Sorry to Bothy You- Scotland and the Love of the Hut
Sorry to Bothy You-
Scotland and the Love of the Hut
It’s been a while since I went sufficiently off grid to need to stay the night in a bothy, which is usually a hut but can be a small isolated house, but I can tell you that after the end of a day of long walking and little shelter from even a nice Scottish summer’s day then that bothy is so welcome. They don’t have facilities, but some pretend to have them. The wags who look after them often glue on a light switch for the uninitiated which fools the lowlanders or outsiders into looking for the mains switch when the lights don’t work. Norman MacCaig, Dylan Thomas and Arthur Miller had one of their own and Virginia Woolf wrote her last words in one. That’s a shed load of talent. They are even celebrated in the Broons comic strip.
The Rural Dream Comes True
And now they are on the comeback after a period of decline across the nation, as the Scottish government signalled that later this month it will change legislation to exempt huts from building regulations subject to planning permission so that it will allow people to put up a bothy wherever they can rent or buy a plot of suitable land. Indeed there is a campaign for a Thousand Huts which has attracted interest from people all over Scotland. The cost of building these after planning permission can be as little as £200 for a simple self build from scavenged materials to £15,000 for a top of the line job. Of course with off gridding becoming ever more popular, it’s the practice of roaming the distant countryside miles away from others and a phone signal, there is pressure on bothies. Once they were a well kept secret but since the publication of all the publically available bothies in 2009 the more ardent tourists have been using them like crazy following the Cape Wrath Trail or the West Highland Way, The Mountain Bothies Association (MBA) is a charity made up of volunteers who maintain more than 100 remote shelters across the three nations. The MBA has 83 shelters in Scotland. There is also a project with the Forestry Commission, on Scotland’s east coast to create bothies and there is a community of hutters in Carbeth. They started their hutting in 1918. Now it seems hutting will once again be something within reach of most pockets among those with a lust for the great outdoors, but wanting a roof over their heads at night.
Shed Loads of Gifts
Now what we have is shed loads of ideas and experience in providing our deeply valued customers with cracking gift ideas that will suit their taste and your pocket. They are all of good quality and in many cases these gifts will become instant heirlooms to be treasured for many years. If you are being a tiny bit careful with the pennies, wonderful thing thrift, you could try the Highland Cow range which starts at a tenner and goes to a dizzying twenty quid, or if it is a special person or a special anniversary then we have stuff that will cheer up your cheque book but delight the receiver for many a day, like the Flower of Scotland 4 Large Crystal Tumblers in a presentation box and at a handy half price. Please any best man that would. Might even temper the stories in the best man’s speech.
