Hutters bug hits hardy souls who want to live a simple life
An emerging band of Scots are choosing to go off-grid and spend time among the trees at weekends, writes Alison Campsie
For some there could be nothing better – a simple shelter in the woods where the strains of modern life fade away.
Now, a new generation of hutters is emerging in Scotland as communities take shape among the trees.
Hutting, long a way of life in Scandinavian countries, is designed to draw people into the countryside to relax and spend time closer to nature. Usually with no electricity or running water, huts are often made comfortable with stoves, candles and, importantly, good design. Composting toilets are the norm.
Next month, a hutters rally will be held in Dundee to bring enthusiasts together with planners and landowners as several key hutting communities – from Dumfries and Galloway to the Highlands and the Central Belt – take shape.
At Carnock Wood in Fife, construction of the first hutting community to be built on former national forest estate, is due to begin in the summer. More than 600 people applied for one of 12 plots with leases and a code of conduct is now being drawn up with the help of Reforesting Scotland.
Meanwhile, planning permission has been granted for 14 huts in a birch wood near Lanark where a Roman camp once stood. Louise Witter, from Aberdeen, bought the 32-acre plot two years ago, partly as an investment and partly as place where an environmentally friendly project could take root.
Ms Witter, the director of a chemical legislation firm, is now in the process of setting up one of Scotland’s latest hutting communities, called The Encampment, in part of the wood.
Hutters will rent the plot from
Ms Witter for between £1,300 and £1,500 a year and then construct their own hut. Planners have already approved a design in three different sizes and it is expected each structure will cost from around £7,500 to build.
However, Ms Witter said she was unaware of the hutting trend at the time she bought the woodland.
She said: “It was the land agent who suggested hutting. I thought ‘what on earth is hutting, people don’t really do this do they?’. I was surprised how many people actually knew about it. Setting up a hut site is not what I set out to do, but it is something that came to me.”
Those who have so far signed up to take a hut at The Encampment come from Edinburgh, East Kilbride and Fife, with teachers and civil servants among them.
“Most people live within an hour’s drive, just far enough away from everyday life, but not too far away,” Ms Witter added.
Each hut at The Encampment will have a wood burning stove and has been designed so it has no electricity or running water.
Ms Witter said: “You are going back to a more natural way of living. You go to bed when it is dark and you get up when it is light. The way I see it, the more technology you have, the more you would be as well staying at home. I really want to minimise technology on the site. I don’t want to turn up and there are 60 inch televisions. I also really want to make sure that we don’t upset the wildlife.”
Badgers, foxes, squirrels and deer live at the Camp Wood site with raptors known to drop by.
Ms Witter, who said the planning process had challenging, is due to build a hut next year but admits she is not sure if the lifestyle is for her. She said: “A bit of me thinks it really is for me but I will have to wait and find out. I think hutting is a bit like Marmite. I think you either absolutely love it or you would rather be at home.”
Reforesting Scotland’s Thousand Huts campaign will host its Hutters Rally in Dundee on February 8 with around 200 hutters and landowners due to gather.
Keynote speakers will present the latest research on hutting with sessions to be held on planning permission, construction and negotiating leases.