Snuggling up for winter with The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way
Temperatures are falling, frost is coating the mornings, and the most tempting way to spend a weekend is with a warm blanket, book, and hot mulled wine. Scots would say it’s time to coorie in.
Last Christmas, my boyfriend’s family bought me this introduction to coorie living: The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way.
It’s Scotland’s answer to the books on hygge, päntsdrunk, and whatever else has graced coffee tables in recent years.
Coorie is a traditional Scots word meaning ‘to snuggle’ or ‘cuddle’, which author Gabriella Bennett describes as “a feeling of cool, contemporary Caledonia. One that looks forward while also paying respect to our oldest traditions”.
The aim of coorie, Gabriella writes in this book, is “to try to lead a quieter existence where the endless pursuit of work is balanced by small pleasures”.
If you have Scottish blood, you’ll love this book. But it’s a superb way for anyone to learn more Scots words and pick up some of the culture, too (do you know your bam from your braw?)
Unlike its Danish cousin, hygge, coorie is about getting outdoors, not just tucking up warm inside.
This idea of happiness is about getting into nature – for a walk by the coast, wild loch swimming, or heading into the mountains to find a bothy – before lighting a fire, grabbing a blanket and dram of whisky, and snuggling up. Coorie is about well-earned warmth after the cold.
I loved reading The Art of Coorie on my way back from Scotland to England last year, and I’ve just rediscovered it again on my shelves.
It’s a beautiful hardback, the type that guests will be bound to pick up and flick through – especially if they too love the land north of the border.
The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way is available on Amazon now.
If you’re looking for more cosy reading, you might also like my post about the best books to read in winter (or the best books for autumn, if you’re reading this in fall).
Enjoy more from me
- Retreat into my new book, Your Life in Bloom: Finding Your Path and Your Courage, Grounded in the Wisdom of Nature.
- I'm also the author of Mountain Song: A Journey to Finding Quiet in the Swiss Alps, a book about my time living alone by the mountains.
- If you love books, are feeling a little lost right now, and would love some gentle comfort and guidance, join The Sanctuary, my seven-day course to rebalance your life.
