Land up in the Hills of Orkney

Who

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My name is Simon Treasure and I live at the Hall of Heddle, Orkney, with my beautiful dogs, Jack Russell Poppy and Samusky Florence. I was born many years ago in the London of 1960 and first visited Orkney in 1977. My family has had a home here since then, firstly on Sanday and then here at Heddle. I moved to Orkney permanently in 2000.

The house at Heddle was purchased by my Mum and Dad in 1992, as a summer home. She chose the location very well, as we are ideally situated in the centre of the Island, close to the Orcadian equivalent of the hurly burly but still in beautiful Orkney countryside.

I took over the house 2004 and have been kept busy since then with the rebuilding and conversion of the Byre and the rebuilding and restoration of East Heddle, and the conversion of part of the main House into the Bu. Together with Turriedale they make up the four parts of my 5 star self-catering business, Orkneycrofts.com, which started trading in 2008.

My other occupation is looking after and improving the land here as Naturalised Garden, Wildlife Sanctuary and Nature Reserve. I am a Gardener by choice, and delight in the scope of possibilities offered, if I am sometimes overwhelmed by the tasks on the to do list. I have become a reluctant birder and naturalist and have totally fallen in love with the wonderful ever changing natural environment of Orkney. I am also a beginner Bee Keeper which is very exciting. I do my best to stay in shape and keep time at bay with a mixture of exercise, good diet and good eating.

If that were all it would be enough. But life being what it is more is always required. We are about to launch our second tourism business, InsideOrkney.com, what seems to be a very exciting development more of which later.

I have also become a somewhat angry old man. It has taken time, but everywhere one looks selfish fools pursue their own petty aggrandising agenda with no consideration of the consequences to others or more importantly, the future of the planet. The Banking debacle of the past decade is an obvious starting point. What is perhaps far more insidious is the wholesale perversion and corruption of most of the organs of governance and power in all western liberal democracies by a mixture of petrochemical, military, agrochemical and industrial food production, financial and media corporations. Very little remains untainted. Indeed it seems that we are now all that is left.

Fortunately we are the 99%. Perhaps it is time to clean the stables. I certainly hope so. This extended blog will meander through these views of the world, my views, highlighting more eloquent thinkers than I while always promoting the joys and wonders of beautiful Orkney and of course my businesses.

If anyone chooses to listen, great.

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