From the archive
3 Sep 2026
At a confluence of rivers in Galloway, on land the group describes simply as ex-forestry, a small band is trying to bring back the Scottish hut. The Friends of the Hutters are at the very beginning - the project listing dates itself to 2026 - and what exists so far is a site inside the Galloway Dark Skies park, an off-grid arrangement, compost toilets, and the start of a forest garden.
The compost toilets matter because they are real. So is the forest garden, and the off-grid setup that means the site runs without mains anything. These are the first, unglamorous things a piece of rough ground needs before anyone can stay on it, and they are in. Beyond that, the listing offers volunteering, courses and woodland management work, with visits by arrangement through the group's Facebook page - which suggests the site is meant to be made by many hands rather than bought finished.
The group calls itself a revival of Scottish hutting, and for its statement of intent it borrows a Wendell Berry poem about a ruined place slowly renewed by people who stay, ending on the line that its hardship is its possibility. The poem is the most finished thing they have published. The practical record is thin - no hut count, no acreage - because there is not much yet to report. The honest state of it is: a piece of land, a working toilet, a young forest garden, and a poem.
If you want to see how a hut site gets started, this one takes volunteers and runs courses, with visits arranged through its Facebook group. If you want to start one, the listing shows the order of work: secure rough ground first, then get compost toilets and an off-grid water and power arrangement in before anything people might sleep in.
Permaculture Association · Read the source