‘Time-traveller who lets moss grow under his feet.’
Scotland on Sunday 30 Sept 2018
‘Romance in the soil – Crawford conveys a vital truth: that a sophisticated knowledge of peatlands is crucial if we are to understand the complex relationship between people and place.’
Herald on Sunday 23 Sept 2018
‘Crawford makes the simple rhythms of cutting, stacking and burning peat sound deeply, spiritually satisfying…[he] makes you yearn for a sip of golden whisky whose barley malt has been smoked over a rich, peaty fire.’
Daily Mail 28 Sept 2018
‘Where I’d see only monotony and what Ted Hughes called “the empty horror of the moor”, he would be highlighting its hidden biodiversity, tracking down Lewis legends of moor-related watercourses, bogeymen and murderers, or earnestly recording variations in peat-stacking. The peatlands cover 13 per cent of Scotland, and what makes them special to Crawford is that they are a slowly deepening link to our past. Each year, another millimetre of sphagnum moss decays into peat, so a metre of the brown stuff can measure out a millennium. ‘
The Scotsman 4 Oct 2018
‘Cutting back the layers reveals a fascinating link with age-old fuel. From ancient rituals to its association with whisky, peat continues to have a historical and cultural importance in the Scottish way of life.’
The Sunday Post 23 Sept 201
Robin A Crawford 