SCORCHIO SCOTLAND!

A very warm welcome to my latest instalment from the Costa del Sutherland in the north highlands of Scotland!

As I write this column the weather is and has been fantastic over the last couple of weeks. It almost seems too good to be true. I just hope this isn’t our summer but hey we won’t complain. Long may it continue.

Over the last 4 weeks or so we have been very busy lambing on the croft. It’s a different kind of busy from the norm of the fence line but, with the weather being fantastic. it is half the battle as they say and due to the conditions we had an absolute tremendous lambing with a lot of new arrivals on the ground. With our last twin ewe only lambing 4 days prior to writing this latest column, lambing 2025 is now officially complete. A result but with that being said, we could do with rain now. We are never totally happy eh?!

Now it’s time to lace up the hill boots, pick up the fencing belt and make those staples fly! I completed the Croick job, which i mentioned in the last column, and then managed another local deer fence at Rosehall before getting tidied up for lambing. It all came together nicely with both jobs looking good. Jumping forward to now, I am waiting on the material lorry coming to the yard and then I will be getting on with a garden fence with a 1.2 m slatted spec and then onto a couple of hill park stock fences for a neighbour which are stripped out and ready for materials to hit the ground so that should ease us back into the fence line before the rest of the busy time approaches! Thinking back to when I was a kid, I remember my grandad telling me that you notice time moving a lot faster the older one gets. He was spot on. Time flies! (editor: total agreement!!) Everyone I chat with says the same. It’s finding the balance I guess but that’s easier said than done but we will keep our heads down and just crack on. You can’t dwell on these things for too long and we all have to make the most of the moment. Hopefully the weather is lovely for you this summer and you make time with family and friends to explore the stunning scenery of the far north. The good weather certainly brings folks out, I’m noticing far more motorhomes and camper vans around Sutherland and also driving groups doing the NC500 too. I guess paradise attracts!