Kirsty joined the cast in the seventh and final series and played the part of local shepherdess Iona MacLean.

Having had her croft accidentally burnt down by laird Paul Bowman, she is forced to move into Glenbogle house with her dog and what few possessions she had left.

The MacDonald’s are an eccentric group of people and Iona finds her new circumstances a bit intimidating. The household is in financial turmoil and Paul is constantly thinking of new projects in an attempt to avoid foreclosure by the bank. It’s not long before Iona becomes involved in such a scheme and she ends up acting as housekeeper to a Russian cosmonaut and his wife, who had come to stay at the house for a shooting holiday.

The relationship between Paul and Iona continues to develop until, by a cruel act of fate, he unwittingly employs a tree surgeon called Malcolm McRae who had previously been engaged to Iona. Unsure of how Paul feels about her, she, once again, agrees to become engaged to Malcolm, even though he’d previously left her standing at the altar.

In the final episode, things look very bleak for Paul. The bank will no longer extend his credit and he’s facing a hostile buyout from Peter Finlay, a man his father had once sacked and who was offering all the crofters their homes for free. On top of that, Malcolm had forced him, in his role as laird, to give Iona away on the day of the wedding.