Gabriella Bennett > Quotes

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

“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

“Art is the Flower. Life is the Green Leaf.”
― 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

“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

“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

“To me it means to snuggle in or huddle in. Coorie in if the kids are going to bed, and coorie doon if it's cold.”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“Like our homes, a garden is an extension of taste and preference.
It can be a hobby room, a zone for entertaining, a junkyard and a display of creativity.
Somewhere to take a gulp of air or wine - whichever is the most necessary.
The garden also works hard.
It is a place to hang washing, to store equipment, bikes and ladders, to hose down a muddy dog.
Those of us with gardens big enough to execute our visions prove that projects can be born combining many of these elements, sometimes even all.”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way.”
― 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

“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

“In Scotland, you know you're in good company when a friend or family member pats a small space on their couch and invites you to "coorie in". Squashed in next to them, you might not have an awful lot of room but at least you're snug.”
― 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

“Coorie gardens all have a place that encourages reflection and peacefulness.”
― 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

“One of my friends has synaesthesia, a condition where one sense automatically triggers another; in her case it means she sees words as colours.”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“Gardeners with coorie on the brain don't have to look far for inspiration.
An urban jungle can easily be created on a tiny city terrace.
Professional gardeners recommend looking around to see what context your outside space falls within to give you clues on design.
If the spires of a large granite church or leaves of a copper beech tree can be seen close by echo the colours and shapes.”
― 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

“Coorie is like a wee cuddle, either with a person or in a blanket.”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“Coorie is to feel included, warm and cosy. For reading a book together or telling stories. Fire on, as well.”
― 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

“4. Thou shall attempt a staycation, even if thou detests the word staycation.
There are two types of people in the world. Those who will camp, and those who won't.
Those who fall in the former category need little encouragement to pack up their sleeping bag and a Kelly Kettle and head out into the countryside. The ones who wander freely clearing up after themselves can set up a tent anywhere they fancy, as long as they show respect.
This freedom to roam also lends itself well to the coorie movement. Braving the night-time chill around a fire with a furry friend at your feet and a hot chocolate in your hands after a day of toiling to create a coorie campsite is pretty special.
A caravan stay in Aberfeldy is a more realistic option for the extended family than schlepping abroad en masse.
Bonding time between grandparents and wee ones also gives mums and dads the chance for a gin on the banks of the River Tay before sundown.”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“If the best things in life are free, the second-best things cost only a handful of pennies.”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“5. Thou must set the scene with tunes.
Road trips aren't the only time a decent playlist is required.
How we consume music has changed radically over the years.
Dinner at my grandparents' house was set to silence, at my parents' the radio, and at my friends' something much more personal: a playlist put together for the occasion with songs that are meaningful to us.
Supper is on hold until the right music starts to play, even if it means holding a knife and fork and slavering over the smell of dinner until the person in charge of the tunes has done their job.”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“Coorie has long been synonymous with nestling affectionately into a loved one, but only recently has it entered everyday parlance as a way to describe a scene.
One equally warm and comforting where a cosy room lit by a flickering fire provides refuge from the banshee wind and horizontal rain outside.”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“Coorie 1. The Scottish art of of deriving comfort, wellbeing and energy from wild landscapes and convivial interiors.
2. "A hug of a word"
Informal an affectionate nestle into a loved one
See Also the old Gaelic cosagach "snug or cosy”
― Gabriella Bennett, The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way

“Coorie is a way of being that takes in what's around us.”
― 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

“Growing up in the late 1970s, coorie at my gran's house meant to keep warm and cuddle in. No double glazing or duvets then.”
― 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