Rural Scotland is a charged landscape, alive with history, soaked in myth and often rather sublime. For those of us living an urban existence, the countryside is a retreat for refuge and decompression, but it is also a place where infrastructures strain to reach and in which livings must be made. The countryside is resistant to easy explanation and is thus vulnerable to stereotyping. The nine building stories told in this book show how rural households and communities define themselves, and the role architecture plays in this.

Illustrated with beautiful photography and drawings, the projects, from affordable housing on the islands to exquisite renovations of traditional agricultural stock, and all recognised by the Saltire Society’s Housing Design Awards, are visually rich both in themselves and the contexts in which they sit. The houses are set firmly within historic, economic and social contexts and are much more than bolt holes from the urban. Some of our buildings are active participants in rural regeneration and others reflect, in a profound way, what authenticity really means in the countryside. Like architecture everywhere, they present a mirror to a society’s preoccupations and values. However, this is a book too about architecture’s capacity to inspire and endlessly delight.