Sutherland is one of the most ruggedly beautiful & sparsely populated parts of Scotl&. In the nineteenth century the Duke of Sutherland set about improving his landholdings to make them more productive by building lodges for sporting tenants who came to enjoy the summer fishing & shooting grouse & deer. In the 1870s some 3 000 acres of land were reclaimed at Shinness. A lodge was built there in 1882 & allocated some 2 500 acres of moorland for grouse & grazing together with the fishings on Loch Shin & its rivers. One of the first keepers at the estate was John Fraser. His daughter Iby became a teacher at Lairg School. In the 1970s long after the Fletcher family had taken on Shinness Estate Iby wrote down some recollections of her early life for Mrs Fletchers interest.