Project objectives

• Promote crofting to young people and encourage new entrants.
• Safeguard crofting heritage and traditions unique to local communities.
• Increase public knowledge and appreciation of crofting.
• Provide high quality volunteering opportunities.
• Encourage communities to reduce their ecological and carbon footprints.

Sustainable lifestyles and heritage
Crofters have always worked closely with the environment, using low input and low impact practices to provide food, shelter, clothing and energy for the family and the local community.

In the 21st century, crofting provides an ideal model for renewed interest in healthy and sustainable living, which respects the environment and provides local solutions to meeting basic needs.

Crofting and wildlife

Over the centuries, crofting has helped to shape the land to create an important mosaic of
wildlife habitats, some designated for their international importance, such as machair,
peatland, blackland, heather moor and grazed woodland in some of Scotland’s most
distinctive landscapes.

Crofting areas are home to some of Scotland’s most diverse natural heritage, with important populations of birds such as the corncrake, skylark and corn bunting in cropped grass and cereal fields, the ground-nesting birds of wet grasslands, raptors and sea birds.

Crofting Connections provides the opportunity for young people to value and respect their environmental heritage and to balance this with their need to work and live in this context.

Expressive Arts
Crofting also sustains a unique cultural heritage, influenced by Gaelic in the Western Isles and Highlands and Norse in Orkney and Shetland, reflected in a rich legacy of music, song, dance, poetry, storytelling, literature and place-names.

A wide range of cultural activities is associated with the rich heritage of crofting communities. Schools have the opportunity to explore this heritage through:

• Film, video and audio recordings of crofting past, present and future.
• Painting, drawing and photography – of the stunning landscapes and the details of croft life and work.
• Crafts – pupils are encouraged to learn the practical skills associated with crofting, such as spinning, knitting, dyeing and weaving; boatbuilding, fiddle-making and basketry.