The island of Unst is home to many things that are ‘Britain’s most northerly’: post office, school, swimming pool, and bus shelter. It also has Britain’s most northerly sandy beach. It’s at Skaw, a hamlet consisting of – you will not be surprised to learn – Britain’s most northerly house. Access is by a winding road that climbs over the shoulder of the hill from Norwick, giving tremendous views of the cliffs of north Unst.
The beach is of fine, white sand and is backed by a meadow hosting a profusion of wild flowers in spring and summer. It faces due east and is well sheltered from the prevailing winds. If you yearn for even greater seclusion, there’s a smaller, even more remote sandy beach at Inner Skaw, a walk of less than a kilometre to the south. There are excellent walks to be had on the low cliffs and headlands in this area.
Not far away, there are military remains: the Cold War radar dome on Saxa Vord is most obvious but, much closer at hand, there’s also a pioneering Second World war radar station, underlining the strategic importance of Unst at those periods of our history.