Skeoch: Our New Life on a Scottish Hill Farm by Jennie Phillips
The author, her actor husband Conrad and their small daughter Kate leave London for a new life in South West Scotland. Although they know nothing about farming, they have bought Skeoch Farm, and they are determined to make it viable.
But nothing is easy. The farm is large and run down, and establishing by trial and error what crops and animals are best suited is the steepest of learning curves. While spirits are willing, the flesh is still used to the comforts of city living, and exhaustion, due both to physical work on the farm and arduous commuting to fulfill acting commitments in England, takes its toll.
The beauty of the place and the humour of the situations shine through. After a second daughter has been born, one day the two children are discovered leaving home Dick-Whittington-fashion to ‘live with the fairies’ who according to their lore live in a wood at the foot of the property. Their parents realise with a jolt how much the relentless work has made them neglect other areas of their lives.
This is an honest, gritty and at times tragic account of a pioneering lifestyle in which mistakes are fully and freely acknowledged. It is also a well-constructed, entertaining and often funny story which seizes the imagination on the first page and continues to hold it until the very end.
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