burned out pano

Burned out Byre

I had said to many visitors that I was thankful I hadn't started to 'fix' the byre 30 years ago when we first got North Glen,
because I would have ruined it with youthful hubris and faith in modern materials.
In the end, I have ruined it with careless electricity.
The Eagle's Roost

We are generally dismissive of the skills and wisdom of our forefathers, or at least I used to be,
regarding our recent 'advances' in building techniques and materials as rendering older methods obsolete.
The experience of single-handed work the past five years or so, slowly modifying the old byre
for my own 'rockingchair porch' purposes has been a learning and pleasure which remains.
The folk who have occupied this hillside over the centuries may not be genetically close kin,
but I have a long and deepening connection to them, and I shall return to soil here in due course.

Many generations have put stone upon stone and turned the garden's soil, nourishing it with dung
barrowed from the byre, which was milking sixteen cows as late as 1948.