Skara Brae & Skaill House

Lonely Planet review

A visit to extraordinary Skara Brae offers the best opportunity in Scotland for a glimpse of Stone Age life. Idyllically situated by a sandy bay north of Stromness, and predating Stonehenge and the pyramids of Giza, Skara Brae is northern Europe's best preserved prehistoric village.

Even the stone furniture - beds, boxes and dressers - has survived the 5000 years since a community lived and breathed here. It was hidden until 1850, when waves whipped up by a severe storm eroded the sand and grass above the beach, exposing the houses underneath. There's an excellent interactive exhibition and short video, arming visitors with facts and theory, which will enhance the impact of the site. The official guidebook, available from the visitor centre, includes a good self-guided tour. The joint ticket will also get you into Skaill House, an early 17th-century mansion and the former home of the laird of Breckness, who discovered Skara Brae. The library here has secret shelves behind the book shelves - straight out of a spy movie! The porthole window exemplifies just how thick the outer walls are and the property is built on the site of a Pictish graveyard. Upstairs rooms afford lovely views.