After days of rain and lashing winds, I woke to stillness and sunshine. The world seemed infused with golden light as winter sun shone through a thin veil of cloud. With few, precious, hours of daylight at this time of year I rushed to get the kids dressed and outside for an adventure.
In Shetland, those periods of calm between rain and inevitable winter storms are referred to as a 'day between weathers'. Catherine Munro and her young family enjoy making the most of those days.
In Shetland we are spoiled for choice when it comes to activities, with each season bringing its own unique joys. My older son Rohan is six and has been learning about history at school so I decided to take him, and his younger brother Finn, to explore the Clickimin broch.
When I first visited Shetland I was stunned that less than a mile from the town centre, surrounded by modern homes, are the remains of ancient buildings.
Brochs are Iron age towers. Their design is unusual, found only in parts on Scotland, they are double walled, with a central spiral staircase and would have usually stood approximately 10 meters tall. It is thought in Shetland alone there may have been as many as 120 brochs.
The Clickimin broch is situated by a small loch and up until 1874 was accessible only by a causeway. When we visited, several whooper swans swam, their bodies reflected on the smooth water. The kids ran ahead of me calling "hello horses" to the Shetland ponies grazing in a field by the path.
They were desperate to go explore the building but I managed to get them to pause for a moment, to touch a stone by the entrance.
‘Feet’ Finn suggested and Rohan agreed. Weathered, but still visible, are carved footprints into which new chieftains were said to place their feet during coronation ceremonies.
Weathered, but still visible, are carved footprints into which new chieftains were said to place their feet during coronation ceremonies.
We walked through a narrow corridor to enter the inside of the broch. It felt a little like stepping into the past, the sounds of traffic and modern life muffled by thick stone walls.
We climbed the stairs and explored small rooms and wondered about all the people who had lived here and what would have been happening on this day 2,000 years ago.
The purpose and everyday uses of brochs is still widely debated among archaeologists. Some believe them to have been primarily defensive structures, places of refuge where people could withstand a siege. Others argue that they were more like built as a way of displaying the wealth and prestige of landowners.
We climbed the stairs and explored small rooms and wondered about all the people who had lived here and what would have been happening on this day 2,000 years ago.
As the sun began to lower towards the horizon we walked around the tower where the outline of farmhouses, thought to date from the Bronze Age, are still clearly visible. These dwellings were circular with central fire places.
We imagined how it would have felt to live there, dark winter nights around the fire, the work they would have done and the tools they used. The boys imagined the children that once lived here, talking about them, giving them names. Rohan asked me if he said hello to them, would they hear?
To walk among these traces of lives, memories in stone, is a wonderful way to take a moment to think of those who were here before.
There's no shortage of things to do with children in Shetland. Find inspiration with our guide to Family Days Out.