Jonathan and Denise: We’ve just now got home from a series of disasters (on an otherwise glorious late summer’s day) to find an email from our solicitor with an important ‘status update’: Today, Friday 26 August 2016, we have finally become joint proprietors of the freehold of our (previously rented) Eriskay croft, having bought it from the landlord, South Uist Estates.  In terms of crofting law, we now have the status of Owner-Occupier. Or rather Occupiers, as both title and croft are registered in both our names, jointly and equally.

Now, the huge investment we’ve made since 2009 – in money, yes, but far more in hard work and ideas – is secure ; and likewise the potential for further improvement, too. We’ll have more to report on this news when we get the official paperwork. But right now there’s that bottle of Rioja we bought on the way home: to drown our sorrows, we thought, but now to celebrate an important milestone! Let’s drink to the health, happiness and long life of hard-working crofters everywhere: may their families prosper and their land flourish! And may it once more be said of Uist, that it is a land flowing with milk and honey!