Linda Watson

The Ladies of Low Arvie: Living the Farming Dream Linda Watson

The day Richard and Linda saw Low Arvie, a run down and neglected farm in Galloway in rural southwest Scotland, they knew they had found their future home. But they could not foresee quite how their life would change in so many ways. Beginning with their struggle to move not just themselves and their belongings, but Linda's redoubtable ninety-year-old mother, two-hundred miles north, The Ladies of Low Arvie chronicles Richard and Linda's journey to fulfill their dream. The Ladies themselves are the herd of pedigree Black Galloway cows they purchased and brought to Low Arvie to inhabit its acres, bringing with them much joy and a little tragedy along the way. Richard and Linda set about learning the ropes of keeping cattle under EC regulations and to cope with broken machinery and the vagaries of the Scottish weather, where all four seasons sometimes occur on the same day. Just how they overcome their hurdles, helped time and again by coincidence and the kindness of their new neighbours, and how the Ladies themselves settle into their new home is at the heart of this gentle and sometimes moving account of Scottish country life.