Corrigall Farm Museum
Corrigall Farm Museum is one of Orkney’s most evocative time capsules, preserving the rhythm of traditional island life from the 18th and 19th centuries. Set in the rolling landscape of Harray, the farm was once home to generations of crofters who lived by the seasons, their days shaped by peat cutting, cattle tending and hand‑worked fields. What makes Corrigall especially compelling is how little has changed: the interiors feel as though the family has just stepped outside. Inside, you’ll find the hearth‑side living area, with box beds tucked into the walls and peat smoke lingering in the rafters. The barns and byres hold an impressive collection of agricultural tools, from flails and querns to horse‑drawn implements that reveal the ingenuity of Orkney’s farmers. A reconstructed kiln barn shows how grain was dried before milling, a vital step in producing bere meal, once a staple of the islands. The museum also displays traditional crafts, including rope‑making and straw‑work, and offers insight into communal practices such as neighbourly labour exchanges. Corrigall’s authenticity lies in its simplicity: it is a working memory of crofting culture, preserved with care and without embellishment, giving visitors a vivid sense of everyday life in rural Orkney.
Harray Scotland
Corrigall Farm Museum sits in the parish of Harray on Orkney’s West Mainland, with the address Bimbister, Harray, Orkney, KW17 2LQ. It lies a short way off the A986, roughly two miles south-east of the village of Dounby and about a twenty-minute drive from Kirkwall, nestled among quiet fields and burns in the heart of the island’s farming country. Once you have explored the old but-and-ben farmhouse, barn and grain kiln, there is plenty more history close at hand. Just a few miles away you reach the great Neolithic sites of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney: the chambered tomb of Maeshowe, the standing stones of the Ring of Brodgar, and the Stones of Stenness, all set in an open landscape that feels timeless. A little further west brings you to Skara Brae, the famous prehistoric village by the shore. Closer still is the Click Mill, a rare surviving horizontal water mill, while Kirbuster Farm Museum, the older traditional firehoose, is only a short drive north toward Birsay. The whole area is dotted with these layers of Orkney life, from ancient monuments to later farmsteads, so you can easily string a gentle day’s exploring together without covering much ground.