The Welcome Hut project has been sculptured by European cross-border mobilities. Three countries have been decisive in transforming an idea into a tangible practice.
As a theoretical sketch to create vagabond learning spaces, the Welcome Hut was born in Scotland during a Masters degree in Adult Education (Glasgow, 2008).
The actual shepherd’s huts, the vehicles that now transport our vagabond values all across Europe, had been constructed by a family-run Schäferwagen manufacturing company in the Ries district of Bavaria, Germany (Hainsfarth, 2010).
After two years of European itineraries, the special welcome and hospitality for the hut by the inhabitants of Cluny area of France allowed to build a local support network for these freelance activities. The new geographical anchor for the mobilities made it possible to continue the work on a regional level in Burgundy (Clunisois, 2013).
Soon, a collective structure (association d’utilité sociale) was created which has since coordinated the shepherd’s hut projects all across continental Europe. This not-for-profit NGO is called Rêv’othèque (‘library of daydreaming’) and has its headquarters in a charming renovated stone house (Cormatin, 2015).
In 2018, the Welcome Hut was invited to make its way to Scotland thanks to an award for European citizenship initiatives. The initially abstract idea from a Glasgow degree could now be enjoyed in the same city for real, exactly 10 years later. With enthusiastic feedback from people living in Scotland and universities in the UK, it became necessary to think of an independent legal structure to continue projects in the UK after Brexit.