Waulkmill Beach in Orphir has been voted the winner of the first ever VisitOrkney ‘Best Kept Beach’ Award.

The results were announced on Saturday morning at Scapa Beach, ahead of the annual ‘Bag the Bruck’ beach clean-up.

VisitOrkney’s marketing executive Carly Simpson said:

“We’ve had a really positive response to the Best Kept Beach competition, with the majority of nominations being logged online.  There was a great variety of beaches put forward for the award, and Waulkmill proved to be this year’s favourite, beating Rackwick beach by just a few votes.

People making nominations also had the opportunity to identify specific beaches or areas in Orkney that they thought were particularly in need of a clean up.  However we received hardly any nominations in this category, which would suggest that our beaches are generally well looked after.  Hopefully the Best Kept Beach Award will have increased awareness of the good work being done by ‘Bag the Bruck’ and as a result encourage people to look after Orkney’s beaches. 

We’ll definitely be holding the competition next year to coincide with ‘Bag the Bruck’, and as we are also one of the main sponsors of Bag the Bruck it’s very appropriate for them to tie in together.  The clean up arranged by Environmental Concern Orkney is growing each year and it’s great that so many people are taking part and showing their support.  VisitOrkney are delighted to sponsor the event and have this year formed a team to help clean up Scapa Beach.”

The public were asked to nominate the beach they thought deserved the award by voting online at www.visitorkney.com or by completing nomination forms available from the Kirkwall and Stromness tourist information centres.

For further information, please contact Nicola Edwards, External Relations Executive (Aberdeen, Kirkwall and Lerwick), VisitScotland

Tel:        01224 288818 or
e-mail:    Nicola.Edwards@visitscotland.com