www.orkneysbest.co.uk results from a meeting between Thorfinn Craigie, who with his wife Katherine runs the wholesale butchers E R & T Craigie, and Stewart Anderson who with his wife Jacky runs Rickla, Orkney’s 5-star b&b & self-catering establishment.

E R & T Craigie is a family business based at the Hall of Yenstay, the family farm for seven generations. The butchery business was started by Thorfinn’s father Eddie in the 1970’s initially to prepare other farmer’s meat for their own freezers but Eddie’s reputation as a skilled butcher spread and the business grew steadily.

Eddie retired in 1995 and Thorfinn and Katherine took over the business: their continued attention to detail and quality built it into Orkney’s largest wholesale supplier. In 2003 demand was such that a state-of-the-art butchery and processing premises was built at the farm: this presently employs five time-served butchers and supplies most of the hotels, restaurants and retail butchers in Orkney as well as a growing number of customers throughout the UK.  

Rickla Rickla was built by Stewart & Jacky Anderson in 1995 as a bed & breakfast and from opening was the premier accommodation in Orkney. 5-star status was gained in 2002 and Rickla won the “tourism Oscar” Thistle Award for Customer Service in 2006. In 2006 the accommodation was converted into 5-star self-catering with a grading score which places it at No.2 in Scotland.

Visitors to Rickla have long commented on the quality of the meat they had eaten in the better hotels and restaurants around Orkney: unknown to them, the majority of this meat was provided by E R & T Craigie whose attention to quality has made them  by far the largest wholesale butchers on the Island.

Our aim is very simple: to provide you with the best. Orkney’s Best.