Portal:Scotland/Selected article/Week 12, 2012

Fair Isle (from Old Norse Frjóey; Scottish Gaelic Fara) is an island in northern Scotland, lying around halfway between mainland Shetland and the Orkney islands. It is famous for its bird observatory and a traditional style of knitting. Fair Isle is the most remote inhabited island in the United Kingdom. The island is administratively part of Shetland and lies 38 km south-west of Sumburgh Head on the Mainland of Shetland and 43 km north-east of North Ronaldsay, Orkney. 4.8 km in length and 2.4 km wide, it has an area of 768 hectares (3 square miles), making it the tenth largest of the Shetland Islands. It gives its name to one of the British Sea Areas.

The majority of the seventy islanders live in the crofts on the southern half of the island, with the northern half consisting of rocky moorland. The western coast consists of cliffs of up to 200 metres (660 feet) in height. The population has been decreasing steadily from around four hundred in around 1900. There are no pubs or restaurants on the island, and there is but a single primary school. After the age of eleven, children must attend secondary school in Lerwick and stay in a hostel there in term time.