Peace, perfect peace

Kat Hill on a history of bothies providing shelter from the storm

Many bothies are maintained by volunteers from the Mountain Bothies Association (MBA), a charity that looks after 97 bothies in Scotland, the north of England, and Wales

In late August 1939, as war loomed, Edwin Law and Doug McGregor spent a peaceful night in Corrour bothy in the Cairngorms. Reading by oil lamp, they listened to the sighing wind and a squeaking mouse. Sharing the space with two others from Aberdeen and Dundee, for a moment they revelled in the carefree world of the mountains, knowing that ‘tomorrow may bring war.’ In his note, Edwin drew a little sketch of a saluting Hitler.

The bothy, a simple shelter that had once been a watchers’ hut, was reclaimed by hikers in the early 20th century. It provided refuge from wind and rain, but also respite from the world beyond, a world of threat and conflict. Corrour was a place, just for a moment, of ‘peace, perfect peace.’

Bothies are free, unlocked and unbookable basic shelters in wild landscapes dotted across the UK. Most are in Scotland but there are many in Wales and northern England, and a large proportion are maintained by a charity called the Mountain Bothies Association, founded in 1965.

We may not always need escape from a looming global war in bothies, but these buildings speak to our desire to step away for a while from the world around us and to seek quiet, enjoyment, adventure and a sense of freedom in the hills.

In an age where the cult of self-interested individualism, ever-accelerating technological innovation and the power of money seem to reign supreme, bothies can represent something different. These free and simple dwellings, looked after by their users and the volunteer custodians who maintain them, embody communal care for places and for others, a love of landscapes and a sense of the ‘good life’ rooted in simplicity and the outdoors.