What's it really like to live in rural Scotland?

foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] I spent most of my childhood growing up in the countryside [Music] from rural Derbyshire to a Scottish Island I've always lived close to Nature foreign this is what inspired me to move to the Scottish Highlands [Music] as I've grown I found myself retreating even further from the busyness of towns and cities [Music] preferring the countryside with only a handful of small villages [Music] this channel often presents an idyllic idea of this type of living [Music] however there are downsides to living this way [Music] it's a harder life without the convenience of urban areas [Music] you have to be willing to work for it [Music] it's a choice not everyone will make foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] I've lived in some weird and wonderful places in my work as a wildlife conservationist that's often been pretty remote areas of the country without basic necessities in some cases um I spent three months on a really tiny Island um off of the coast of England the farn islands if you if you know then in Northumberland which is essentially just a seabird Island so it was me and a few ranges and then just thousands of seabirds and some of those turns specifically had um defense mechanisms that weren't ideal so they would poo on you and they would pick your head so we spent our entire time pretty much covered in super poo and to make even better we didn't have any running water um so we did manage to get off like roughly once a week to to shower but that was quite that was quite intense yeah um and you know often had like power cuts and yeah and then I've lived um in another Island I lived on the Isle of egg for a while that was a bit more civilized but again like it was like a Four Mile Walk to get your groceries sort of thing um and yeah we lived up in like really remote um top pots of Scotland and and even my childhood itself um you know we've always lived rurally so I think over time I have built up quite good resilience to this kind of living and I'm quite capable you know it doesn't bother me that things can go wrong and sometimes it's difficult to get things I know like lived in a caravan before I lived here and that was out on a farm and it wasn't too far like out of the sticks and since it was quite near Inverness but it was like um pretty bad if it snowed like getting out of there just wasn't with the car I have super good I remember one time I had to just like abandon it um in a passing place and walk home because I just could not get it back up the hill um so it does make you it doesn't eat resilient but I think yeah on on this channel I do appreciate that I love the stuff I show you is it's lovely you know it's really lovely things which is why I want to show you because I do love and live in a beautiful area and I love my life but I think I said a similar thing in one of my Vlogs about living on a Scottish Island when I went back home to visit my family on the Isle of our room it does come with its difficulties I think um that can be forgotten sometimes when you're looking at this kind of content you know just the basic stuff like not having the range of shops for instance or if you're into going out a lot or anything like that then your options will be limited and this stuff like everything is far apart like in the highlands you just drive like far for everything and you know public transport is pretty shocking so you kind of have to drive um in the highlands and then the more serious stuff you know living in a rural area we have real issue with housing and having affordable housing and particularly for young people that's an ever ever increasing issue and even just finding work like obviously there are less less opportunities um up here and I know quite a few people that do more than one job I mean it's not completely um first of all to get a house and somewhere to work but it is that bit harder probably in some other places um and yeah I think for me what you know what I would recommend is basically what what are your priorities so for me I really wanted a life that felt really free um it's essential for my mental health to be close to Nature and I think you can do that in urban environments I don't think you need to live in the highlands to feel connected to a nature you know you could have a back Garden or a window ledge you know with some flowers that attracts insects like there's loads of places and ways you can connect with nature but it's such a priority for me that living in the highlands it's just a dream you know and like where I showed you today went up a river and pass which is one of my favorite places Stockland more interabinety forest and I've done a few times but I mean it can't disappoint it's just stunning and that's only like half an hour for me now and I'm just surrounded by Nature all the time which makes things like I said sometimes more difficult um we get a lot of snow here it's one of the coldest places and some of the most not rainfall snow because we're far north in Scotland and also at high elevation so yeah sometimes like in the winter you just have to admit defeat and just say okay I just can't drive anywhere um today so you have to be you have to be prepared for that but for me this is my favorite way to live and the only way I know how and I think long term in our tiny home you know we are gonna move and probably have to be fully off grid at some point it might be somewhere a bit remote we haven't we haven't found land yet but that's kind of the idea so I'm I'm up for that challenge for living it's maybe a harder life but a simple life and that that really appeals to me but anyway let me know what you guys think let me know where you're from are you more of a urban dweller or do you live a bit more out in the out in the sticks like me I'd love to I'd love to hear I know with I've got a lot of folk from all over the world which is super cool so yeah share your experience in the comments below I'd love to I'd love to read it but um otherwise that's it for me thank you as always very much for watching and I will see you next week

Channel: Hippy Highland Living

Views: 185,040

Keywords: scotland, scottish highlands, rural living, simple living, slow living, nature walk, autumn ambience, autumn walk, vegan baking, tiny home

Id: osgm_IyGJtw

Length: 11min 56sec (716 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 30 2022