The Art of Coorie Quotes

“The current generation of huts might help creative folk focus on making new work but the bothy's original function was more egalitarian.
It wanted to offer shelter in remote Scottish locations for walkers and climbers, the idea being that if hikers made the sacrifice to explore extreme locations they should be rewarded by basic accommodation that was free of charge.
The concept was rolled out across the country and aroused a new kind of generosity among landowners.
More than a hundred of these shelters are provided by estate owners on the proviso they are left clean and undamaged.
"Bothying" came about as agricultural methods changed and farmsteads were increasingly abandoned.
During the 1940s the idea of leisure was shifting as it began to mean roaming in the hills and countryside.
Walkers looked for shelter on their meanderings and these small buildings did the trick.
All share the same unique highlight: they are sited within some of the most breath-taking scenery that rural Scotland has to offer.
To come across a bothy is the closest experience Scotland has to a palm tree dotted island mirage after hours stranded out at sea.
With one slight difference: this vision is real.”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“Being a tourist in your own country opens up parts of Scotland we never knew existed.”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“Art is the Flower. Life is the Green Leaf.”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“Coorie camping is about leaving your expensive devices at home and feeling like a wildling for the weekend.
It's about taking turns to fetch water, boiling it and doling out cups of tea.
What feels like a chore at home becomes fun on a camping trip.
Decorate your tent with forest treasures until it looks like a woodland grotto and share memory games played in childhood with adult friends.
There is also the chance to get really good at making campfires.
Fire is our oldest and most ensuring form of heat and energy.
Is it any wonder it's so important to our coorie experience?”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“Everyone needs a space in which they can hide from the world.
But it's not always easy to have one in your house.
The ideal scenario is to have a room away from the main thoroughfare of a home - and that's where a garden room comes in handy.”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“Humans + fire + food = happiness”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“Coorie believes in looking out for ways to make the most of what's around us, creating coorie on the cheap is easy.
An added bonus of many of these coorie activities is that they force us to slow down and ask deeper questions about where we are going and where we have been.
They also encourage collaboration, whether that's spending time with our nieces and nephews baking cakes, taking our dogs for a walk, combing the beach for shells or chatting to older generations about the history of our country.
There are countless ways to embody coorie into your days at work, days off, nights in the city and nights out in the wild.”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“William Morris, " Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“Coorie interiors are ones that lift the spirits.
Sterile or overly cluttered spaces aren't very coorie because they don't make us want to spend time there with the people we love.”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“A coorie home is one that both looks and feels good.
A squishy couch and a favourite mug filled with a steaming cup of tea can brighten the edges of even the most miserable day.
There must be a psychological reason behind why we get attached to certain items in our homes, whether it's dad's armchair with its alarmingly permanent bum groove or a wooden spoon with just the right shaped handle.
Answers on a postcard, please.”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“Food wasn't just there to fill us up.
It was a conversation starter to block unsure silences and feel grateful for.
Life doesn't get coorier than that.”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“It's the combination of country air and no phone reception that does it for me.
If I want to stay inside my lochside cabin cooried in on a dreich day with a trashy magazine there's no stopping me.
The same goes for getting up early, pulling back the curtains and feeling the morning rays on my face.
Then it might be the perfect opportunity for hill running - either observing or taking part.”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“It shows that the hangover is a chance for men and women of any background to bond, a universal language that has survived the test of time like a relic.”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“Is there any other place where a more vibrant palette of human behaviour can be observed than the Scottish pub?
Our drinking holes are social spaces, shelters and, with the rise of flexible working and free WiFi, informal offices.
The pub is a courtroom, a therapist's clinic, a place to let socks dry out after an arduous day orienteering.
Relationships begin and end in its confines.
Pub dogs become celebrities.
If we run with the myth that there are languages with fifty words for snow, Scots could match that with their own terms related to the act of drinking.”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“Golden eagles soar through the skies during the day but when the sun dips below the waterline it's time to coorie down for nature's luminous attractions.”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“Coorie Tip: For a cosy light source guaranteed to withstand rain, buy battery operated fairy lights or frosted mini bulb string lights.
Wind them around your hand until they're tightly coiled then wedge into a mason jar before sealing the lid shut.
The result is a waterproof lamp worthy of a fairy glen.”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“Coorie camping gives life to experimentation.
Recipes cobbled together with what's left in our packs are part of the fun.
Have you ever eaten a griddled cheese toastie in the woods for breakfast?
The excitement is in the preparation; someone firing up the kettle for a round of coffees, someone else getting the table (an upturned log) ready while the chef eases the sandwiches over, molten goo seeping from the sides and filling the air with the smell of roasted cheese.
The radio might be on low, but more likely everyone is waking up slowly, listening to the sounds of the woods and working together to create a greater good.
It's not what you'd eat at home.
Any sense of a schedule is left behind and the experience is richer for it.
Told you a griddle pan was the key to happiness.”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“Coorie gardens all have a place that encourages reflection and peacefulness.”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“In the daytime, set to work creating your coorie camp.
At night, it's time to appreciate it.
Technology has little place in coorie camping: this is a chance to chat properly, about ourselves, the universe and everything in between.
A bottle of whiskey may give way to the suggestion of skinny-dipping. I hear that's fun.”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“All hail outdoorsy types.
Where would we be without them encouraging us up mountains or wheedling until we cave in and head into the wilderness with a sleeping bag on our back?
Camping - and its chi-chi cousin, glamping - lends itself perfectly to coorie.
Scotland's legal framework does, too: unlike England and Wales, where walkers must stay within set boundaries of the countryside, we can wander at whim.
The same rights apply to sleeping overnight, which makes wild camping one of the most treasured aspects to roaming in Scotland.
Hikers are safe in the knowledge that as long as they have a sensible tent and respect their surroundings, there is nothing to limit them.
Come nightfall the adventure is far from over.
In fact, a new one has just begun.”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“No matter why we find ourselves in a city, human needs will always shine through.
We all seek time with other people and by ourselves.
Places to go to learn and be inspired.
To find coorie reference points we just need to look with fresh eyes at the same streets we've walked down hundreds of times.
Once we've learned to recognise coorie hallmarks, the only map we need is ourselves.”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“Those who come to lose themselves in the musty romance of a second-hand bookshop can forget their worries for a few hours as they pore over unexpected gems found on the shelves.”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“Coorie city places encourage new experiences.
Their confines allow us to connect with our friends amid a mass of people passing in and out of the city limits.
Every Scottish city is a product of the people who live in it and how each residents chooses to express themselves.
Its coorie spaces offer distraction from the everyday drudgery of life.”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“There are few finer sights than morning sunlight on sandstone tenements.”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“What's striking about the city as a construct is how it functions as a prism through which we contemplate our own identity and goals.
The pubs or places of worship we spend time in reflect our own internal architecture and one person's lived experience of a city can wildly oppose the next's.
This makes conversations about coorie in the city all the more interesting.
Coorie streets full of bustle might not always be beautiful but there is always the potential to polish what is there.
Life in a Scottish city can feel like a constant grapple between what's best for us and what we desire.”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“It's easy to think if coorie as an exclusively country pursuit.
City neighbourhoods are governed by factors that challenge the principles of coorie, such as restrictions on log burning stoves and planning bodies putting their foot down when it comes to leftfield ideas.
Yet this hasn't diminished the aspirations of urban Scots determined to create and savour coorie in the best ways they can.”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“I remember being coorie at my gran's house next to her and my granda on the sofa but now it's something I like to do with my dog.”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“One of the highlights of exploring the Scottish wilderness is spotting buildings that punctuate the landscape.
They can be as humble as a doocot, as intriguing as an abandoned farmstead or as imposing as a ruined Palladian mansion.
Each one will give clues to the people who have lived on and worked the land.”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“Waking up in a hut clarifies our relationship to the land around us.
The things we think are essential to living melt away and less complicated ideas take their place.
All we really need is fire, a place to wash, a desk to draw or form or think.
Somewhere to capture a new view of the world and somewhere comfortable to sleep.”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“The place bewitched me.
You could spend weeks here, I realised, and it still wouldn't feel long enough.
It was a Narnia moment: the door opening to a place that felt like an adventure playground for adults.
Pull open the door, tip your head back and watch for shooting stars on an August night.”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way