Windhouse Lodge Camping Bod

Shetland offers a wide variety of budget friendly accomodation options from youth hostels to camp sites and the Shetland camping böds, a collection of nine traditional Shetland buildings kitted out for self catering economic accomodation.

I spent last weekend in the Windhouse Lodge - the gatehouse to Shetland's most haunted house, Windhouse, in Yell.

Windhouse Lodge is Shetland's best-equipped böd and is ideally situated in Mid Yell - the perfect base camp for exploring the northern isles of Yell, Unst and Fetlar.

Windhouse Lodge sleeps eight people in three rooms. Only one of the rooms offers any degree of privacy, room 3, sleeping two as room 2 is the living room with a solid fuel fire and seating area shared amongst all the house guests. Room 1 has two sets of bunkbeds and joins the living room with the kitchen which has a bathroom shower area set to the rear. If you're wanting total privacy book room 3, but if you're not bothered with people waking in the night to use the toilets rooms 2 and 3 are fine.

The solid fuel stove packs quite a bit of heat, warming up the room well into the night and it's really quite lovely to sit around the fire and discuss the day's adventures with your fellow travelers.

Firewood is available from the custodian at £2.50 per bag.

There is a very well equipped kitchen complete with a small refrigerator, a microwave with two hobs on top, sink, hot water, microwave, crockery and cutlery, basic cooking tools and seating area. Everything you'd need to prepare meals for hungry travelers.

There is a nearby shop in Mid Yell, as well as three other village shops dotted around Yell itself, so plenty opportunity to explore the island and pick up provisions. Failing that, the Hilltop Bar is only a mile's walk away from Windhouse Lodge and they offer simple hot meals and plenty of lager on tap.

There are two separate toilets and a shower powered by an electric meter. Pop £1 coins into the meter for electricity, and this lasts quite some time. Around the back of the building there is a clothesline and pegs for you to hang your washing.

Although I did not spy any ghosts during my stay at Windhouse Lodge I did spot this rather eerie bird's nest made of bones!

The croft across the road has an honesty box with hen and ducks eggs, so no worries if you arrive late in the day and miss the local shop opening times for provisions.

I really enjoyed my two night stay at Windhouse Lodge. I've wanted to stay here ever since I heard about it as the gatehouse to a haunted house. I have to confess I was that exhausted after long days of adventuring through the northern islands that I slept like a log and was blissfully unaware of any ghostly presences. I did have rather strange dreams on the second night though....

At £10 per night per person this is a very affordable way to travel, I think.

To find out more about Yell, explore the Shetland.org pages on the island. To find out more about Windhouse Lodge and the other camping bods visit the official Camping Bod website.