As Darren Wright walks along the quiet roads around his Argyll village, it's with a lifetime spent living in rural Scotland under his belt, and years of explaining his English accent behind him.

The 56-year-old has lived in communities from Crieff to Fraserburgh and Pitlochry to Banff since his family moved north from Kent when he was seven.

Kilmartin, where he now lives and Dunbeg where he sometimes works, are latest stops in a life almost entirely shaped by Scotland’s rural communities and its countryside roads.

But in this corner of Argyll, the challenges that he and partner Lucy Oliver, 47, have encountered in their quest for a quiet life, are becoming impossible to ignore.

From healthcare that lies hours away to wafer-thin support services and the occasional jibes from locals

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