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Countryside magazine featuring the people and wildlife that shape the landscape of Britain

Countryside magazine featuring the people and wildlife that shape the landscape of the British Isles

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Open Country: Canna

Canna

BBC Radio 4 - Open Country, Canna

Fiona Mackenzie on the history, music and landscape of the Isle of Canna in the Hebrides.

Canna, in the Western Isles, is four miles long and one mile wide with a current population of just 14. But as Fiona Mackenzie reveals, it's rich in landscapes, history and music.

Canna is four miles long and one mile wide.  It has no doctor and the primary school closed a few years ago. The islanders depend on a weekly ferry service for post, food and medical supplies. Fiona Mackenzie and her husband, Donald, have lived on the island for six years. Donald is the harbourmaster and Fiona is the archivist for the priceless collection of Gaelic music, photographs and literature stored in Canna House.  She's also an accomplished folk singer - the ideal guide for an Open Country visit to the island. 

The folklorist and Gaelic scholar, John Lorne Campbell, bought the island in the 1950s.  His family was part of Scotland's landed gentry, but he was opposed to sporting estates and absentee landlords and wanted to develop Canna as a flourishing, Gaelic-speaking community. He lived in the island's Big House with his wife, Margaret Fay Shaw - a Gaelic song collector.  Canna House became a bohemian Hebridean retreat with a constant flow of colourful visitors including Compton Mackenzie, the author of Whiskey Galore. Campbell's vision for Canna never fully materialised and he gave the island and its archive to the National Trust for Scotland in 1981. It is run as a sheep and moor farm and has a population of just 14.
 
As well as her archive work, Fiona Mackenzie gives visitors impromptu history and nature walks.  She and Fiona Hutton, owner of the island's only guesthouse, take the listeners on a tour of some of the island's sights of historic interest. Fiona and her neighbours also discuss the rewards and challenges of living in a small island community, particularly during the Covid lockdowns. 

Down at the shoreline, she  finishes the programme with a treat for the listener,  a  'Song for Attracting Seals' – .and she promises it does work!

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