A Croft in the Hills

Written by Katharine Stewart and Neil Gunn

Narrated by Ruth Urquhart

A Croft in the Hills captures, in simple, moving descriptions, what it was really like trying to make a living out of a hill croft near Loch Ness fifty years ago. A couple and their young daughter, fresh from city life, immerse themselves in the practicalities of looking after sheep, cattle and hens, mending fences, baking bread, and surviving the worst that Scottish winters can throw at them.

Their neighbors are few, but among them they find the generosity and community spirit that has survived in the Highlands for generations. Working as a tight family unit, they learn to cope, and in time grow to love their little croft. As Neil Gunn writes in his Foreword, their lives gain extra dimensions that 'give the book its unusual quality, its brightness, and its wisdom'.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Sep 13, 2022
• ISBN: 9798765043387

Katharine Stewart

Katharine Stewart was born in 1914 in Reading. Following the Second World War and after a spell running a hotel in Edinburgh she moved with her husband, Sam Stewart, and daughter Hilda, to the croft at Abriachan near Loch Ness, where she began her writing career with A Croft in the Hills. Later she trained as a teacher before, on the death of her husband, becoming the local postmistress at Abriachan. She died in 2013 and is survived by her daughter, Hilda.