Chronicle of years in rural Perthshire

Apr 24 2009 by Alison Anderson, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

A FASCINATING insight into the changes in pastoral life over the decades is given in a book by a man who grew up in rural Perthshire and Fife.

Footsteps in the Furrow by former farmer, turned journalist and politician Andrew Arbuckle is a record of Scottish farming between 1900 and 2000.

For many years Andrew ran the family’s tenanted farm near Newburgh in North Fife, overlooking the Tay Estuary, Carse of Gowrie and Sidlaw Hills. His career may have changed course, but he continues to live on the Barony road – the scenic back road from Newburgh running parallel to the mighty Tay.

The major changes in farming which have unfurled before his eyes are chronicled in Footsteps in the Furrow, while much more of the book’s content has been gleaned from the author’s extensive research, supplemented by dialogue with other farmers and those who made their living off the land.

While North Fife is the main focus of Andrew’s writing and extensive collection of fascinating photographs, the work practices and events about which he reminisces reflect a wider area. Arable, fruit and livestock, auction marts and agricultural shows, the demise of working horses and the traditional farming community are all described.

Footsteps in the Furrow is published by Old Pond Publishing Ltd, priced £9.95.