Ben Fogle"new lives in the wild".

[Tarrel]

I saw the show. They're south west of us. Made me realise what a huge difference there is between the east and west coasts of Scotland, and the limitations of island living. Made me feel a bit of a fraud when I look at the quality of land we have to work with in the east. I missed the first 10 minutes so I don't know if they explained their financial position, but it seems like they had very little capital to work with. Also, I'm not completely sure how long they'd been there, but it didn't seem long. Would be interesting to re-visit once they're established.

They did seem to be making life unnecessarily hard for themselves. For example, I can't believe there wasn't someone with a JCB on that island. It's an established community. One day at the going rate of £30 per hour for machine and operator would have sorted their house foundations for £240. A couple of extra shifts at the post-office. They didn't seem to have zoned their land. First thing I would have done is plant a shelter belt of trees against the prevailing winds. This is accepted crofting practice and is possible in those conditions. Their poultry were free-ranging all over the place and yet they were supplementing their feed. I'd have constrained them into a smaller area (not too small) to conserve their energy and turn more of those Layers' Pellets into eggs and flesh. They could also do with some sheep (I didn't see if they had any). There's a reason why crofters over the years have had sheep as the mainstay of their meat production.

Shame about the poly-tunnel but, at the end of the day, it only needs a new cover. As one climate-change expert said to me when I was describing our set-up and plans; "Violent storms will test everything you build." He was right. Some folks in our area build fences round their greenhouses, to protect the glass from flying debris in storms.

The kids were great. If they keep that attitude and the parents are able to make a go of the place and get it established, then they're assured of a safe retirement with the children running things when they no longer can.

If they are on an actual registered croft they could get a grant under the Crofting House Grant Scheme for up to £40,000 to help with the building of a house. If they put in a lot of the work themselves, they could have a hyper-insulated, state-of-the-art 3-bedroom place for that or a little more. Cob houses like they were intending to build are very "eco", but practicality has to be a big consideration. They're already reducing their carbon footprint dramatically compared to the average Brit if that's their motivation, without getting too hair-shirted about it.

Poor old Ben Fogle. He's such an urban showbiz luvvy! Talking about "birdseed" when the guy was dishing out proper nutritionally balanced Layers' Pellets for the hens. I'd love to see some of the behind-the-scenes footage as they prepare to shoot the "Ben getting his hands dirty" bits!