If you would like to find out more, discuss your holiday requirements, have questions about availability or, indeed, anything you would like to know about Orkney in general then please feel free to ask using the contact details below.
BOOKING a holiday at our self catering accommodation:
We are here to help you, and we are always pleased to answer questions about Annie's Place and our beautiful location both prior to your visit or on your arrival here. You can contact Anne by
You can make a direct reservation by using the ‘Check availability & book online’ button above and at the top of each website page.
Our standard package is £525- £595 for seven nights starting on a Saturday afternoon (normally after 3.00pm) and leaving the following Saturday morning by 10.00am.
At certain times of the year it may be possible by arrangement to book a short stay and this would be charged at £80 per night. Also, outwith the high season, we offer special rates if you book by arrangement for three or more weeks.
Our holiday letting charge includes WiFi, towels, bed linen and all electricity with no extra charge. We will ask you to forward a £150 (non-refundable) deposit per week to secure your booking immediately, and we will then contact you four weeks prior to arrival to request that you pay the balance.
For further information regarding bookings and cancellation terms and conditions please see under FAQs.
LOCATION on Birsay Bay, West Mainland, Orkney
Annie's Place is in the centre of the historic village of Palace, Birsay, on West Mainland coast of Orkney, close by the World Heritage Neolithic sites and the ongoing excavations at the Ness of Brodgar. The adjoining map highlights our location and shows proximity to the sea. Google's street view of Palace Village has been updates recently, although the view was also taken on a rather dismal day and doesn't really show our close proximity to the sea shore of Birsay Bay! Annie's place is the ground floor of the yellow Old Manse building as the photos below highlight.
Our holiday apartment is in the self contained, ground floor of The Old Manse, the residence built in the 1760's for the minister of the adjacent St Magnus Church. The apartment overlooks the kirkyard with the ruins of the 16th century Earl's Palace close by. Guests comment very positively about this unique view, as well as the fact that the village shop, Palace Stores, is conveniently next door. Birsay Bay Tearoom is just a short stroll up the road for some of the best baking available in Orkney.
From Annie's Place doorstep you can walk in either direction along the coastal path of St Magnus Way or cycle along the newly developed St Magnus Cycle Routes. The tidal Island of Brough of Birsay is just a 10 minutes easy walk along the shoreline. You can look out for birds of land and sea, as well as seals while you saunter along. If you have to wait for low tide to safely reveal the causeway to the island, then you can pass the time amongst the sand and rock pools searching for crabs and cowrie shells, much sought after here and know locally as "groatie buckies".
Annie's Place is on a private lane which leads up past our flower garden to the shoreline wall, with a gate onto the grassy path along Birsay Bay. There we have a shoreline bench for guests to sit and read, eat a snack, enjoy a drink or simply just to relax and marvel at the view across the bay to the Marwick Head cliffs on the left and Brough of Birsay to the right. Throughout the year, Birsay Bay can be teeming with a range of birdlife. During the spring months there can be up to 50 swans surfing the waves and feeding along the shore near the burn which flows into the bay from Loch of Boardhouse; where fishing is free! Seals love to bask on the rocks or, when the tide is in, they swim past to size you up or to enjoy some flipper fun with one another! In the summer, gannets dive further out in the bay, and on occasions orca can be seen at a distance moving across the horizon on their way to Shetland waters.
If you want to read more information about Palace village, its history, places to visit close by, and walks in the area then click on this link to take you through to the Birsay Heritage Trust.
