Must admit it's refreshing to see folk sticking up for landowners. I know a few who don't fit the aristocracy bill.
That's not to say they don't exist, the island I grew up on was essentially an estate where locals were affected by the whims of the current laird. Just agreeing that it's not the story everywhere.
Funnily enough one is well known to the members up this way, comes along to meets and would like nothing more than to shrug off the big bad world and retire to his grandads old but'n'ben.
Reroof the cottage, fix up the sheep fencing, reclaim the walled garden then the low field from the bracken and birch.
A lot of work and perhaps not the full-out bushy adventure that a lot of folk would like to do but I agree with him that it's the best way to go about things. Between the local weather and the midgies a house makes more sense than an outdoor camp, a spud plot and a modest herd fills a fair sized gap in the hunting/fishing/foraging chain.
It's the way things have been done round here for a long time.
I've met a lot of folk through the forum and something you see a lot is respect for tradition. Some folk latch into a culture and find out many things about their self-sufficiency and ways of life. Have met folk following Sami ways adorned in scrimshawed balleen, trapper/poineer types, think I sat at a fire one night and had a drink with an elf(or he might have been a medieval sodjer)....
My hobby's always been closer to home, following well trodden deer paths through the heather or pottering in wee boats. If there's a lifestyle I've ever wanted to follow it's that of the Scottish coastal dweller.
It can be done too. I've known a few smallholders over the years and the story doesn't change, it's hard work but immensely satisfying.
Have also heard of(but never met) folk who've done the same thing with nothing but a nod of the head from the laird. Not all are the possessive types, some would rather see a croft worked than falling to ruin. There's barely a decade goes by a scottish island isn't gifted to locals.
I have a nod of the head for a cottage myself. Found the ruin during a wander one day, cracked a finders-keepers joke and was told to go for it - he could think of worse neighbours to have.
I know none of this is any help to the opening post, it's just ramblings thrown into the evolved discussion.
Trying to remember if I started out with a point but don't think there ever was one.
Maybe sowing the seed for getting a work party together.
More likely it would have how I preferred the access laws the way they used to be. There's less incentive these days to find out who's land you're on and strike up a rapport. If you have the right to be somewhere you don't seek permission and if you don't seek permission you don't meet landowners and if you don't meet landowners you don't get the nod of the head.
