'You can’t just nip to the vet as there isn’t one' - Life on a croft in Shetland

“I also love the fact that people are so creative here - not only artistically and musically but also working with wood and textiles, and that there is such a creative approach to fixing things.

"You can’t just nip to the vet’s as there isn’t one, or go to the local hardware store, so you learn to use what you have to hand. For example, I had a lamb who had spinal nerve damage and lost the use of her front legs. Steroids and injections helped, but her legs were too weak to then work properly, so a neighbour rigged her up some splints from pipe lagging, wooden dowel rods and duct tape, and she was soon whizzing around on them.

"Now that her muscles have developed, she no longer needs the splints and you’d struggle to tell her apart from the other sheep her age. I’ve gained new skills since moving here too. I’ve learned how to look after my sheep and croft, and to knit and finish, which I do as one of my main jobs.

"I have also joined the coastguard, done a radio course so I can assist with flights at the airstrip and I’m learning to be more self-sufficient and do jobs myself that anywhere else I’d probably ring up a handyman to do.”

About two-thirds of Rachel’s ewes are ones she inherited when taking on the croft, and the rest are ones that have come from her share on the hill or bought from other crofters, run across 10 hectares (25 acres).

Currently, she runs 65 sheep made up of Texels, Texel/Shetland crosses, Suffolks and Suffolk/Texel crosses and Shetlands, lambing from mid-April to mid-May.

She says: “There are around 18 crofts on Fair Isle, and we all have a share in the pure native Shetlands that run free on the common grazing on the north of the isle. I prefer the Shetlands, they tend to be more characterful, smaller and less heavy for me to handle. But, sadly, there seems to be no real commercial value to them, so all the in-bye ewes which produce the lambs we send to mart are put to either Texel, Suffolk or Cheviot rams.

“Those that graze on the hill sometimes come down to graze on seaweed, and those in-bye get barley blend for three weeks prior to tupping, which they continue to get over winter, and their grazing is supplemented by silage. The ram gets tup mix for the same period, then eight weeks prior to lambing the ewes go on to ewe nuts. They also get free access to mineral lick tubs.”

Wool gets sent out to Jamieson’s of Shetland, the last remaining spinning mill in Shetland, in August and it is spun into wool along with other fleeces from all over Shetland, which those on the island then buy back as cones of wool for knitting Fair Isle garments and accessories for sale.

Stock gets sent to Shetland Livestock Marketing Group marts at Lerwick in September and October, where they are mostly sold as store lambs.

On arriving, Rachel says it can appear barren, but it has a ‘wealth of wild flowers, grasses and plants, some of which you do not find anywhere else in the UK.’

She says: “In summer the fields are carpeted with wild flowers, which look stunning. As a very small island, 24 miles from the nearest land and where the Atlantic meets the North Sea, we’re really at the mercy of the weather, and to say we’re windswept is very appropriate. The west of the isle is dominated by hills, with remains of the old coastguard look-out station and the remnants of the World War Two radar station.”

But there are certain challenges Rachel faces, as her croft is situated on some of the ‘worst land on the island.’

“I could probably add 20 ewes to my flock, but the quality of land just won’t support them, so I do have to keep my numbers down to an extent,” she says.

“This coming year, however, I am hoping to add a few more pure Shetlands and look into getting my own Shetland wool spun.

“I’m also limited by the fact that I run the croft alone - everything such as clipping is done by hand, and with just one person, it takes time.

“We are also governed by the weather. We have a small island ferry which sails once a week in winter, although there have been years where it hasn’t been able to sail for six weeks or more.

“That brings in all our provisions such as milk, fresh fruit and vegetables, but it is the only method of getting feed and straw onto the island, not to mention getting livestock off.

“Last year we only got one boatload of lambs off to mart in the whole of September as the weather was so bad, and there was a real worry that we would not be able to get the rest of the lambs off in time for the last mart.”