Da Bod Cafe
A labour of love
 
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Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary
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Opening a vegetarian cafe/restaurant to raise funds to look after marine mammals raised a few eyebrows in a community where the traditional diet was strictly meat and fish, and where  seals and otters were hunted in the not too distant past. But times have changed and now the cafe is well supported by local folk and visitors.
This year, 2008, we are making more changes. We are scaling down the catering by closing the restaurant for evening meals. The cafe will now be open Thursday to Sunday 12.00 to 6.00 p.m for light bites and snacks.

We are also using the cafe as a venue for live evening events like music sessions and storytelling and it is available for hire for private functions.

The cafe takes you back in time giving you a feel of how Shetland used to be.
click to see our recipe page

People are often surprised that rather than charging for meals we ask them to make a donation to the sanctuary. We find it makes for a fair exchange and so far it's worked very well...and it always gives folk something to talk about.

The work we do would not be possible without all the help we receive from volunteers who come and stay with us every year. Over the years we’ve had people from all walks of life, young and old from across the globe coming to help us cook, serve food, look after the garden, maintain the property and work in the peat hill to keep the home fires burning.
click to meet some of our past volunteers and see the jobs they helped us with!!!!
 

The original peat fire still burns strong throughout the year.

Vegetables and herbs being grown for the cafe kitchen.

 

We have all kinds of events from music sessions to storytelling.