Sketching at Auchindrain

---

I remember during my childhood back in the late 50’s passing the seemingly deserted village of Auchindrain and later as it and the surrounding rolling hills disappeared beneath the onward march of forestry so different from the Gaelic Achadh an Droighinn or field of the Blackthorn Tree. On a beautiful spring day during my journey northward to the Isle of Lewis and calling on friends in Campbeltown I took time to stop off and wander around this remarkable and wonderfully preserved tenancy farm township a type of settlement that was once common in Scotland.



This was me in my element slipping effortlessly back in time with my sketchbook in hand. The buildings have been beautifully restored and presented both inside and out to give a real sense of being back in my childhood days when the working farm life was all that I knew and there was little time for useless frippery. Beneath their now red oxide corrugated tin roofs the interiors speak of a simplicity and charm so often missing in today’s must have fitted fitted kitchens and built in units. This was never the less a harsh life in comparison to our hermetically sealed centrally heated units but one I would happily return to if only to be freed from the controls of building regulations. These vernacular houses have stood the test of time and abandonment something I doubt today’s recyclable structures will manage. I followed the old road up to Eddie’s house and notices on the end able wall a door full of signatures which reminded me of my own barn on Lewis that once served as a shepherds bothy and its door covered in carved initials from 1911 onwards, from a period when one was proud of ones letters and being able to write. In the byre at the west end on Martin’s house are a wonderful selection of hand tools from an age when we bent our backs and worked to a natural rhythm with no noisy motor attached. Below Bell a’Phuill’s house this years lambs basked in the sun and just for a moment you could be excused for thinking that all was well with the world. I look forward to calling in again and discarding the encumbering crust of modernity.

---