Hello & welcome to the Orkney Outpost
I’m Hannah. In 2022, my husband, our dog, and I moved to Orkney — to a crofter’s cottage we’d never seen, on an island we’d never visited. This publications started as a way to document that leap and it’s since evolved into a mix of Orkney life, slow renovation, edible gardening and feminist, peri-menopausal musings from a woman in midlife who’s trying to live on her own terms.
Think The Good Life, but with more wind, weeds, swearing and definitely no tolerance of characters like Tom Good (what a waste of space he was).
What you’ll find
Mostly personal stories from this life we’re building, along with a few hot takes - some thoughtful, some chaotic. I write about everything from garden experiments and failed DIY to questions of identity, purpose and the quiet rebellion of not chasing a 7-figure business or a six-pack. Too. Much. Effort.
Lately, I’m obsessed with turning our garden into a permaculture plot full of perennials and peas (always peas). But I’m also trying to make sense of midlife, freelancing, grief and that ever-present tug to please, conform, or explain.
What about you?
If there’s anything that I’ve learnt in my day job (email marketing tech) and increasing connections and visibility is that life is all about those connections and building relationships rather than stats and building numbers, a lesson I need to learn again and again it seems.
I’d love this to be a conversation, not just me wanging on into the void. Whether it’s gardening, midlife weirdness, or just a shared “yes, me too” moment, I’d love to hear from you. Unless you’re a troll, trolls can jog on.
Where to start
Two years in to be honest!
Or here, where you’ll learn a little bit more about my addled little brain
Take care,
Hannah, Han, H 🌱
