For 19 years, the Pocock family has lived without connection to the National Grid on a croft at Cougie in Glen Affric, Highlands. They are fiercely proud of their self-sufficient lifestyle, growing their own food and raising livestock including dairy cows, pigs, sheep, geese, ducks, and hens.
Mum Sasha, 36, runs a pony trekking business, while husband Iain, 42, supplements income by gathering and selling scrap metal. Their four children—Sarah, Ryan, Ewan, and Douglas—help with the croft and the 19 horses. However, heating and lighting the crofthouse dominates family life, relying on a diesel generator and a small wind turbine.
When diesel runs low and the wind fails, the family loses power, forcing children to do homework by candlelight and head torches. Iain maintains the generator and turbine, while the children spend cold, wet Saturdays gathering firewood—tonnes needed to keep the house warm in winter.
Ironically, the croft sits near a £600m upgrade of the Beauly to Denny transmission line, which will triple capacity and transmit renewable energy from the Highlands to central Scotland. Sasha says the upgraded line is a blot on the landscape and believes the family should receive help getting mains electricity in return for living with the project.
The family cannot obtain grants for larger turbines or solar panels because funding requires surplus power to be exported to the Grid. Despite the challenges, Sasha says: "We chose to live here. It's a great place to raise a family." The documentary 'Power to the Pococks' airs on BBC Two Scotland on Thursday at 21:00.
