Fair Isle is the most geographically remote inhabited island in the United Kingdom. It lies 24 miles from the Shetland Mainland and 27 miles from North Ronaldsay, the most northerly of the Orkney islands. It is administratively part of Shetland.

There is a permanent population of around 60 people here, who mostly live at the south end of the island. Traditionally, crofting and fishing were the main occupations, but today the economy is far more diverse.

Zoom out to see where we are in the world.

Nevertheless, agriculture remains an extremely important part of island life, and some of the most significant moments in the Fair Isle calendar revolve around croft work, such as lambing, clipping and baling silage. If they're keen, visitors sometimes get the chance to be involved in this work, helping to round up and clip sheep in the summer.

Fair Isle was first populated around 6,000 years ago, and evidence of some of its early inhabitants is still visible today, including Neolithic land divisions, Bronze Age 'burnt mounds', and an Iron Age fort at Landberg. Later, the island was an important location to Vikings and Norse settlers, and features prominently in the Orkneyinga Saga, written around 1200AD.

For much of the past few hundred years, this was a difficult place to live. Overcrowding, disease and despotic landlords: all contributed to an exceedingly poor standard of living. And in the late nineteenth century the population began to drop, principally through emigration to North America. This trend continued until the mid-twentieth century, when a change of ownership, first to George Waterston in 1948, then to the National Trust for Scotland in 1954, helped to secure the island's future. 

The new bird observatory.

Fair Isle's importance as a breeding ground for seabirds, and a stopping-off point for migrant species, has aided its success over the past six decades and more. The bird observatory, first opened in 1948, has become an integral part of island life, bringing a steady flow of visitors through the spring to autumn months. This has enormous social as well as economic benefits for the island. 
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The opening of a new 'obs', in 2010, was testament to the ongoing success of the partnership between community and observatory. It is a partnership that continues to grow stronger.

As well as its birdlife, Fair Isle is most famous worldwide for the knitwear that carries its name. Today, the vast majority of that knitwear is not made here and does not follow the traditional patterns of the island's craftspeople. However, those patterns and those skills continue to be passed down and practiced, and it is still possible to buy authentic garments from local knitters. You can find some of their details on the Links page.

To learn more about Fair Isle, you can follow some of the links provided on this site, take a look at our list of things to do, or you can purchase the book Fair Isle: Through the Seasons, which provides an introduction to the island along with stunning photographs. If that's not enough, why not come for a visit?

Summer in the North Haven, with Sheep Rock behind.