I'll not say anything that the previous reviewer already said, but will add that you no longer need…read moreto pay to see the gallery of tapestries. In fact, there's an extension being built right now to house even more, plus art from Leila's daughter. The gallery now sells a huge selection of prints, as is, mounted or framed, plus 'hand tufted' rugs with designs from some of the tapestries. Definitely worth a visit if in the South Isles, though only really possible by car unless you want to spend the best part of a day walking there & back from St. Margarets Hope.

This is a lovely well gallery. It's a bit 'off the beaten track' but is signposted from the village…read moreof St Margaret's Hope. The views from the gallery are stunning - and you can continue on to Hoxa Head and see the remians of wartime buildings. Inside the gallery you can watch Leila Thomson working creating one of her huge tapestries. If you pay to go into the gallery you can see more examples of her work hanging - it's stunning. She sells postcards and prints of some of her tapestries so you can take a memento home - if you want to but a tapestry I believe you have to commission one and ther's a waiting list - yes, she is that good.

The Pier Arts Centre is quite simply an amazing place to have somewhere as small as Orkney. It has…read morea world renowned collection, including works from the likes of Barbara Hepworth. There's the 'permanent collection' and it also hosts visiting exhibitions and exhibitions of local work throughout the year. There's lots of different rooms in the gallery - and a small courtyard outside right on the Stromness waterfront. There's a small shop - and the staff are knowledgeable, friendly and helpful. The extension to the gallery - built on reclaimed land - is also important architecturally and has won awards. The Pier Arts Centre hosts workshops at various times of the year - such as children's workshops in the school holidays. It is also often used as a venue during the Orkney Folk Festival.

From the owner: The Pier Arts Centre in Stromness, Orkney was established in 1979 to provide a home for an…read moreimportant collection of British fine art donated by the author, peace activist and philanthropist Margaret Gardiner. The Collection includes works by major 20th Century artists Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson and Alfred Wallis amongst others, as well as contemporary art and local artists. Although small, it is regarded as one of the finest collections of the period in the UK. The Pier is also a partner of Tate, and exchanges programmes, ideas and skills with the Plus Tate network of visual arts organisations across the UK. The Centre also curates a year round programme of changing exhibitions and events for the education and enjoyment of the general public.The Pier Arts Centre acts as a focal point for the local artistic community. It has a valuable library and archive which is accessible to the public, and runs a programme of education and outreach activities for groups of all ages.

this art gallery can be found above the wick library, it's a very nice building and its always full…read moreof lovely pieces of art, most of which by local artist but some of them are amazing. the building is in two parts, the down stairs is a library, which is full of books, fictional, pictures, science fiction anything really, a really good library. The upstairs is the art gallery and on your way up the stairs there is pieces of art placed on and around the stairs by locals, really lights the place up, the gallery itself is what any gallery should look like, lots of pictures and paintings

This is a really nice shop - packed with a huge amount of stuff. There's gifts galore - jewellery,…read moreceramics, CDs, books,, ornaments . In fact the biggest drawback is that there is so much stuff - and all packed into a relatively small space - that it's quite hard to take in. Also, because of this I would say it's not a great shop to visit with small children - and probably not wheelchair friendly either. Through the back of the shop if the gallery - which again is very small, but always has some lovely work on display. The gallery hosts different exhibitions throughout the year - which range from woodwork to ceramics, glass, photography and paintings. There's definitely something for everyone here - if you can find it

I really like this place, for 6 sterling pounds a person over 21years old, the cost of the tour…read moreincludes a dram tasting of 12 year old whiskey and water. We received a bonus sample of the sweet liqueur and that was a nice touch. Our group was the only tour our guide had encountered on Tuesday, march 25. Our guide was very knowledgable and patient as this is our group's first whiskey distillery visit while in Scotland. During the tour we were told not to take any pictures while in the distillery facility and that if you are a tall person (over 6 ft tall) to mind your head. From malting of the barley to the aging cask room....our group had a chance to see production on a small scale. Lots of stairs so if you are looking for a wheelchair accessible tour...there might be parts of the tour the chair will not fit. We met a funny distillery worker named Chris and his accent sounded like an American one and not Scottish...very enthusiastic guy! At the end of tour we all had a taste of whiskey. The 12 year old aged whiskey was smooth, apple aroma with a little bit of spice, low peat flavor. I bought a bottle. The other sampler was a limitedly produced pulteney liqueur, the flavor was slightly sweet and not strong in alcohol. I also bought a bottle of this liqueur as well. Overall 4 stars because we didn't get our -2.50 pound discount on a purchase of a 70cl old pulteney whiskey bottle. Other than that, we really enjoyed the tour and ambience of a small whiskey company where every worker knew each other's names. :-) Visitor centre was nice to look at as well as the its store.