Anyone see the BBC documentary on Fair Isle?

[53rdAndBird]

(Still on iplayer if you fancy it.)

It was fascinating. I've always daydreamed about upping sticks from the central belt and moving somewhere really remote. The idea of £500/yr rent for a croft on Fair Isle nearly had me phoning up the National Trust for an application myself for a minute there! (On reflection I know very little about sheep farming and am shit at knitting, so I don't think I'd do too well.)

Still gobsmacked that the couple moving up from England (piano and all!) had only been together a few months. That's one hell of a life change to make with someone you don't know very well.

The boy going away to Lerwick to board was lovely, and so brave about it, but gosh that must be tough for families.

Loved seeing the long list of jobs everyone had.

I've recorded but not watched it yet. I love finding out about islands all over the world - something fascinating about them

I saw the second one, I'm going to watch the first one on iPlayer over the weekend. I liked seeing the job lists too, and had a wee daydream about what my list of jobs would be if I lived there. I would love to live on an island at some point, it might have to be somewhere like Arran rather than Fair Isle though!

Oh I wish we had a TV license this is right up my street!

Find a friend with one!

I missed it but someone told me about it so I'm going to catch up. My sister and cousin lived on islands. Different ones. Sis one of the Scottish and cousin a paradise island. I was lucky enough to be invited to both.

It was great ...... fascinating to see such a different lifestyle so close to home. If you love that kind of life, it would be fantastic.

It was really interesting.

Had the programmes been on before? I had definitely seen the American man and his son, who said his wife now lived on Shetland.
Maybe they featured in another programme about island life.

The English couple took a great risk and I wonder how she'll manage running the croft on her own. It looks like very hard work for little money.

It was really fascinating watching how the community interacted too. The American guy and his son have been on another programme about Scottish islands.
It's a really hard life; I'm not sure if I could do it. I worked with someone who's parents have a croft there, she said it's great for holidays but she had to leave to get a career.

It was obvious the couple moving there would not stay together. Poor woman left with the sheep and a house she hated, still trying to be positive about it all.
The £500 rent tempted me briefly, until I saw the bit about the dc going away to school at 11.

I hope they get a better and bigger ferry!

Are there any beaches?

What a great programme - I was fascinated. I come from a Scottish island.

Btw- if you enjoyed this programme you might enjoy the book, The Outrun, by an Orcadian writer called Amy Liptrot. Lots of beautiful detail about her life on a farm in Orkney and her contrasting lifestyle in London.

Just finished it - what a great documentary. I feel quite claustrophobic imagining living in such a desolate place with 56 other people. How does anyone avoid having a massive row with someone else, imagine what would happen if (let's face it, when) someone has an affair - bloody hell.

I wonder why the woman ended up staying in the house she hated, it seemed like they were maybe having a game of Mexican standoff where they both wanted to stay on the island so neither would move out. Then another house cropped up and maybe they flipped a coin, maybe he just bolted.

Quite surprised when Chanel apologised for ripping off the knitting design. This happens all the time to independent knitwear designers, and in fact the hat which the woman in the house she hated worse in several scenes was one such example. I hope she was wearing the original rather than the knock-off, that really would have been bad. (This one). One would like to hope it's that Chanel are more ethical and not that the designer called them and said she was in a BBC doco.