August 15 2018
Scotland is quite similar to England.
Most of its inhabitants live in cities, suburbs or towns, and have done so since the Industrial Revolution of the nineteenth century.
The rural population has dwindled, and many of those who do live in the countryside commute to work in towns.
The fastest-growing city in Scotland is Inverness, drawing in people from the sparsely populated Highland Region.
Farms which in my youth used to employ half a dozen workers or more are now often run by the farmer and a single man.
Activities like ploughing, sowing and harvesting are often contracted out.
The cottar houses have been sold off or are let, often as holiday homes; the bothies where the unmarried hands were lodged are empty, or converted to some other use.