Bonny Scotland

Loch Assynt in Sutherland

We are on the return leg of an amazing week in Scotland visiting relatives, friends and old haunts. By the time we get back to London, we’ll have traveled over 2,000 miles in a week.

Much of our time was spent in the very far north west of Scotland in Sutherland visiting special people in Scourie. We stayed at the Kylesku Hotel which is highly recommended and has the most amazing views at breakfast.

One place we didn’t manage to stay as it was booked out for Feis Rois was the Ceilidh Place in Ullapool – our favourite hotel where we got married.

Judge for yourselves, but for me, Sutherland is the most beautiful part of the country.

Stac Pollaidh

Western Sunset

Shiant Shepherds

Shiant Shepherds

Two shepherds from the island of Harris on a sheep rescue mission to the remote Shiant Islands. Rural areas in the Hebrides are ‘crofting’ communities.

Crofting is a a method of small-hold farming. Its a precarious living so its likely that a crofter will have another source of income besides what can be earned from their croft.

Sheep lie at the heart of the crofting economy. European Union Agricultural reform, food hygiene regulations and changing diet are damaging sheep farming. Consequently there is less money coming into these already fragile communities.

A Crofter and his Dog

Crofter and his dog

A young crofter with his sheepdogs in the Lochs area of Lewis. This man was one of the first crofters to gain his land under a scheme which encouraged the transfer of crofts from tenants who weren’t working the land to those who were eager to.