On the reading pile this weekend (between flooring catalogues and kitchen cabinet fittings) is this poignant read.
Written by David Craig and originally published in 1990, this is now out of print and was a purchase from a second-hand bookseller.
It contains interviews with the descendants of those cleared from the Highlands and Islands who settled in Novia Scotia.
Some have letters from the period describing the atrocities in faded but visceral detail. Some have tales passed down through three generations from their great, great grandparents and recount them in detail.
There’s is something incredibly real and intimate about a book that contains a reference directly to the croft or township that you live in. For me it creates a tangible link back through time.
I look over the ancient but still visible lazy beds on the moor above the croft and feel a real link to the lives of those who wrestled them from the soil.
Ravencroft Skye 
Love reading your posts. The history of the lands alongside the care and attention you are giving to creating a home which will sit with respect on that land whilst providing what you want.
Looking forward to hearing more.
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Thanks Jo! ☺️That’s such a lovely thing to say. I only hope that we can do it justice.
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History is more real when you are there, where it happened.
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It surely is. Seeing the walls of those ruined cottages and the bleak beauty of the abandoned villages really brings it home
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