Carbeth Estate is famous for the green, wooden huts that dot the countryside. Ex-servicemen given plots of land by the then landowner and philanthropist Barns-Graham, built the first huts after the First World War. The huts, built of green timber soon multiplied until a veritable holiday camp had grown. The huts have no electricity, sewage or running water and yet generations of Glaswegians from all walks of life continue to return each weekend or whenever they can to enjoy the freedom, nature and the simple life that the huts offer.
Left: Sony Much outside his hut. Right: children playing on the swings
I undertook a one-month, self-directed residency on the estate, living in a hut lent to me by Sonny. Having lived on the estate all my life and the many years that my grandfather worked as manager on the estate, I have a good relationship with a number of the hutting community who were a rich source of information and who eagerly sought me out to share their memories, photos and stories about the huts and the ways in which they have changed.
The first of my interventions was a set of seven swings that I installed in locations all around the estate, choosing places where remnants of old swings could still be seen. The swings were made of white rope and wooden white seats. Their mysterious appearance all about the countryside gave rise to much speculation and the forming of ghost stories.
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