Life in a Scottish croft is hard, even today. It was essentially a subsistence economy, designed to support life but not to make money. Originally a croft was a piece of land anywhere in Britain, but nowadays the word is usually reserved for Scotland and in particular for the little home built on the land.
   All crofts had stout walls of local stones built in two layers packed with earth between. The roof above was of slabs of peat turf laid like tiles and fixed down with wooden pegs. Over this a thatch of heather or straw was laid, held down by fishing net weighted with boulders.
   Inside a typical croft you may expect to find just two rooms, known as the "butt" and the "ben." The butt is the main living room which huddles over an earthen floor, lit by a small window that doesn't open. The ben is less austere -- there would be a wooden floor, an armchair, and a bed. The whole croft was very much the center of family life and a very close family it was as you can imagine, for there was no privacy.