麻豆社

Helen Mark travels to the far north-west of Scotland to meet crofters Martin and Mary Mackay and the shepherd who takes care of their flock as well as the rest of the sheep in the sheep-stock club, Janet Roberts. Oh, and they're all sheep-dog mad.

Martin's family have been crofters since the Highland clearances, making a partial living off the tiny strips of land between their house and the cliffs, in the village of Durness in Sutherland. But Martin's sheep range over thousands of acres of uncultivatable land over towards Cape Wrath, where thousand foot cliffs attract tourists every year. These sheep are part of the sheep-stock club Martin belongs to. They employ three shepherds, including Janet Roberts, who regularly walks for nine hours over mountains, bogs and moors when she's gathering in the sheep.

Both Martin and Janet love their sheepdogs and, somewhat unusually, treat them as pets as well as working companions. Mary hosts visitors from all over the world in her bed and breakfast visitors, some of whom send Christmas cards to the dogs every year. They are particularly fond of the retired sheepdog, Shep, who enjoys watching television, particularly the programmes featuring sheepdog trials that Mary records for him to watch. He's also fond of 'Countryfiile' apparently, as well as gaelic music.

Producer: Mary Ward-Lowery.