Language of the High Lands

Language of the High Lands

Confusion reigns in the misty isles as visitors ask about the difference between a farm, a croft , a small holding, a shed, a barn, an outhouse and all those other quirky words which populate the language of high lands.

You can have a shed on your croft or a barn on your smallholding, acreage, or as it is now known hectarage but it is impossible to put a farm on a croft.

They each mean very specific things as follows;

A Shed is   - a shed

A Barn is  - a barn

A Croft is a smallholding and a farm is a big smallholding.

A croft you could go round in twenty minutes on a bicycle but a farm might take a bit longer if for any particular reason you would want to do such a thing. 

There is a tale about a Texan who travelled the Highlands of Scotland to see what it was all about and upon meeting a local he asked the fellow what he did. He explained that he was a crofter, a word the Texan had never heard before but, explained that a croft was a sort of small farmer.

Upon hearing the word farmer the Texan could not resist telling the crofter that  he had a farm which he was unable to drive all around in a day to which the Highlander replied’

“I had a car like that once.”

Beware of highland sages.

From I, Me, Moi.

Alan the Gallant