This book is about the generations of people who have made the farms we know today. Engaging, enjoyable and informative, the author uses various family experiences to take the reader through three centuries of change in the countryside, including two farming revolutions. Connections are made with people both in and outside of agriculture. Farming issues, past and present, are illustrated by recounting the lives of country people from farm worker to estate owner. 

Focussing on the Scottish Borders but reflecting lives across the UK, these tales give historically factual accounts of real life people and their ups and downs in dealing with the forces of nature, the varying states of economic depression that swept through the countryside, and the everyday conflicts that arise in family life. 

Based on painstaking research and many interviews, as well as the author’s own personal experience of a lifetime in farming, Farming Stories from the Scottish Borders tells of the struggle against adversity and the human story behind modern farming ways. It will appeal to anyone who has an interest in the history of the countryside and the people who live and work in it and particularly those with a nostalgia for the ‘old days’.

Colin Whittemore started life on a small family farm in England before embarking on a career as an agricultural research scientist. He has written a number of popular books on the lives of farming people and a social history (including A Kindly Winter, A Living from the Edinburgh Countryside, and Newlands) and also has a number of academic books to his name.  He is Emeritus Professor of Agriculture, University of Edinburgh and Accreditation Chair of the British Society of Animal Science.