Isle of Jura
Jura is one of the most remote and most wild of the accessible Scottish islands, a large island in the Inner Hebrides accessible by ferry from Islay whose combination of the three distinctive quartzite peaks of the Paps of Jura, the extraordinary remoteness of most of the island's interior, the famous Corrievreckan whirlpool at its northern tip and the distillery at Craighouse create one of the most authentic and most rewarding Scottish island experiences available within reasonable reach of the mainland. The island has a population of approximately 200 and one road.
George Orwell retreated to the farmhouse of Barnhill in the remote north of Jura in 1946 to write Nineteen Eighty-Four, working in the isolation that the island's remoteness provided while his health deteriorated. Orwell's time on Jura, during which he completed his most celebrated and most prescient novel while nearly dying in the Corrievreckan whirlpool and succumbing to the tuberculosis that would kill him in 1950, provides one of the most dramatic examples of literary creation in extreme circumstances in modern British literature.
The walking on Jura is exceptional, from the ascent of the Paps with their quartzite scree slopes and commanding views of the Sound of Jura and the surrounding islands to the coastal walks along the largely roadless eastern shore where red deer and golden eagles provide the principal wildlife interest. The Jura distillery at Craighouse produces whisky of distinctive character that reflects the island's wild and remote personality.