Skate Rumple Alpaca farm in Deerness is one of my absolute favourite places in Orkney. The alpacas, goats, pigs and other animals are super cute, and the family who run it, Mandy, Nick and Ellen, are so great at making people feel welcome. I always come away from there smiling, having had some good full-on belly laughs. It’s the sort of place where you can hear bizarre stories such as the one I heard this morning – Nick: “And as the delivery van came, and the man opened the doors and took the box out, two goats went in!”
Today was the opening of their annual Festive Shop. It’s so cozy, with a classic Christmas tree, sugar canes, always hot tea and coffee and home bakes on the go. It’s not just a place where you come to shop: it’s just as much about having a chat and a good time. The shop has all sorts of lovely Fairtrade gifts, for example toys made in alpaca wool by people in Peru, a ton of different unicorns, and the cutest hand-made teddies, made by Mandy herself. Daughter Ellen is also an artist, and she does Christmas cards of imps and elves and other folklore creatures, always full of character.
I am delighted that Brodgar chocolate is now part of Skate Rumple’s Christmas assortment. In stock in the Festive Shop are large and small Viking Whalebone Plaques in white chocolate & raspberry, dark chocolate & mocca crunch, and milk chocolate. Also, the recently launched Viking Hoard in dark and milk chocolate, coloured in silver and gold.
