Peter speaks to the author and researcher Kat Hill about bothies and what they can teach us about histories of dwelling and place. Kat is the author of Bothy: In Search of Simple Shelter, published in 2024 by William Collins.

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(00:58) Who is Kat Hill?

(04:03) What is a bothy?

(05:08) How did your interest in bothies begin?

(09:18) What happens to old bothy guestbooks?

(11:16) When did you decide to write a book about bothies?

(14:08) What was the development of the book like? 

(16:21) Why did you choose the title?

(18:42) How did bothies open a space for you to better understand yourself?

(23:58) What is it that defines a bothy?

(26:22) When we emphasise a bothy as a place of retreat what kind of meaning is being lost?

(28:59) What can the military history of Cape Wrath tell us about the meaning of wilderness?

(34:00) How can bothies help guide us through the environmental questions of our age?

(38:49) What can bothies tell us about what it means to dwell?

(44:06) How can bothies help inform new architectural models?

(53:20)  Sandy, the Cape Wrath Hermit of Strathchailleach Bothy

(57:18) How can bothies open up the skies for us?