on offer:
One week dedicated to Fair Isle knitting, another week dedicated to lace knitting and one week celebrating our wonderful crafts people on Shetland. There is very little overlap between the tours meaning that you can stay for one, two or even all three weeks.
What Is Included - Lace Week
- Transfers within Shetland on arrival and departure*
- All tours with a fully qualified tourist guide and experienced driver
- 7 nights accommodation at a Lerwick guest house
- Breakfast every day at the guest house
- 5 lunches at a variety of venues
- 6 dinners in some of Shetland’s finest food establishments
- Workshop and talk with Viveka Velupillai from Uradale Yarns
- Lace Workshop with Anne Eunson and Kathleen Anderson
- Lace Workshop with Linda Shearer
- Whittle your own shawl pin with Cecil Tait, Paparwork Furniture
- Trip to Unst, Shetland’s most northerly island
- Coffee and cake at the Old Haa, Yell
- Uradale Farm tour
- Trip to Sumburgh Lighthouse Visitor Centre and RSPB Nature Reserve
- Explore Jarlshof, one of Europe’s most important archaeological sites
- Visit to St Ninian’s Isle
- Visit to Jamieson and Smith (The Wool Brokers)
- Free time to explore Lerwick and visit some local yarn stores
- Shetland Wool Heritage Talk at the Shetland Museum and Archives
- Entrance to:
- Shetland Textile Museum
- Old Haa Museum
- Unst Heritage Centre
- Jarlshof
- Sumburgh Head Visitor 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 Andrew and Calum, who have been looking after guests to Shetland for a long time and are very attentive hosts. The guest houses 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, we will depart for Sumburgh Head. Here we will have the chance to take in the beautiful views and visit the fascinating Sumburgh Lighthouse Visitor Centre. You will have free time here to walk amongst the various exhibits, including the marine life centre.
From here, we will make our way to the Sumburgh Hotel for lunch.
After lunch, we will visit Jarlshof, an archaeological site which gives us an insight into life from 4,700 years ago all the way up to the 1600’s. Your guide will introduce you to the highlights of Jarlshof and then you will have free time to take some photos.
We will return to Lerwick, where you will visit Jamieson and Smith (The Wool Brokers) for a talk about grading and sorting with Oliver Henry and having some shopping time.
We will have an early dinner before returning to the guesthouse.
Day 3
In the morning, we will be joined by Linda Shearer, who will take us through a lace knitting workshop. This class will be suitable for beginners but also for people who have a lot of experience in lace knitting. Linda was the Shetland Wool Week 2022 Patron.
Afterwards, we will visit the five-star Shetland Museum and Archives. Here we will be joined by a member of staff who will give us a talk about the lace heritage and displays that are available. You will have free time to look around and browse the gift shop.
The rest of the afternoon and evening is at your leisure.Day 4
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 stop over for cake and coffee in the Old Haa Museum on the island of Yell. The museum itself houses a lot of local history and has a textile display. There are often local knitwear items for sale in the gift shop.
From here, we continue to Unst, where we will have time to view Bobby’s Bus shelter and the Viking Unst project before lunch. Viking Unst includes a Viking longship and example of a Viking longhouse.
Lunch will be at the quaint Victoria’s Vintage Tearoom, where there are also craft items for sale.
After lunch, we will spend time in the Unst Heritage Centre and learn more about crofting, fishing and knitting traditions from Unst. Some of the finest examples of Shetland lace knitting comes from Unst. Bring your knitting as we will have the opportunity to knit with some of Unst’s lace knitters.
We will head back to Lerwick for dinner and then relax for the rest of the evening.
Day 5
Make our way to Uradale Farm and join Viveka for an interesting talk about the Shetland language, and terms used in knitting. Viveka will also give us a Lace project to work on while we are there, using the lovely organic Uradale Yarns. Hear more about the working practice at Uradale Farm, while you knit and enjoy lunch in this charming farmhouse.
After lunch, we will return to Lerwick and visit Shetland Textile Museum. Volunteers will be happy to tell you about the displays available, which cover many aspects of Shetland’s textile heritage. The building itself is also of interest. It is the birthplace of Arthur Anderson, who was a cofounder of the P&O shipping company.
We have some free time before dinner.
Day 6
We will spend the whole day at the Islesburgh Community Centre where we will be joined by Kathleen Anderson and Anne Eunson. Anne and Kathleen are sisters and have both been brought up surrounded by wonderful lace knitting. They will show you examples of lace work that has been passed down through the generations and conduct a workshop covering some of the finer points of lace knitting (pun intended!). There will be a break for lunch.
After the class, we will head out for dinner before returning to the guesthouse for the evening.
Day 7
Make our way to Bigton and join Cecil Tait from Paparwork Furniture, who will teach you how to whittle your own shawl pin. Cecil is well-known in the knitting community as he also makes jumper boards, glove boards and nostepinnes. He is a regular at Shetland Wool Week and owns a croft so is no stranger to wool.
After the class, we will have some lunch before moving on to the stunning St Ninian’s Isle to stretch our legs. The spectacular beach is a tombolo and connects the mainland of Shetland to St Ninian’s Isle. Your guide will tell you all about the St Ninian’s Isle treasure.
Afterwards, we will return to Lerwick town centre for some final purchases before heading out for our farewell dinner.
Day 8
For those of you leaving us today, you will check out of the guesthouse and be transferred back to Sumburgh Airport or Lerwick Ferry Terminal in time for your departure.
For those of you who are staying on for another tour, please see the relevant itineraries for further details.
Please note: Itinerary may happen in a different order as advertised, subject to availability.
Price
£3,050 per person
£1,000 non-refundable deposit payable at the time of booking.
Remaining balance payable by 31st March 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 guest house. 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.