I'm not sure about anyone else but I'm still finding the world outside our walls a strange place. In rural Angus everything looks the same, farming continues around us, the horses need mucked out and the dogs need walked, and our one year old Munro still runs wild oblivious to what`s going on.
It seems so far removed from the city and the ever increasing numbers of people and families suffering and front line support workers working tirelessly to care and support.
For us I'm calling it a "pause", a chance to stop, think, rethink and plan for a life after lockdown, whatever that looks like. I think that`s all we can do as otherwise the unknown becomes too scary.
My instincts when we moved to lockdown were matriarchal, and I had an overwhelming sense of responsibility to protect my team and make sure they were paid and safe. Whatever happens we have to protect both the health of the business and its people and I had waves of responsibility, fear and resentment. Things were going so well and we had such exciting plans for this year, we didn’t have time to stop.
That’s when you stop to pause...we were moving so fast as busy mums with work, events, family and activities that I wonder what it would have taken for entire countries to stop. Putting families and communities first, appreciating life, nature and the little things that make us human.
That’s what I think I had forgotten and, although I sing and tell stories of the Bothy days and a simple way of life, it didn’t feel current or real till now. In our Bothy Tales room at The Bothy Experience we hear stories of rationing and make do and mend and I can`t help but wonder if we will look back at this pause and remember when you learned to knit or finally made your grannies recipes.
A Bothy, known as an iconic symbol on our Scottish hillside, is solid and strong and offers shelter to many a hill walker. We refer to often as a home in the hills. It is home that we all find ourselves in now and it got us thinking about how to bring a bit of Bothy culture to homes throughout Scotland.
We used to use alcohol, music and company to make life better in days of old, well nothing has really changed has it!
That’s why each Friday we want to bring you Bothy At Home. At 8pm each week our talented bothy quine Amy will bring you one of our artisan gin creations and some inspiration on how to drink it.
Stay connected with us through this challenging time on social media and join Amy on Friday for our first Bothy night in via YouTube.
Thank you to our online customers who have continued to support us and sent their friends and family gin gift boxes to share we really appreciate it.
We have always supported national charities like the Woodland Trust, and as a team we can't imagine not having a safe place, a shelter, a home maybe not in the hills but wherever that needs to be. So for every bottle sold we will make a donation to the UK charity Shelter and hopefully make a difference in our own wee way.
Stay safe and look after each other,
Kim
Kim Cameron, Gin Bothy Founder