Inspired by Scandinavian detective novels, like the Wallandar series by Swedish author Henning Mankell, Scottish fans are increasingly hutting: spending time in remote huts in the countryside that overlook lakes and beaches or in forest clearings. The huts typically have no electricity or plumbing.
Hutting supporters say that it promotes low-impact, ecological living and rural regeneration. While hutting is a traditional activity in Scandinavia and Scotland, it's popularity has decreased in recent years. The Scottish campaign A Thousand Huts is lobbying to make hutting easier and centers "around the idea of the hut as a place, an experience, an endeavour, an ideal for all to enjoy." The communities of hutters in the Scottish countryside sound like they have a great time. Is this best left to Nordic detectives or an appealing vacation idea?
Read More: Scottish campaigners set out to revive hutting in 2012 | The Guardian
(Images: Murdo MacLeod forThe Guardian); thousandhuts.org
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My wife and I go yurting in Oregon often. It's basically the same thing, except in a yurt. And quite a good time.
I'm all for living in a small house, just don't ask me to live without lights and modern plumbing!!!
So, Scots are increasingly hutting - even as its popularity simultaneously decreases.
Sounds like fun, but would I be joining a hot trend... or trying to save a dying tradition? : )~
My grandparents were hutters. They called it "being poor."
Somehow, I am intrigued to see how long I could last under those conditions. Although I am a bit skeptical of the overall impact this has, I give these folks kudos for at least trying to pitch in for the cause. Every little bit helps!!!!
yes I think the huts well predated Scandanavian crime novels... generally living in huts is not a lifestyle choice more an encomic one. A perilous one I seem to remember a group of huts in a long legal battle with a landowner or local authority in Stirling. I live in the capital so no direct experience of them. Beachhuts are also common nearby Bellhaven but normally they have stipulations that you cannot sleep in them.
I guess my family vacation home would be a hut. We have a little island on a big lake and it has one small house and a chicken coop converted to a 'guest house'. There is no plumbing and no electricity. In the summer, it's actually quite comfortable living. We bathe in the lake, and lie around on old furniture and read and talk. We eat very simply, often barbecuing.
It's rather idyllic, and offered the opportunity to do it in Scotland or Scandinavia I'd jump at the chance.
I forgot to say that I think I could live that simply all the time, assuming I could figure out how to stay warm and fed in winter.