The Hendrys are part of a new breed of crofters reviving an ancient form of farming that was, until recently, thought to be in its final throes. Crofting is a kind of small-scale tenant farming unique to the Highlands. Crofters live and work on a few meagre acres of land, usually keeping a handful of sheep or cows while supplementing their income with paid work. Unlike tenant farmers elsewhere in Europe, crofters have an inalienable right to stay on their land: no landlord can ever evict them.

For middle-class professionals heading to the Highlands in search of space, community and farmland, crofting has a potent rugged-romantic appeal. And thanks to broadband connections and improved roads, the new crofters no longer have to give up the work that would once have meant a daily commute to the city.

But by the mid-20th century, this kind of subsistence farming was seen as an anachronism.

But the diagnosis of inevitable decline turned out to be premature