1000 huts ! - interesting bothy news !

[Trail-rat]

I had a quick look and couldnt see this covered previously...

Possibly totally infactual based on the fact its in the express but anyone got any insider info ?
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/619498 ... om-bothies

Not sure i like the idea of single family use huts ..... but well sited bothies cant be a bad thing .

[Bearbonesnorm]

I'm reading this as, these will be 'private' huts and not open to the public at large?

He explained that bothies were designed for communal use by mountaineers and hikers, while a hut would be a "modest structure" owned by one family.

Mr McPhillimy added. "They are similar to caravans, you would maybe go for a couple of weeks in the summer and a few weekends in the spring and autumn.

"People would maybe club together to buy the land for a hut or the land could be rented from private, public or community owners. Huts have always had to conform to the building standards for a house, so we are saying they should be much less arduous and light-touch."

[johnnystorm]

That's how I read it as well, if you want to build your family a weekend cabin you'll be able to do so more easily.

[whitestone]

I've always thought of bothies as "organic" in that their use has evolved over time from their original purpose, their current usage just happens to be aligned with leisure activities. I'm not aware of many bothies that have been explicitly "designed for communal use by mountaineers and hikers" - the Lewis sea cliff bothy being one. The biggest obstacle to any would-be "hutter" would be purchasing/renting the land on which to build a hut. The pressure group mentioned - "A Thousand Huts" http://www.thousandhuts.org/ would appear to be allied or part of the reforesting Scotland campaign so whether the huts would be within forested areas is unclear. Hmm - more reading while I wait for a couple of tonnes of logs to be delivered Maybe a reinstatement of bothies that have fallen in to disrepair rather than new buildings in new locations. They were built for a reason and tend to have reasonable access.

Part of the (current) attraction of the existing bothy network is that their relative rarity means that they are somewhat self-selecting and that the "wilderness" is preserved. A bit elitist maybe but plonking a network of a thousand huts throughout the highlands (which equates to an average of two or three per glen) does strike me as neutering the very thing you'd head there to experience. I suspect that many, if not most, of the huts would be built relatively close to the road, by a loch side or overlooking a loch to provide the owners with their own shortbread tin cover view.

I thought that in the Norwegian system whilst the huts are owned by individual families/communities they are open to all - http://www.norwayhut2hut.com/All_about_huts.html - indicates that they are locked by a padlock with a standard key.

Edit: Just been reading through a 2000 Scottish government report http://www.gov.scot/Resource/Doc/156526/0042031.pdf linked to from the 1000 huts site - they identified around 630 huts already but from the tables it seems that the vast majority of these are on large sites of 10 or more dwellings.

[Dainiusd]

17.5K£ for a bothy?? I guess it's 90% labour cost :)

[ScotRoutes]

There are a few areas where these huts already exist. Carbeth (on the WHW) is one of the most well known http://www.carbethhutters.co.uk/ . There are others near Peebles and Carlops in the Scottish Borders. They aren't what most folk on here would term as bothies - I don't know where that term has been appropriated. I suspect we'll see similar small groups of huts on assigned ground rather than a spread of them in remote glens.

[summittoppler]

Word on the street (FB) is that there is going to be a new bothy opening up here in North Wales. No other details regarding location, watch this space I suppose............

[Bearbonesnorm]

Word on the street (FB) is that there is going to be a new bothy opening up here in North Wales. No other details regarding location, watch this space I suppose............

More southern Snowdonia than North ... near the sea though, so handy for the chippy

[fatbikephil]

The hutting thing is a variation on what happens in Sweden I believe - designed to encourage city dwellers to get out into (and respect) the countryside.

I quite fancy a wee garden shed plonked somewhere in, say Glen Gairn or upper glen avon maybe??

[Farawayvisions]

I always feel a little bit jealous when I read stories and see pictures of you lot in bothies because I've never stayed in a bothy. I'm not I've even sure I've seen one. So I said to Dan one time, let's find a bothy near us, down here in Hampshire. So off I went a googling to find out what's here.

Now, I know there are jokes about southerners being soft. So before anyone casts judgement, we live in the south, but neither of us hail from this part of the world.

Well it turns out that my closest 'Bothy' provides a welcome basket (wine, smoked salmon, eggs, crusty bread). I kid you not.

Bothies in Hampshire are self-catering places that have no similarity to any bothies I've seen on this forum.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Not all bothies are official, you won't find them by typing something into Google. You need to invest some time but the rewards are well worth it.

http://bearbonesbikepacking.blogspot.co ... tting.html

[Farawayvisions]

Not all bothies are official, you won't find them by typing something into Google. You need to invest some time but the rewards are well worth it.

And I have indeed done as you suggest and found one by accident last weekend. I plan a visit this weekend.

[voodoo_simon]

There's also an app* for finding bothies, perfect for that mini adventure**

*just to annoy the purists
**only said to annoy Stu

[Bearbonesnorm]

There's also an app* for finding bothies, perfect for that mini adventure**

Ah yes, however I believe it only includes MBA bothies.