This image is the cover for the book Highland Homespun

Highland Homespun

In the beloved Scottish author’s classic memoir, she recounts a year in the life of a small traditional farm in the Western Highlands.

In 1933, Margaret Leigh took over the tenancy of Achnabo farm, in a beautiful corner of the West Highlands overlooking the isle of Skye. In this unsentimental yet exquisitely written book, she recounts a year of farming life there, from the burning of the land and ploughing in March, through planting and sowing in April to haymaking and harvesting in September.

Rich in the details of day-to-day life—such as a visit to the smithy, the arrival of some new bulls, and the annual journey of the cows to the summer shielings—Highland Homespun provide fascinating insights into the farming life in the north of Scotland before the arrival of hydro-electric power. Local characters and customs add another rich dimension to this reflective and poignant memoir of a world now vanished.

Margaret Leigh

Margaret Leigh was the author of Driftwood and Tangle, Spade Among the Rushes, Highland Homespun, Harvest of the Moor and MyKingdom for a Horse. She was born in London in 1894, the cousin of novelist Dorothy L. Sayers and the daughter of an Oxford don. Herchildhood was spent wandering Europe and beyond for her father’s health, and following his death she became a governess, teacher anduniversity lecturer. In what would become a life-long habit, Margaret changed tack dramatically and turned to agriculture to support herself andher mother, studying the subject and working farms and crofts, most notably in the north west of Scotland. She died in 1973.

Birlinn