What a DISASTER! No we’re not talking about the Sunak/Truss clash last night on telly. The only thing they seemed to agree on was that the last few years of government (of which they were part) was a disaster. No we are talking about our 501th scone. Let us explain.
Explosive stuff
For several years we have had the Canary Girls Café in Glasgow in our sights. The story was one we thought would interest our readers. They also made empire biscuits with the icing in the form of a Scottish saltire! Had to get one of those. The Canary Girls were the women who were employed in munitions, manufacturing TNT shells during WWI. The chemicals reacted with melanin to turn their skin yellow. … not good. They even had Canary Babies with the same yellow skin … even more not good! The lady who owned the café named it in honour of her grandmother who had actually been a Canary Girl. What with COVID and everything, we never managed to visit … but today we did. Guess what? They were in the process of dismantling the place as it’s closing for good … disaster!
They said the nearest café was only a short walk away and it was called Patricia’s. Obviously, with a name like that we had to go. Patricia’s is a nice plan but when we asked for a scone she just shook her head … disaster! Not wanting to walk any further we decided to stay and have something anyway. But first, a question:
Yes, we decided to have coffee and a mascarpone cake. They said it was the closest thing to a scone they had. We asked for their wifi. No wifi … disaster! Also no telephone and their website is also a disaster so we haven’t added it. On the plus side the mascarpone cake was delicious and the coffee was excellent.
If that wasn’t enough disasters for one day we have just heard that Boris, who for some unfathomably reason is still PM, is threatening not to go after all. We’re doomed!!
Q: what cheese would you use to tempt a bear out of a tree?
As “Priestfield” its history dates back to the 12th century but in 1681 it was burned to the ground by anti-Catholic rioters who objected to the name. What are folk like? It was rebuilt six years later and the name changed to “Prestonfield.” It became a hotel in the 1960s and in 2003 it was bought by restaurateur, James Thomson. He owns the atmospheric Witchery by the Castle restaurant and much of the sumptuousness of Prestonfield is largely due to him.
one half of the Rhubarb restaurant
It started with a post
This is the quintessential Edinburgh place to indulge and celebrate. So what are you two doing there you’re wondering?
Rhubarb was introduced to Scotland here and now adornes their plates
Well, we can hardly believe it ourselves, but this is our 500th post on allabouttthescones.com. How mad is that? Perhaps, even madder, is that so many of you have been with us as budding bloggers right from the start. That was at Palmerston’s Coffee Shop in Dunkeld back in early 2015 … incredible! We are sure you would agree that such an auspicious occasion deserves to be marked in some way. Why not a scone at Prestonfield House eased down with some Billecart Salmon champagne? We can do decadent!
Good company
one of the drawing rooms
We decided to have our afternoon tea in one of the drawing rooms rather than the famous Rhubarb restaurant. A good decision as it happens because we had the company of three lovely Scandinavian girls on their first trip to Scotland … talk about doing it in style!
Eating rotten things
We don’t normally like the sort of formal subservient service you can sometimes get in places such as this however the young chap who was looking after us was delighfult. He was Spanish and had been here six years. He explained everything we were getting in great detail but with such a strong accent that we really didn’t catch much of it. No matter it all looked fantabulous, the sight of it was quite enough, . One three tier stand with sandwiches on the bottom, cakes on top and scones in the middle. In addition there was a separate plate of savoury goods which included some haggis treats. Only one of our new found Scandinavian friends dared take a little nibble. Goodness, did they not know the celebrated status of haggis in Scotland … and these Viking types eat rotten fish, don’t they?
Anyway it probably will come as no surprise to all you sconeys to learn that this was a topscone. We weren’t able to eat all of them because we felt they were a bit on the large side for an afternoon tea, but that was our only criticism. They were beautifully soft with that crunchy exterior we love. lots of jam and clotted cream as well.
Barefoot
We didn’t think we would ever mention Thatcher twice in one post but she dined here, as did Churchill and a host of other celebrities. More importantly perhaps, Sandie Shaw once strode barefoot across these marble floors.
Deluded as Trump
Boris says that he will be back as PM within a year … we’ll have a pint of whatever he’s drinking! Folks who worked alongside him when he was with the Telegraph say he just made stuff up for his column. Who would have thought it? And although they knew what he was writing was completely false, the newspaper never once offered a retraction. Says it all about British politicians and media.
Colin for PM
The last time we were here they had a lot of peacocks roosting in the trees however we were told there is only one left now … Colin. We went to look for Colin to tell him that we would rather see him running the country than any of the current contenders. We couldn’t find him…opportunity missed!
The path leading to the Stables … no horses these days, it’s an events venue
A lot has happened since our last post from Gleneagles. We suppose the biggest news is that Boris has gone … though he is still here? He’s resigned but is still Prime Minister. Don’t worry if you don’t understand, confusion is a kind of Boris speciality. He’ll be absolutely gone soon but not before he has given out honours to all his equally inept buddies. We shouldn’t be thinking about this here in Coorie on a lovely day in beautiful Limekilns but it’s almost impossible to ignore. His long overdue departure would be cause for much merriment and dancing in the streets if it wasn’t for the fact that all the contenders to replace him are equally inadequate. We could easily have a situation where the country ends up being run by someone 95% of the public have never heard of. That’s democracy, UKstyle.
Scorchio
The other big news is that Scotland has become subtropical with temperatures today in Limekilns topping 32C. The government has told us that if we dare to venture out between the hours of 11 and 3 we will probably die a painful shrivelled up death. Turns out the UK is not prepared for anything. It’s either too cold, too hot, too dry or too wet. Whatever it is, prices always have to go up because of it … or is that just too cynical? However, it does make us wonder how other countries, where temperatures like this are perfectly normal, manage.
Anyway, we only had a brief walk from our lovely cool air conditioned car and were quite happy to be ushered towards a table in the nether regions of Coorie, as far away from the windows as possible. Only a few brave souls were sitting outside melting.
The Art of Coorie
As it happens, this place is almost next door to the Sundial Cafe we reviewed back in 2018.
No problem with any of these and I am the best at staying humble
Then we told you that Limekilns featured in Robert Louis Stevenson’s book Kidnapped. He chose the village as the point of escape for Alan Breck and David Balfour when they were being pursued by dastardly redcoats. Exciting stuff. but back to today. The word Coorie derives from Gaelic and means to snuggle. Its kind of onomatopoeic .. it sounds warm and snuggly. A recent book called ‘The Art of Coorie‘ teaches us to enjoy life the Scottish way through simple pleasures. That’s certainly the feeling we got here. Nothing particularly fancy or ostentatious … just a warm welcome, good food and cheery service. What more could you ask for?
Magnets
We ordered some lunch and a fruit scone to share. The lunch was perfect and so would our scone have been had there been cream … but no cream! Not to worry we thoroughly enjoyed what we had … loads of fruit and the strawberry jam was great.
Afterwards we took a wee walk along the beach but it wasn’t long before the air conditioned car was acting like a very powerful magnet. We returned home via Port Edgar where we watched loads of kids being taught kitesurfing and paddle boarding … great day for it.
The Forth Road Bridge from Port Edgar. Built in 1958 it is currently closed. The rail Bridge in the distance was built in 1889 and is still going strong
Great day for us as well. Coorie by the Coast was really enjoyable. It’s only been going a couple of years but it seems to be getting things right. We wonder if we will be able to say the same of the next incumbent in 10 Downing Street … probably not! Someone new to complain about! And we shouldn’t really complain about the weather!
The Queensferry Crossing looking towards Limekilns
Gosh, it’s a month since our last post about the Platinum Jubilee. Apologies to those who have been patiently waiting … and to those who have been enjoying the peace and quiet. We thought we should start again in style so we’ve come to Gleneagles.
View over Glendevon from the Glendevon Room
A Highland Playground
Gleneagles is one of these places, like the Connaught and Claridges, that doesn’t need to bother putting ‘hotel’ after its name. You’re just supposed to know. It’s the playground of the rich and famous. So what on earth are you doing there, we hear you ask? Okay, did you know that Gleneagles has three Championship golf courses and one nine hole course. Surely that’s way more than enough? Did you know that it has a Shooting & Fishing School an Equestrian Centre and the British School of Falconry. Did you know that it hosted the G8 summit in 2005 with the likes of Blair, Putin, Berlusconi, Bush and Chirac? All largely forgotten, apart from one, of course. That was before G8 became G7 after Russia was suspended in 2014 for being a bad boy and invading Crimea. Goodness, that seems like a relatively minor misdemeanour now!
The Glendevon Room, the scene of the G8 dinner hosted y the Queen …. and now our scone
Of course, none of that is of any interest to us, we are only here for the scones. Having said that, we also have a very special Canadian with us (Pat’s brother) who we are determined to introduce the genteel refining intricacies of taking afternoon tea. You know what those Canadians are like … bit rough around the edges! What better place to do it than this? If they can’t do a decent afternoon tea here then there is precious little hope left for the world. Okay, he only wanted to be out on one of the golf courses rather than doing this but, much to his dismay, we stuck to our guns.
Friendly service
There are over 1000 staff servicing the 232 rooms so expectations were high in terms of service. We were not to be disappointed. In fact, in many ways our expectations were exceeded.
top tier of the sweet stand
The staff looking after us, of which there were many, were all great. Not only did they take the time to explain all the sandwiches and other delicacies we were getting but also took the time to answer our questions about the hotel and all the people who have stayed there. Some, even more famous than us! As you can imagine, a stay at Gleneagles is not exactly cheap, quite the reverse. So the staff were impressed to hear that my dad had been a guest here for six months. Eventually I had to divulge that it was when the hotel had been turned into a hospital during WWII. He was recuperating after a bad motorcycle accident.
the Ballroom but no dancing today
Anyway, back to the scones. Forgive us if we go In to slightly more detail than usual. Before you get anything here they give you a little champagne glass into which they pour some iced tea … very nice. That’s followed by an amuse bouche of tomato consommé … very nice again. Then they bring the savoury three tier stand BOTTOM TIER Perthshire smoked salmon with sweet dill mayonnaise sandwich + egg mayonnaise with mustard cress sandwich + Tweed valley roast beef with nasturtium butter sandwich. MIDDLE TIER vol-au-vent with red onion marmalade, goats cheese broad bean, radish, carrot and candied walnut + toasted pickelet with white crab meat and creme fraiche + Hardwick lamb sausage roll with lovage emulsion and choucroute. TOP TIER pea, cabbage and potato croquette + toasted charcoal baguette with pickled cucumber smoked trout and golden beetroot. No scones!
Peachy
Then, only then, when you have stuffed yourself with all this deliciousness do they bring out the next three tier sweet stand. Argh! But at last we caught our first sight of the “soft and fluffy” buttermilk scones. Would we have room for them let alone everything else? The scones were indeed soft and fluffy as described but with a slight crunchiness as well … perfect. They came with loads of jam and clotted cream, all beautifully presented. A very easy topscone. Sitting here in our secluded little alcove gazing out across the croquet lawn to the sunlit hills of Glendevon you could easily think that everything is absolutely peachy with the world. You would be completely wrong, of course, but just for a moment …
Needless to say we could not get near finishing everything that we had been presented with … even when it was washed down with copious quantities of Glendevon blend tea. And this being Gleneagles, even our ‘doggy bags’ were posh. A custom made handbag style box in which we could transport our leftovers back home. Did our Canadian feel enlightened by this experience? Of course he did … a “soft and fluffy” scone at Gleneagles … who wouldn’t be?
ps: if there is anywhere in Scotland that can rival Gleneagles for culinary expertise and originality it is the Oystercatcher restaurant in the lovely little village of Portmahomack. And guess what, our Trossachs correspondents are on the loose again and that’s exactly where they are. As well as a fabulous dinner the previous evening they sent us a picture of their breakfast … Scallops-o-Scone.
Scallops-O-Scone at the Oystercatcher
They also reported on a scone they enjoyed in the company of members of the Portmahomack Salsa Drumming Band in the Carnegie Hall Cafe. The last time we reviewed this place was back in 2016 … too long ago.
Salsa Drumming, Portmahomack 2016
Our correspondents sound like they are having a brilliant time … we need to go back.
by Bill and Pat Paterson and is about finding good scones throughout the world, with a little bit of politics
They said the nearest café was only a short walk away and it was called Patricia’s. Obviously, with a name like that we had to go. Patricia’s is a nice plan but when we asked for a scone she just shook her head … disaster! Not wanting to walk any further we decided to stay and have something anyway. But first, a question:
Yes, we decided to have coffee and a mascarpone cake. They said it was the closest thing to a scone they had. We asked for their wifi. No wifi … disaster! Also no telephone and their website is also a disaster so we haven’t added it. On the plus side the mascarpone cake was delicious and the coffee was excellent.
