The journey to Scoraig consisted of an hour long boat journey from the isle of wight to southampton, a bus from southampton docks to the coach station, a two and a half hour long coach that went from southampton to London Victoria. From there I then waited an hour for a coach to inverness that then went on a fifteen hour journey with two 15 minute comfort breaks before finally arriving there. From there I was met by my uncle Luke and baby cousin Finnian who took me to Tesco to get their two weekly shop. Although they live a fairly self selfsustainable lifestyle they can’t rely souly on what they grow to live off of. They currently grow rhubarb, potatoes, onions, broccoli, Carrots, apples, pears and cherries and cannabis (for adult consumption!) their Tesco shop normally includes anything that is reduced for quick sale as well as treats for dinners. For example some nights they do ‘fake-away’ nights that consist of food they may once have had that they can’t order in now they live on a remote peninsula. one of the meals I had for example was a Chinese fake-away which included soya covered chicken thighs with noodles and rice and mixed vegetables. Once we left tesco, we drove for two hours to get to the jetty and then into a knackered old fishing boat that took us with all of the shopping over to Scoraig. We got to the house and were eagerly met by all of my cousins. Tyler, Nathaniel, river, meredith alys and their mother Pixie. Once i had settled into the Bothy (small house in the garden of the main house for visitors) i was then shown around and taught the way in which they live. I was taught how to make a fire which was a must in the temperatures they live in, as well as where to search for sticks and where I can wash. The fires are what heats the water. No fire. No hot water. So keeping a fire going was essential. I was also informed on how they make their electricity. The house has two sources for electricity, solar panels and a wind turbine a little higher up the mountain. There is then a gage inside the house that tells you the amount of energy they have for the day which they then dish out for the different appliances. Often, using too many appliances at once can trip a switch which will turn off all electricity.
The first few days of my visit were mainly spent playing with the kids. They showed me their favourite spots to play at and took me right down to the edge of the Loch. What interested me is just how in touch they are with their environment. The kids were happy to climb huge boulders that went out to sea and climb trees right to the top. The had full on mud fights with one another and put mud down each others backs for fun. Play time here is all about the use of imagination. electrical devices for the children are few and far between and they like it that way. If the children want to watch something, they are given a portable DVD player with a selection of david Attenborough documentaries to choose from. It was very evident just how much they watched Attenborough by how much information they had about the world around them. Before coming to Scoraig, I was interested in how the kids dealt with having little to no friends here and only having their siblings as company and it turns out, they prefer it this way. The children are used to having no busy life around them, they dislike other people, and cars and anything noisy. They are out of their comfort zones surrounded by new people. The children sometimes have visitors from their closest neighbours that come round to play. Its important to point out however that the only way to get from place to place here is using your feet. There are no roads, only tracks to walk on, so any visitors have to brave whatever weather is thrown at them on the journey too and from their destination.
Here, wealth is determined by ‘crofts’. There will be an owner of the entire piece of land expanding across Scoraig, there is then a crofting committee that distributes parts of the land to certain people who want it. As recently as the late 70’s a croft worth the same amount as a large piece of land in England could be bought with something as little as a bottle of wine. But recently, Scoraig has changed slightly. the more people that come over here to live, the more that money is introduced. For example, Pixie and Luke currently rent their property for 500 pounds a month. This includes several acres of land, a home that can house 12 people and a Bothy. If Luke does general maintenance to his property, he can invoice the owner (currently living in Switzerland) and his expenses and a wage will be taken out of that months rent. This is incredibly different to the beginning of inhabiting Scoraig. 60 years ago only two people lived on the entire peninsula and they only maintained contact for their business venture. They grew organic carrots that were distributed across the UK. Post is rare here so in order to get the carrots out they had a postman walk sacks of organic carrots around the mountains. More recently, the peninsula is inhabited by a few families that prefer a self sustainable lifestyle.
Family life is interesting here. Each child is given chores to help with the run of the house. Pixie spends the majority of her day baking fresh bread and cooking for both lunch and dinner. Luke normally spends his day doing general DIY to improve food growth or ferrying for anyone on the peninsula who needs to head into mainland Scotland. Although the children swear and curse and fight with one another, they have a general respect for their parents. If their parents ask them to do something they do it with no questions asked. if the children fail to eat their dinner, it is served up to them the next morning for breakfast. Something the children were very happy with as I walked in whilst they were chowing down on cold spaghetti and meatballs. They also have strict rules where TV is concerned. They watch TV on a small portable plug in DVD player. Each child takes turns in choosing the DVD of the day, when that film is over and the children still want to watch something as opposed to playing outside, their only other choice is to watch a David Attenborough documentary. Pixie does this to educate the children on the world around them.
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