South of
Boddam, the custodian welcomes visitors at the Shetland Crofthouse Museum,
a homestead restore as it would have appeared about 100 years ago.
Exhibits inside the straw-thatched cottage, barn and byre include home
made furniture, such as the box bed and Shetland chairs, as well as farm
implements and a spinning wheel. Nearby is a restored watermill, typical
of those which ground oats and barley for most Shetland crofting townships
until larger mills such as Quendale Mill were built in the mid-19th
century.
BETTY MOUAT'S COTTAGE
The Mousy ferry leaves from the
village of Sandwick (the Tourist Office in Lerwick has details of railings)
and the trip is one of the best ways to see harbour porpoises (neesiks) at
close range, as they feed on shoals of fish in Mousy Sound. At Old Scatness,
next to Sumburgh Airport, this croft cottage is now a Camping Böd. In 1880
it was the home of an elderly lady, Betty Mot who became a national
celebrity al drifting alone to Norway.
She had
boarded the fishing smack Columbine, for a routine voyage to sell knitwear
at Lerwick when the skipper fell overboard. The remaining two crew
launched a boat in a desperate and unsuccessful attempt to save him. The
Columbine sailed on with Betty and the crew were unable to catch her. Nine
days later Betty was wrecked and rescued on the Norwegian coast.
