crofting in scotland

Esther.R

We are English and have a croft house on Shetland, have never had a moments problem, like Orkney there are so many people coming in here all the time it just isn't an issue, we have been made very welcome, I have two small children and they have a far freer life up here and are very happy, it is very safe and very friendly. Obviously like anywhere if you are standoffish and don't make an effort to integrate then you might have a problem but we certainly didn't.

We have 1/4 acre just enough for a few veg, three goats and some chickens, so not a croft but we have experienced some of the lifestyle. There are a few things I would say straight off -

If you are hoping to be even a bit self sufficient choose your location well and look into what grows well locally, we can grow all kinds of veg well here (we are as far inland as it gets - 2 1/2 miles - so don't have a problem with salt spray like a lot of areas do) but you cannot just assume that what grows in England will grow here, pick your varieties carefully and then it will do well. Remember the soil is less fertile and the weather harsher, this applies to stock or crops, again with stock pick your breeds carefully.

If buying a croft house be aware that they are lovely but unless you are lucky they need a lot of work and pretty much ALL of them take a lot of heating to keep them warm and dry (no damp-proof courses in those days), but we have one and with two stoves going it is very cosy and no problem at all and we are getting there with the renovation so don't give up on them.

Also as has been said earlier, on the smaller islands the prices are cheaper but you do need to be pretty happy with your own company and a very small community, we picked Shetland mainland for that reason.

Tenancies are sold for crofts, they don't come up all the time but they are about, a tenancy will be cheaper than an owner occupied croft but you cannot get a mortgage on a tenancy so you do need the cash. As has been said above the same ins-and-outs apply with crofting, eg a 'croft' needn't actually have a house on it...and only 'de-crofted' land can be sold as owner-occupier, anything still under the crofting commission is a tenancy. Even the land our house actually stands on had to be de-crofted before we could buy the house. If in doubt get in touch with the local estate agents as mentioned, they are also solictors and can advise you.

We also have a lot of 'goodlifers' with a 2yr burn-out rate, so make sure you have a bit of capital behind you, or a job to come to, and don't expect a bed of roses for the first couple of years. I wouldn't worry at all about racism but it is a bigger transition than you might think to the isles, a different lifestyle and it can take a while to adjust - we had a rough first couple of years (not at all with the people, with other stuff, house buying, selling house on the mainland, work etc) but rode it out and now would never go back.

Oh and Gaelic isn't spoken on Shetland, and never has been, up here you would be a 'soothmoother' (originally meaning people who came in through the south mouth of Lerwick harbour), however it is very rarely used in a derogatory way, usually either as a matter-of-fact description of people who have come in rather than being born here or in joke. Shetland has had so many people in due to the oil they really are not a novelty. A lot of Shetlanders think of themselves more as scandinavian than Scottish anyway (they became scottish in the 15th century, before that they were indeed scandinavian).