A bothy is a basic shelter, usually left unlocked and available for anyone to use free of charge. It was also a term for basic accommodation, usually for gardeners or other workers on an estate. Bothies are found in remote mountainous areas of Scotland, Northern England, Ulster and Wales. They are particularly common in the Scottish Highlands, but related buildings can be found around the world. A bothy was also a semi-legal drinking den on the Isle of Lewis. These, such as Bothan Eòrapaidh, were used until recent years as gathering points for local men and were often situated in an old hut or caravan.
Lairig Leacach Bothy, Lochaber, Scotland
The Bothy Code, seen at the 'Tarf Hotel' Bothy, Perth and Kinross
The interior of the gardener's bothy at Audley End House
A wilderness hut, bothy, backcountry hut, or backcountry shelter is a free, primitive mountain hut for temporary accommodation, usually located in wilderness areas, national parks and along backpacking and hiking routes. They are found in many parts of the world, such as Finland, Sweden, Norway, northern Russia, the Alps, the Pyrenees, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States. Huts are basic and unmanned, without running water.
Back country hut in the Haast River valley of the West Coast region of New Zealand
Lairig Leacach Bothy, Lochaber, Scotland
Biwakschachtel, or bivouac box. The Birkkarhütte at 2635m near the Birkkarspitze (2,749 metres), the highest peak in the Karwendel Mountains, Austrian Tyrol
A lean-to at Black Pond, Keese Mill, New York