A traditional peatland song goes- “…the nest of the curlew/ is in the bubbling peat-moss…” 200 years after this Fife moss had been drained I counted fifteen curlews in its peat brown field this afternoon.

‘Big Black Kettle’

Unique, signed and wrapped 1st edition of ‘Into The Peatlands’.

Big Black Kettle

Big Black Kettle, Peat cutter’s spades

Price on request.

Venturing into the peatlands Macbeth encounters the witches. Unique wrapped signed copies of ‘Into The Peatlands’.

MacBeth’s Witches Cauldron

MacBeth’s Witches Moor

Prices on request.

Plastic water lilies in the garden centre… and water lilies in the peatlands.

Blog I wrote for Waterstones can now be found here- https://www.waterstones.com/blog/robin-crawfords-reading-for-the-peatlands 

Peat stack/book stack bibliography for ‘Into The Peatlands’.

It’s a dreich Saturday night, let a dram transport you #IntoThePeatlands @Laphroaig @BirlinnBooks.

On the quagmire bog, between clouds, over a sea of tranquility, a traveller between worlds.

‘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

peat spades. 

The Ballachulish goddess was uncovered by a crofter cutting peat north of Oban. Standing within her woven bower she accepted offerings from those travelling #IntoThePeatlands thousands of years ago. Join me tomorrow @WaterstonesOban at 6:30 to hear more. @BirlinnBooks