Barbara Fraser – the 80-year-old crofter with a brand new quad

Barbara Fraser: ‘Casting the peats is easier than a lot of jobs.’

Barbara Fraser: ‘Casting the peats is easier than a lot of jobs.’

BORN in Yell more than 80 years ago, Barbara Fraser has been crofting all of her life – first at Gossabrough, then Culswick and now at Gulberwick, where she has been for almost fifty years.

Remarkably, she is self-sufficient in local produce, casts her own peats and got herself a new quad to celebrate her 80^th birthday earlier this year.

In the first audio interview as part of a new Shetland Voices series Jane Moncrieff visited Barbara a few days before Christmas to have a right good yarn about her life, crofting and how the Covid pandemic has changed her outlook.

More Shetland Voices podcasts can be found here.

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See more from Jane Moncrieff:

Geordie Jacobson – a man who amasses many things