About Us
My family arrived in Orkney in the early 1980’s. An Orkney quite different to what it is today, as a youngster I spent my life outside exploring. One of my favourite places in the whole world became Ling Holm on Shapinsay. When I go there I feel the need to open my arms and absorb, the wind, the rain, the sun, the smell.
I have seen my mum and Grannie laughing so hard as they tried to climb the slope up. My daughter has ridden her ponies up there and camped in the summer with friends. As a family we have had many picnics, lying in the wild flowers on the grassy top, laughing at Eider ducks who make such funny sounds.
My mum and grannie scaling Ling Holm
(they did make it!)
(they did make it!)
It is a happy place for us, if only for a fleeting moment we want to try and encapsulate the joy and the feeling of a very special place. A lot of love has gone into our perfumes, I hope you enjoy them.
How Our Perfumes Got Their Names
For a good part of our married life we lived in Zimbabwe, which is why there is Zimbabwe’s national flower, a flame lily on the Orkney Perfumery logo.
We had an amazing life, and then the land invasions happened and we lost everything. With increasing violence and a baby to take care of we made the hardest decision to leave. I moved back to Orkney with Rachel.
It was a dark time in our lives. One day I took Rachel to see the Kirkwall pipe band that were meeting in the Gatehouse square. We stood on the fringes of the gathering, sad, lonely and missing Mark, when a lady walked up put her arm through mine and said ‘come on we’ll walk together’ She patted my hand and told me everything will be alright.
That lady was called
Every time I think of that moment I cry and I still do 20 years later
It was a dark time in our lives. One day I took Rachel to see the Kirkwall pipe band that were meeting in the Gatehouse square. We stood on the fringes of the gathering, sad, lonely and missing Mark, when a lady walked up put her arm through mine and said ‘come on we’ll walk together’ She patted my hand and told me everything will be alright.
That lady was called
Every time I think of that moment I cry and I still do 20 years later
When we were thinking of names for our perfumes we decided we wanted to use the name of real extraordinary women. was a small lady with a big heart, a crown of white hair and a beautiful smile. She was a farmer’s wife and had 6 children. These salt of the earth women brought up their families, worked on the farm and kept the home supplied with vegetables and baking. They were, and still are, the backbone of Orkney farming.
was a small lady with a big heart, a crown of white hair and a beautiful smile. She was a farmer’s wife and had 6 children. These salt of the earth women brought up their families, worked on the farm and kept the home supplied with vegetables and baking. They were, and still are, the backbone of Orkney farming.