A kind of live, laugh, love sign for the 2020s? Photograph: ShaoChen Yang/Getty Images View image in fullscreen A kind of live, laugh, love sign for the 2020s? Photograph: ShaoChen Yang/Getty Images Homes Udder madness: why are highland cows suddenly everywhere? This shaggy beast is now plastered across everything from mugs to hot water bottles. Or you can sit on her, wrap yourself in her, wipe your feet on her …
Lucy Knight Wed 30 Sep 2026 14.24 CEST Last modified on Wed 30 Sep 2026 14.25 CEST Share Prefer the Guardian on Google P icture 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.
View image in fullscreen ‘Here to bring a smile to every season’ … Hamish the Highland Cow kettle and toaster. Photograph: Emilia Holden/Next 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.
View image in fullscreen Mooed awakening … a highland cow dog toy. Photograph: Pets at Home 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…