"Finding connection in the simple shelter of the bothy."
Over the past few decades the experience of visiting bothies (mostly abandoned farm buildings in remote Scottish areas maintained as shelters for walkers) has gone from an underground, almost cultish activity, to one which is more publicly known and shared by people with a wider variety of reasons to be there. Kat Hill’s Bothy is an exploration of this, offering a heady blend of history, nature writing, and personal reflection.
Hill, a historian with a PhD from the University of Oxford, brings a dose of academic rigour to the world of bothy literature which has previously been more of a scene for folk tales and guidebooks. The result is a profound meditation on the intersections of history, landscape, and human experience.
Staying at a bothy is a very basic experience. There is very little there and it is best approached in the same way as you would a camping trip. You will need all the same stuff, and maybe even your tent if the bothy is full. Inside, there is often a fireplace, rarely a toilet but always a visitor’s book. Hill finds old copies of these stored safely away in various places around the country and sets out to use them as sources from which to piece together events in and around the bothy. Ultimately, she creates a tapestry that is as much about the people who have sought shelter in these remote places as it is about the landscapes themselves.
Her journey starts at a bothy called Cadderlie, tucked away down Glen Etive in Scotland (think Skyfall, but not the big house) and she recounts her first bothy night at Cadderlie with a sense of wonder. This night, as she describes it, became the ignition for her entire project—a perfect bothy experience (it could have gone either way!) that drew her into the world of these shelters and the histories they share.
On nature, Hill’s skills as a writer shine especially brightly. Her descriptions of the living landscape—the mountains, the weather, the wildlife—are vivid and immersive, drawing readers into these wild places. She reflects on the irony of wanting to experience wilderness while also acknowledging that her presence, and the presence of others, inevitably makes them less wild.
Hill’s personal journey was a trigger for the book. Coming off the back of heartbreak, she finds in bothying a form of shelter from something other than bad weather. The bothies become spaces for healing, reflection, and connection—not just with nature, but with herself. She makes the point that she is an outsider to this game, a new bothyer, and not connected with those people who used to live and work in these remote places. But as a historian of course, she is always on the outside looking in, and her training gets her past this barrier. Kat Hill has crafted a beautiful book for anyone interested in Scotland, history, or the simple yet profound experience of seeking shelter in the wild. It’s one for your rucksack.
Join Kat Hill on the London Mountain Podcast, discussing her book Bothy and the exploration of cultural heritage and environmental awareness through bothying.
| Primary Genre | Nature and the natural world: general interest |
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