The Booth was also called
Da Bod

 Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary
 The Booth or Da Bod
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Da Böd

 

Around 400 years ago the German merchants of the Hanseatic League built a series of “böds” around the coast of Shetland, many of which still stand today. They were used as trading posts to exchange imported goods such as salt or pottery for local produce like fish, wool or skins.

       
The first record of the Hillswick böd is dated 1668 when its then owner Adolph Westermann, of Hamburg, opened a “kist” of goods in front of witnesses, including local minister Hercule Sinclair. Herr Westermann owned two ships, St Johan and St Peter, which came to Hillswick between May and September. Since those early days the building has changed hands many times, but has never ceased trading.		 In the early 1700s it was taken over by the Giffords,  the lairds of Busta, but its heyday came in the mid 19th century when the Busta estate's ‘factor’ John Anderson bought Da Böd and built Hillswick House alongside. His wife Euphemia Merrylees bore 11 children under its roof, some of whom went on to build houses of their own, creating the village of Hillswick.
        As John Anderson & Sons the family employed 130 people in trades ranging from fishing to coffin making. They ran a shop, a post office and a pub. Mr Anderson traded in fish and livestock and most of the area’s economy revolved around his business activities.
Later the building housed a knitwear factory with a weaving shed next door, but business declined during the 20th century. In 1976, when Jan moved in, all that was left was a pub, which thrived during the brief years of the oil boom. By the late 1980s this last remnant of the original business was drying up.

In 1993 Jan closed the pub and re-opened the following year as Da Böd Café, with the help of her partner Pete, their friend Samantha, who cooks the wonderful food, and the many volunteers who come to help each year. In 2006 we started providing bed and breakfast and in 2008 we closed the restaurant and are now just running a cafe four days a week to concentrate on the animals and the garden.

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