Udder madness: why are highland cows suddenly everywhere?

Picture this: you get home from work, wipe your feet on your doormat, which has a picture of a highland cow on it, sniff the flowers growing from your highland cow-shaped plant pot, then step inside, hang your coat on one of your highland-cow-themed hooks and put some water on to boil in your highland cow kettle. When the tea is ready, you drink it from one of your highland cow mugs, plucked from a highland cow mug tree, discarding the teabag in a highland cow-emblazoned pedal bin. Oops, you’ve spilled a drop, but not to worry – there’s a fresh roll of kitchen roll waiting for you in between the resin cow-butt and cow-head of its highland cow-shaped holder.

You then carry the tea to your living room, and place it (atop a highland cow coaster, of course) on your coffee table, which has been carved into the shape of a highland cow, before taking a seat in an accent chair made to resemble a highland cow’s head. If you get cold, you can always wrap yourself in a hooded throw, designed to make the wearer look like a highland cow, or reach for your dressing gown-wearing highland cow hot-water bottle.

Every one of these products is available from Next, which stocks so many highland-cow-themed products that it has created its own character, Hamish the Highland Cow, who is apparently “here to bring a smile to every season” and “make everyday moments special”. A search for “highland cow” on the clothes and homeware shop’s website yields 589 results, including Hamish pyjamas, toothbrush holders and wall art.

Next certainly isn’t the only shop to have gone all-in on Scottish-cattle-themed products: from Asda’s highland cow in a pumpkin ornament to Wilko’s highland cow-printed washing-up brush, they seem to be everywhere. On a recent visit to Pets at Home I even spotted a highland cow dog toy.

Clearly there’s a demand for such products: “I love anything highland cow,” writes one reviewer of Next’s highland cow glass chopping board, thanking the retailer for introducing a wider range of highland-cow-themed products. “How gorgeous is this?” comments another highland cow fan on TikTok, showing off Next’s highland cow crockery.

Home and garden shop the Range, which sells highland-cow-themed products such as bedding, lamps and kitchenware, saw an 88% increase in searches for highland cow products in August. “There’s a rise in the number of customers looking for decor that feels personal and the highland cow offers just that,” says a spokesperson for the company. “Instantly recognisable,” they add, it has “a strong connection to British heritage and countryside living, bringing a sense of warmth and calm into a space”.

Kate Hewitt, DIY content creator and former contestant on Interior Design Masters, first noticed the highland cow trend last autumn, and says it’s now “appearing more and more”. She thinks its popularity is part of a wider shift towards a “cosy, country, vintage-style look,” with lots of people wanting “an antique-y, cosy cottage home”.

She thinks the appeal of highland cattle in particular is largely “because they are cute” and, unless you live in Scotland, something a bit unusual: “You don’t see them every day.” The brown and orange hues and the general “cosiness” of highland cattle decor fit the “autumnal” interior design that has become more popular in recent years – it is not uncommon to see influencers on Instagram changing elements of their home design to match the seasons.

While the aesthetic doesn’t necessarily match Hewitt’s taste, she says: “Some of the prints I’ve seen are actually quite beautiful.” She could see herself incorporating the odd highland cow cushion into a space – though she “wouldn’t decorate a whole room in it”.

That said, Hewitt says her mother has bought “loads” of highland cow items for her house. “She loves it and it makes her smile,” she says. “That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?”

“I would never buy it but my mum loves it” is a common response when I chat to friends and colleagues about the trend. It strikes me as hun-culture adjacent (most directly reflected in Next’s ornament of a highland cow ironing while drinking prosecco), a kind of live, laugh, love sign for the 2020s.

Chances are, even if you are too cool for highland cow decor, you’ll have someone in your life who loves it. So best to beat the Christmas shopping rush and get your hands on a highland cow nativity scene now.