It takes young families to keep a village alive.

I live in NZ now but grew up on the West Coast of Scotland in a small fishing village until the age of 17. The villages are disappearing because it was a whole way of life, not just people in houses. I'm so, so thankful that I got to experience the childhood I did. Looking back it was utterly magical. The ceilidh's and the fact everyone knew you and parented you a little too if I'm honest!  As a child there was always a 'nosey' adult telling you to behave! 😆 As I headed off to the local high school the school bus would drive around all the other little villages picking up all the kids and what was a 35min car ride was an hour and a half one way in the school bus. Crazy to think I did that every day. The kids would just talk or read during the bus trip each day. When I got home I would have to get in the peat for the fire and feed the dogs. The weekends I'd take off over the hills to get out of the adults way (after the chores were done). My friends and I would walk for hours with the dogs and often end up in someones house with their parents feeding us before sending us back along the road for home. Sweet memories.

Empty houses kept as holiday homes don't make a village. A ghost town isn't a rebirth it's a death sentence.

One  thing you can do to improve your documentary is to mention the place name/show it on a map. It puts everything into perspective. Kudos

The woman at the start was a wee gem could have listened to her all day I bet she's got some stories 😊

"We talked to young people that decided to stay. They have no regrets."

Interviews a 50-year-old woman.

"Are the highland villages disappearing, or are they just being reborn?"

They are disappearing. A place isn't just a place, its those that inhabit it. It's the culture, religion, history, stories, connections, communities.

I lived in Orkney - more remote :-) A holiday or second-home community isn’t the same thing as a functioning village or town.

This alienation has to do with screens, first TV, then destops, smartphones. This virtual life only contains loneliness in the end

My ancestors are from Scotland, they settled in the Falkland Islands. We follow a lot of Scottish traditions, as well as those we have developed over the last two centuries.

5:34 The agitated older gent was literally farting mad 😂😂

Many of the children here in a Highland village just down the road from where you interviewed the local man, are all returning home after uni or other, their quality of life here far better than if they'd stayed away. Also safer for their children. Every trade here is needed ..no different to anywhere else. Many locals have crofts so this land can be decrofted and a part of the croft can be built on, this is free land basically ..if the crofter is of a certain age they can acquire a grant of 30 grand towards building costs. There's no where else in the UK offers this. Many here take advantage of this, here we have several old families with many children who mainly tend to stay, much more so than 30 years ago. Our school is really successful with many local children attending. Maybe speak to some of those who decrofted land and how they are thriving. I look at this area and compare to standard of life in cities and there no doubt the Highlands is difficult to beat!

This is happening everywhere in the UK where you have idyllic countryside villages. I was born in the Lake District, Cumbria where the situation is much worse than the Highlands.

My great grandmother was a Highlander. She was the kindest ol women, that taught me the love of tea, biskets, and strong Scottish accent. She would tell me the stories of horse and wagon, the introduction of automobiles, electricity, and modern appliances through her life. I remember she was in her eighties when home PC's were becoming available. The world had changed so much in her life, but she always had a spark/love when talking about the highlands. As a born Canuck, perhaps one day I'll get there, to see this jewel of Scotland :⁠-⁠)

The beauty of the Scottish Highlands is spectacular and is easily up there with NZ for natural landscapes to visit.

I live in a village in the low highlands and 80% of the houses are holiday homes the village is getting angry

As someone who lives in a village a couple of miles above Loch ness deep in a glen, the isolation you feel is a shear amount, and as a 20 year old its incredibly hard to find work without leaving and heading south towards the central belt and beyond. Now the only work readily available these days in Glens like mine is either croft, Forestry, Village or SSE work. But unfortunately the SSE are getting paid by the Scottish government into turning the isolated Highlands into a canvas to spread the Wind turbines and Battery storage units all over it, so to make it worse, the land will just be scarred with this machinery and eye-sores on top of a aging and dwindling population.
Its incredibly sad to witness first hand and more people outside of the highlands and Scotland in general need to start looking at how this is affecting those of us who are going to have to live with it on the doorstep.

A similar thing is happening in Cornwall with families moving out of London, buying second homes or buying for holiday rentals.

Thank you for doing this video so we can see this beautiful place

As an old soul certainly not belonging to this century, I feel the old world charm on a different level, almost heart achingly 😢 I want traditions and families to stay together and I know this would add to the issue at hand, but I would love to be a part of such place. Breathtakingly beautiful ❤