THERE GOES CRAUFURDLAND

This is a story of friendship and loyalty, part of the fascinating history of the Craufurds of Ayrshire, who date their title back two thousand years. Very little of this is in the public domain, and so I pored through boxes of letters and manuscripts to find the nuggets of information that could be translated into a dramatic piece.

Researching parts of their story, I felt as though I were carrying out an investigation. The golden nugget turned out to be the handwritten diary of Janet Houison Craufurd. Her accounts of everyday life, and of the renovations to the then ruined castle were written in the early nineteenth century. Janet’s voice, gentle, humorous and determined, demanded to be heard as part of this audio play.

Sometimes that happens: I intend to write a story whose outlines I think I have, only to find that other voices intrude, insist and sometimes take over completely.

There Goes Craufurdland became two stories, woven together, inextricably linked across the generations. David Simpson’s original composition for the play deserves to be heard in its entirety, combining as it does the times and personalities of the key players,

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