Honesty boxes are a familiar and much-loved sight across Shetland. It’s a simple idea: stop at a roadside box, choose your items, note what you’ve taken, leave your payment – and head on your way. From home baking to handmade crafts, you never quite know what treasures you’ll find.

Last summer, Wild Skies Shetland decided to join in with our own take on the honesty box tradition. In July, we installed our brand-new box beside the famous Bobby’s Bus Shelter in Baltasound – a central stopping point, popular with both locals and visitors. We began with a small but carefully chosen range of products – jars of delicious homemade marmalade (orange and lemon), a series of picture postcards featuring artwork originally created for our 2021 Sky Trail. We also added sky-themed chocolate goody bags – and yes, they were firm favourites!

As autumn’s stormy weather arrived and visitor numbers dipped, the box was carefully dismantled in October to hibernate over winter. Behind the scenes, however, plans were already underway for 2026.

In late 2025, one of our talented Trustees created a beautiful aurora-inspired Fair Isle ‘starry’ beanie hat design. We developed it into a printed knitting pattern, available on its own or bundled with suggested coloured wools from Jamiesons of Shetland. The response was fantastic, raising more than £400 to support our charitable work — thank you to everyone who made a purchase.

We’re now preparing another print run of the pattern, which will be available in the honesty box alongside a unique new product (still under wraps!) inspired by Unst and the Sky Trail. Keep following us for updates – we’re aiming to have the box back in place after Easter.