A crofter’s diary
Bressay’s Chris Dyer is a jack of all trades, turning his hand not only to native and heritage breeds crofting, but to professional archaeology, retained firefighting and more, finds Rosie Morton
If ever you feel your schedule is overwhelmingly busy, just look at Chris Dyer’s diary. Part heritage breeds crofter, part professional archaeologist, part retained firefighter, part drystone waller and full-time family man, this Bressay-based crofter has an unfathomably dizzying number of plates spinning. But for Chris, it’s all in a day’s work.
‘The reason there are so many things up in the air is because I have enjoyment and take stimulation from all of them – otherwise I wouldn’t be doing them,’ Chris tells me, explaining that the only ‘given’ each day is feeding the animals on his croft. The rest can be as changeable as the Shetland wind.
To Chris, Garths Croft Bressay – a sustainable agricultural holding that he and his wife bought back in 2014 – is now very much his home. But life on this small island, which is a short ferry hop away from Lerwick on the east side of the beautiful Shetland archipelago, is a far cry from his roots. Indeed, Chris hails originally from Hitchin, a small market town which lies just 25 miles north of London.
Although he now tends to a flock of native sheep, keeps poultry, has bred Saddleback, Tamworth and Iron Age pigs, and produces 80-90% of his own food (with the exception of bread and dairy), Chris admits that learning to run a croft was a baptism of fire.
‘I don’t have a drop of agricultural blood in my body,’ says Chris, who has now diversified the croft into a visitor experience, giving tourists an insight into island life while teaching them about the rich history of Shetland’s landscape. ‘I am very open and honest about how life has gone with the croft and the diversification of things here. I always say to people that I have chosen to do this, and I listen and learn, but I am very suburban by birth and by upbringing.’
The decision to raise heritage and native breeds on Garths Croft Bressay directly stems from Chris’ professional background as an historian and archaeologist, and from his keen interest in the past. He has not one, but two degrees in history and archaeology
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This Bressaybased crofter has an unfathomably dizzying number of plates spinning
from the University of Hull, is an accredited member of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (ACIFA) and has worked as a professional archaeologist for more than 20 years. ‘I find it fascinating that in the Shetland breed of sheep, there are over 50 colourings of that one breed,’ he says. Chris hopes to retain and enhance these traditional markings, all of which have names that derive from a Viking or Norse word. ‘You get things like katmoget, moorit and flecket sheep,’ says Chris. ‘A flecket Shetland sheep derives from the old Norse f lekr, which means speckled or spotted.’
It was this passion for history that led Chris to move to Shetland in the first place. Despite never having been to the island, he upped sticks in 2006, leaving a job in Yorkshire for the role of Deputy Regional Archaeologist for the Shetland Museum. He stayed in this post for 17 years, but now works as a heritage consultant and tour guide, carrying out archaeological surveys on the likes of Foula (the UK’S most remote inhabited island) and taking visitors to see Iron Age brochs, Pictish stones, Viking longhouses and early Christian chapel sites that are scattered around the archipelago.
‘The best way you can describe the Shetland islands is that it is a canvas – a tapestry. You can stand on top of any hillside and toggle off
different chronological eras in your mind’s eye,’ says Chris. ‘You have the good fortune within the Shetland islands that effectively – as a small group of rocks – it has attracted settlement for 6,000 years, as has the vast majority of the UK. But the crucial difference within the Shetland islands is the absence of urban conurbations and trees, meaning that for 6,000 years people have built in stone. And with the nature of agriculture being largely upland grazing rather than intensive and arable, these structures survive.’
Chris isn’t just working to protect and promote Shetland’s extraordinary heritage sites though; he is also leaving a lasting legacy of his own. To date, he has hand-built over 500 tons of drystone dykes (a skill he taught himself) to provide shelter to woodland, protect livestock and create an environment in which nature can thrive. Whether it’s fixing up walls that have blown down in high winds or building new ones from scratch, he is regularly contracted by locals to carry out this painstaking work.
As if that wasn’t enough, Chris is also a retained firefighter for Shetland, working as part of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, and can be called out to anything from local road traffic accidents to fires or floods. Explaining his motivations to take on this particular role, Chris says: ‘As someone who is the very definition of an “incomer”, I felt that it was a good way to give something back.’
On top of that Chris is a father, and works for Shetland Livestock Marketing Group, a role which requires him to organise the movement of livestock once they have been sold at market. During the summer, Chris also gives lectures onboard visiting cruise ships, sharing his military history knowledge with passengers. Quite how Chris keeps track of his diary remains a mystery, but he maintains that variety is the spice of life.
‘I remember last summer when I had a call quite late at night from a fella in the island. A tractor had driven too close to his stone wall and it had fallen down, and it needed to be repaired ASAP. I had mud smeared on my face trying to get this wall built.
‘By teatime I was James Bond-smart, aboard this super-duper cruise ship, giving a lecture on the military heritage of Shetland. The contrast of guddling about in the mud, up to your oxters in slester, then delivering professional content – that’s it in a nutshell.’
To find out more about Garths Croft Bressay, you can follow Chris on Instagram @garthscroftbressay or visit www.garthscroftbressay.com
“Quite how Chris keeps tracks of his diary remains a mystery, but he maintains that variety is the spice of life