The Highland Folk Museum

Our next stop was the Highland Folk Museum, founded by Dr. Isabel Grant, a Scottish historian. Dr. Grant was inspired to created a folk museum about the everyday people in the Highlands after visiting Scandinavia and seeing open-air folk museums there. These museums were devoted to showing the everyday lives of ordinary people. So this stop provided a good contrast to our previous day of visiting the Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood Palace that were inhabited by royalty.  

One of the most interesting displays was about the impact of food rationing in the United Kingdom during World War II. On the table was the amount of food allotted to one adult for an entire week. But what was most shocking to me is that the food rationing didn't end until July 1954 - several months after I was born!

Our final stop before going to our hotel in Strathpeffer was to visit a working sheep farm. We learned that Scotland has about 5 million people and 6 million sheep. So sheep are a very important part of Scotland's economy. 

Neil was born and grew up on the estate that he is employed on as a sheepherder. At a very young age, he was already winning sheep dog contests - he demonstrated how the sheep dogs respond to his commands to move the sheep. 

Here the border collie dogs are herding the sheep to a small area right in front of where we were standing. 

We then watched Neil shear a sheep and we could volunteer to try the shearing.

Afterwards, we could help feed the lambs as well

as Neil's "pet cow." (Pronounced "coo" like moo)

After our visit to the sheep farm, we traveled to Strathpeffer where we will be based the next several days in the Ben Wyvis Hotel that was opened in 1879.