Crofting in the Hebrides

Available for over a year

Nancy Nicolson visits the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, where windspeeds can reach more than a hundred miles an hour. She meets crofter Donald Macsween who's lived here all his life, and farms cattle, sheep, pigs and hens. He sells his produce locally - meat, eggs, sheepskin and wool - and this year has missed the customers normally brought in by visiting cruise ships. Nancy meets Donald's mother Annie, who was born and brought up in a crofting family - like her father and grandfather before her. Donald also has his own television programme on BBC Alba, the BBC's Gaelic language service. He tells Nancy about the challenges of trying to look after livestock in this windswept location on the edge of the Atlantic, as he chats to his animals in Gaelic. Produced and presented by Nancy Nicolson