Category Archives: Ordinary

did not collect any awards

Ordinary, Scones

Findlays

Back in at home after our all too brief sojourn up north. The weather has come out in sympathy with our mood, it’s a bleak kind of day. After attending to some business in the town centre we ended up here at Findlays, hoping to have our spirits raised. The rather impressive old Victorian building was built in 1893 as Falkirk’s main Post Office but since then it has undergone a variety of uses leading up to it’s current incarnation as the Falkirk Business Hub, a place which provides a home to over 30 businesses and employs around 150 people. Findlays 03Findlays is the café for the FBH but is open to everyone.

It’s pleasant enough. If it was just providing canteen facilities to the FBH, it would be doing a great job. However it has ambitions and promotes itself as ‘the home of great food and coffee’  .. but it just isn’t. It looks and feels like part of the Hub and lacks that coffee shop vibe. These days we expect wifi everywhere we go. Here the password is helpfully provided on the menu .. but it doesn’t work. The correct password (the one with the capital letter at the start) is on a wall blackboard … annoying. Doubly annoying to have people cleaning windows and going around with feather dusters while you are trying to eat your scone!  Findlays 02So far, so not so good … the mood was not lifting!

Here you might hope that the scones would ride to the rescue with a glowing report and everyone would live happily ever after … but no. It was a case of style over substance. Presentation is a wonderful thing, it delights the eye and heightens expectations. These expectations however have to be fulfilled and sadly this was not the case here. They were disappointingly pasty and heavy. Could the mood get any blacker? Well, yes, just look at the news.

Advice on Brexit

It turns out that Scottish Labour’s PFI scandal has taken a turn for the worse. Not only are our schools and hospitals crumbling, we don’t even know who owns them. The ownership of many being held in overseas tax havens. No one seems too sure who owns British Home Stores either as it descends into receivership. This is the super-duper modern business world we live in! Good though, that Barak Obama managed to stop by to wish the Queen a happy birthday and offer his advice on Brexit. Having advised on the Scottish referendum, he presumable felt he had to do the same for the EU one. Findlays 04Obama is probably the best US President there has been for a long long time. We need not kid ourselves, however, that it is all being done with some sort of ‘special relationship’ benevolence. The US only cares about one thing .. the US!

Looking to the multinationals

Findlays is not doing anything particularly wrong but, based on our visit, it is not doing anything particularly right either. The website is a waste of time. Once again it is a case of taking a long hard look at the multinationals like Costa and Café Nero and figuring out how they always get it so right. We wish them luck. Let’s hope we will be in a better mood by the next post.

FK1 1LL            tel: 01324 614062               Findlays Business Hub

Ordinary, Scones

Café Aroma

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The A9, between Perth and Inverness, is a Marmite kind of road … you either love or hate it. Most people hate it and we are with them. Having only short stretches of dual-carriageway it can be extremely frustrating when you can only go as fast as the slowest thing on the road. On our way north, the road was so busy we barely got above 45mph for most of the way … arrrgghh! On the way south however, because we had to do a drop-off at Inverness airport, we decided to carry on to Nairn then down the A939. It takes you through Granton-on-Spey, Aviemore and Newtonmore.

Slumdog Millionaire

Our scone-stop this time was the Aroma Café in Kingussie. In gaelic, the name ‘Kingussie’, means ‘head of the pine forest’ and its main claims to fame are a) the ruins of the nearby infantry barracks at Ruthven which was destroyed by Bonnie Prince Charlie’s forces in 1746, after Culloden b) Guinness Book of Record’s claim that the Kingussie shinty team is the most successful sKingussie 02aporting team of all time c) the town’s part in the film Slumdog Millionaire. The question was, would the Aroma Café add to this list by getting a much coveted topscone award? Inside, it is a wee bit tired looking and initially we had problems getting any of the staff to notice that we had come in but, once they did, we were looked after very well. Kingussie 04

The scones, when they came, had been warmed to within an inch of their lives … quite hot. Maybe no bad thing in itself, however, too much fruit and a heavy base  meant only one thing. No award ceremonies going on here any time soon. On the plus side they did have a wide range of jams (all pre-packaged) and there was also a tub of clotted cream .. from Cornwall?? It’s difficult to say how the A9 has affected places like the Aroma Café.

We can remember when all traffic came thundering through the High Street. Now it’s much quieter … hardly any cars. On the other hand, hardly any of that thundering traffic ever stopped here. Maybe it doesn’t make that much difference. Whatever, the Aroma will have to up its game if it wants us to stop off here in future. Kingussie 01

Towel throwing?

Now that we are heading south again we are beginning to see election posters for parties other than the SNP. Further north it was glaringly obvious that the lampposts etc only carried SNP posters. We went coast to coast and never saw a single poster for any other party. Very strange, have they thrown in the towel already?

PH21 1HZ    tel: 01540 661020    Cafe Aroma FB

Ordinary, Scones

The Ceilidh Place

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We had stopped off in the township of Elphin, in the shadow of Stac Pollaidh, on our way to Ullapool because, after many miles of driving, there was a signpost for a tearoom .. but it was closed.

Elphin market
Elphin market

The local market was open however and the lovely people there recommended  this place when we reached our destination. The Ceilidh Place bills itself as “at the end of the A835 and the centre of the universe”. It probably is for many people because it’s a hotel, bunkhouse, café/bar, music venue and bookshop. Someone once said “I often stay here because it’s the only bookshop I know with rooms”. Ceilidh 04Ullapool is a major destination  for tourists and music lovers, with many festivals throughout the year.

Each September they have the Loopallu Festival (wonder how they came up with that name) which the Guardian said was “the only music event anywhere in the world to feature both Franz Ferdinand and the Ullapool Pipe Band.” As you might imagine there are not too many airs and graces here but everything is good quality, there is a big central log burning stove and they make you very welcome. What more could you want? Ceilidh 800x800You get the feeling that many good nights have been had in here. We had a good lunch then thought we would try the scones. When they arrived they did not look too promising. We have had scones that look like this before and they were decidedly underwhelming. However, looks can be deceptive. They were actually very good, nice light consistency and with plenty butter and jam. No cream unfortunately … pretty close to a topscone award, but not quite … pity. Ceilidh 03

Tax havens

Ullapool and Panama have much in common .. they are both many miles from anywhere and both have infestations of blood sucking parasites, but in Ullapool’s case it’s only midges. The brouhaha about Cameron’s tax affairs is largely irrelevant. The fact that they all knew that tax havens (usually British ones) were being used on an industrial scale, is what matters. From that point of view the Labour party, in the shape of Gordon Brown should also have much to answer for. He devised a tax systems so complex that he was almost the only one who could understand them. Tax havens must have been very familiar. Anyway, besides all that, we notice that ‘Scotland The Best‘ author, Pete Irvine, notes amongst the 2,500 places listed, The Ceilidh Place as one of his favourites .. can’t be bad!Ceilidh 06IV26 2TY       tel: 01854 612103          The Ceilidh Place Ullapool

Ordinary, Scones

Dornoch Castle Hotel

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Where would you go when there is barely a cloud in the sky and you fancy a walk on a beach? Dornoch, obviously. There is also a link between this post and the previous post for the Cafe at the Carnegie Hall in Portmahomack because just up the road from Dornoch is Skibo Castle. It was once the home of philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie. Dornoch itself is famous for many things. The last witch in Scotland was burned here in 1727. The golf course is judged to be the 5th best outside the US. The thirteenth-century Cathedral and Pat’s first holiday destination when she was at school. Most famously of all, of course, Madonna had her son, Rocco, christened in the Cathedral before her marriage at Skibo!!

Buckets and spades
the beach at Dornoch
the beach at Dornoch

Having little  requirement for burning, golfing or christening, we headed for the beach .. and what a beach! Miles of beautiful sand stretching as far as you could see. Needless to say, in early April, it’s not quite warm enough for lazing around on. We had also forgotten our buckets and spades. It wasn’t too long before we thought that a scone wouldn’t go amiss. We knew that there were good scones at Gordon House because we reviewed them last year. In the interests of continuing research however, we thought we should try somewhere different. So here we are at Dornoch Castle Hotel, just across the road from the Cathedral. Dornoch 03

Originally built as the Bishop’s Palace, it has been here quite a while and certainly retains some of its old-world charm. Eight foot thick stone walls and a big welcoming log fire. The hotel is a slightly odd mixture of old and new. The bar area, where we were, being quite characterful but the dining room at the rear of the hotel is very modern and seems strangely out of keeping. Dornoch 05Never mind that though what about the scone testing. Well, once again the scones were okay, but nothing to write home about. So what exactly are we doing writing about them .. answers on a postcard? They were nicely presented with jam and a pot of whipped cream but the scones themselves were definitely not topscone material, though enjoyable enough.

End of an era

We had an Englishman with us so we had to post a photo of his effort at preparing a scone. These days we are nervous about not giving glowing reviews because, in the past week, we were given the devastating news that McEwens of Perth had suddenly closed down. Some disingenuous folk have suggesting that it was because we did not rate their scones highly enough. Joking aside this really is bad news because McEwens w

Oh dear, cream first??
Oh dear, cream first??

as one of our favourite shops. Family run, a bit quirky, a bit old fashioned, a bit of an institution. It’s passing is very sad, it will be sorely missed, especially by the 130 people who worked there. For Perthshire, it is the equivalent of Tata Steel closing down in Port Talbot but we don’t think there will be any similar governmental attempts at a rescue package. End of an era.

So, although Dornoch Castle Hotel did not get a topscone award either we really hope, in spite of that, it continues to prosper for many years to come.

excellent whisky display
excellent whisky display

IV25 3SD         tel: 01862 810216        Dornoch Castle Hotel

Ordinary, Scones

The Kenmore Hotel

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Oh dear, here we go again … scone 101. First of all, apologies for this rather lengthy preamble. However, it is necessary to let you know how we came to be here, at the Kenmore Hotel, especially since we never had any intention of coming here in the first place. It’s great to get feedback from readers, a major part of the fun of a blog like this. One reader in particular always comes back with lots of comments and information on all sorts of things.

Not so much a scone correspondent, more of an informant … the ‘Stenhousemuir mole’. After our review of the Iron Goddess of Mercy tea at Claridges the ‘mole’ informed us about the Dorchester Hotel where you can get Scottish grown tea at £10 a cup. He commanded us to go and try it. Bearing in mind that most of what emanates from the ‘mole’ could be classed as ‘brain farts’, there initially seemed no reason to think that this snippet would be any different. Tea grown in Scotland??

Best tea in the world

Upon investigation however it turned out that this little gem was in fact accurate and, not only that, the tea was from Amulree. It had won ‘best tea in the world’ at the recent World Tea Championships in Paris. Surely not, how can that be? Those of you who are familiar with Amulree can be forgiven for being slightly incredulous. For those who aren’t familiar, Amulree is 750m above sea level and consists of a hotel (currently defunct) and a couple of houses surrounded by miles of open bare hillside. Even bracken struggles! Sconeys should know about tea as well as scones, particularly if the best tea in the world is grown in Scotland. Further investigation was obviously going to be necessary.

So off we went, determined to witness this spectacle for ourselves. We felt so sure we would recognise a tea plantation when we saw one (seen them on the telly). We didn’t bother trying to pin down the exact location before leaving home .. mistake. On arrival in the village we thought, if there was any tea growing going on, it would be down the Glen Quaich road on the slightly lower ground around Loch Freuchie. But there was no sign, and as we headed further down the glen on a GWR (great wee road) we eventually ended up in the lovely village of Kenmore without seeing hide nor hair of a tea plantation .. zilch!

Poets bar with Burns' poem above the fire
Poets bar with Burns’ poem above the fire

Mystified and ever so slightly scunnered we headed for the hotel. Perhaps they would be able to shed some light on local tea growing activities?

Poetry

The hotel is a mixture of old and new. The bar area, called Poet’s Bar, has become a place of pilgrimage for enthusiasts of Robert Burns. On a visit on 29th August 1787 he wrote a poem in pencil on the chimney breast and it is still there exactly as written. Though it’s now protected by a sheet oKenmore 05f glass. At the back of the hotel there is a much glitzier restaurant with fabulous views over the river Tay. Our scones were nicely presented on a slate-like piece of wood with jam and a tub of cream topped of with a strawberry, very pretty! The scones, however, had a slightly dry sawdusty texture which was disappointing.

We’re not going to pretend that sitting by a toasty log fire drinking excellent coffee and eating scones was any kind of  hardship. Quite the opposite. Could have sat there all day. However, we were still no nearer to achieving our mission so we had to press on .. duty called! The serving staff were all eastern european so we thought we would ask Kenmore 04the lady at reception about Dalreoch. She was from Paris and had never even heard of the tea tasting championships .. goodness. What self respecting Parisian does not know about the tea championships? The local post-master had heard rumours of tea being grown locally but had no idea where.

By this time we were seriously beginning to doubt the veracity of the mole’s info. We were beginning to wonder if we were on a wild goose chase. Suffice to say that, after a 12 mile return journey via Aberfeldy we did eventually find it.

Civilising tea

Nowadays you are almost tempted to look nostalgically at bygone times. A time when conflicts could be resolved by a chap wearing jodhpurs and drinking a civilising cup of tea. We doubt if even world beating Scottish tea is sufficient to beat some sort of order into the mess the world seems to find itself in … pity.

PH15 2NU       tel: 01887 830205        Kenmore Hotel, Kenmore

Ordinary

Hugh’s Bar Restaurant

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Hugh's is first floor right
Hugh’s is first floor right

We were in Glasgow for a meeting and afterwards found ourselves here, in Hugh’s Restaurant & Champagne Bar. It’s part of the House of Fraser department store. The store was founded in1849 by Hugh Fraser so that’s where the name comes from. It serves a range of coffees, over a dozen champagnes but principally Mumm and Bel Époque.

Now don’t be running away with the idea that we live some sort of champagne lifestyle, no, no, no! It just so happened that we were passing and, feeling a bit peckish (and a bit nosey) asked if they could do a scone. It didn’t exactly look like a scone place, but they immediately said “yes, of course” … very welcoming. Honest, no champagne was harmed in the making of this post. The decor is, however, fairly obviously aimed at the business folk of Glasgow who do live champagne lifestyles. Sleek, dark and sophisticated. Hugh's 03

Anyway, they scooped us humble bloggers up into their arms with promises of lovely warm scones and perfect coffee. What were we to do? It was the middle of the day and it was very quiet so they were probably more than delighted to see anyone crossing their doorstep. Hugh's 02True to their word our beautifully warm scones arrived on a slab of slate with little ceramic dishes of jam and cream. They were very good, could even have been a topscone but think they may have been baked the day before so maybe not as fresh as they could have been.

Is it an IQ test

Super Tuesday has just passed. It increasingly looks like Clinton and Trump are going to slug it out for the White House. Someone on social media noted that “the Americans seem to think it is an election, but it is in fact just an IQ test”. Kind of sums it up. Anyway, Hugh’s is an oasis of calm if you are suffering from retail fatigue. Try it if you get the chance, the staff are very helpful.

G1 3HL     tel: 0141 221 3880 ext 2101     Hugh’s Champagne Bar

english, Ordinary, self-service

White Peaks Café

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This is our first visit to Kew Gardens. It famously houses the world’s biggest collection of living plants. It quickly became evident that a few hours was never really going to do it justice. It’s big, about 300 acres, and there’s lots to see and do. Orchid collections; photographic exhibitions; tropical glasshouses; museums of botany; loads of beautiful  parkland and big adventure playgrounds for children. There are four eateries all operated by the same external  contractor and they are all different. We ended up in the White Peaks family food hall near the adventure play area. It was busy, busy, busy, kiddies everywhere, but we had kiddies with us too so we were just adding to the general chaos.White Peaks 02

‘Food hall’ is probably the correct description rather than ‘restaurant’. You certainly would not come here for a quiet cuppa .. at least not on a school holiday. If you want that The Orangery, a couple of hundred yards further on, would probably be a much better bet. Fortunately White Peaks is self-service and set up to cater for loads of people all at once. It doesn’t take long to get served with whatever takes your fancy. Predictably our fancy was taken by the scones. Not because they looked particularly appetising, but rather out of our unstinting sense of duty.

Not Claridges

As might be expected in a place like this everything is geared towards fast  food and the scones are no exception; jam and cream in little sealed plastic pots; paper plates; plastic knife. Do they not know that we normally have our scones at Claridge’s .. darling? White Peaks 03This definitely was not a Claridge’s scone but then that would be like comparing apples and pears. Let’s just say that this scone was okay and ideally suited to it’s environment.

If the folks in London are baffled by a peculiar chortling noise drifting downwind from the north, it is probably referendum hardened Scots laughing. They are chortling at the 2014 pantomime of the Scottish independence referendum being played out again. However, this time it’s over the EU. The same predictions of impending doom if we stay in .. oh, and if we leave. Incredibly, the people who want to leave the EU are ferociously arguing that ‘we need to have control over our own affairs‘, are exactly the same people who argued so ferociously to stop that happening in Scotland. The logic is hard to grasp.

Weasel words

The other day Ian Duncan Smith said “I’m tired of hearing that we’re too small, too little, too inconsequential to stand alone”. Is that a wee touch of amnesia Ian? What were you saying a year ago about Scotland? No such worries on this beautiful day at Kew. We didn’t notice any kiddie-winks fretting about the prospects of being in .. or out, although, they are the ones who will be affected most. Whatever the result, it will be made to work so it probably does not matter that much. Dumfries & Galloway Council have resorted to cutting a pack of cards to make decisions. Maybe Westminster should do the same, it would save a lot of trouble?

TW9 3AB     tel: 020 8332 5000     Kew Gardens

Ordinary

Acoustic Café

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“Sounds like great coffee” … that’s the strap line for this latest addition to the Falkirk café scene, the Acoustic Café. Not sure what great coffee sounds like? Maybe it’s the deafening sound of their own coffee machine, it really is the loudest. However, we feel it probably indicates a bit of confused thinking around the concept of selling coffee and guitars together in the one place. Acoustic 07

So, is the Acoustic Cafe a coffee shop that sells guitars or a guitar shop that sells coffee, we’re not sure. It does not seem to do either particularly well … kind of falls between two stools, so to speak. As a guitar shop it has a good range of very nice guitars. All well and good you might think. We suspect, however, that more attention has been paid to this aspect of the business than the cafe side … and if anything it should be the other way round.

New startup

Some fundamentals are just not there; the coffee may sound great but what about the taste? It is not up to the standard of it’s near competitors. The staff are not trained to the same standard as it’s near competitors. The sole member of staff on two of our visits was unsure of just about everything. Worst of all, of course, the scones are decidedly average.Acoustic 06 Not home baked, a bit dry and powdery … nowhere near a topscone. On the up-side it has a nice funky interior which differentiates it from the rest and offers loads of potential. Also, it has only been in existence for a couple of months so maybe we should cut it some slack. If it can concentrate more on the cafe side of things we hope it goes on to make sweet music and  much better coffee and scones for many years to come.

More broken promises

Music to the ears! That’s what we call the Scottish Government’s stance in the negotiations with the U.K. government over settlement of the new fiscal framework for Scotland. Instead of giving the ‘sweeping new powers’ promised after the referendum, new powers will now have to be paid for through reduced funding. Not even vaguely in the spirit of the Smith Commission. Thank goodness for the SNP. If it had been up to a Labour led administration they would have undoubtedly rolled over to their London masters long ago. Scotland would be much worse off as a result.

Luthiers

To end on a high note, the Acoustic Café did manage to introduce a new word to our lexicon .. luthier; someone who makes or repairs stringed instruments, a service available through the cafe.Acoustic 04

FK2 7AS            tel: 01324 638297      Acoustic Cafe FB

Ordinary, Scones

Anteaques Tearoom

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On the south side of Edinburgh you can find Anteaques. You can see what they have done there, can’t you! It is that kind of place .. a bit quirky, not quite one thing or the other. A curious combination but one that works quite well. It’s a very small place. By the time they’ve put in four tables and chairs for the tea and scones there is not much room left for anything else. Interior view of Anteagues Tearoo, Edingurgh

Queen’s breakfast

Because of the space restrictions, the antiques side of things is relatively limited … but the tea house is another story. A vast array of over sixty fine loose teas. They even have tasting tables for sampling whatever takes your fancy. We like a good cup of tea as much as anyone but there is no way we could be described as connoisseurs. We sometimes experiment in places like this but can never remember which is which when next presented with a tea menu. This time we chose ‘Queens Breakfast’ a blend of Ceylon and Darjeeling black teas. Interestingly, according  to the notes: the blending of teas specifically for breakfast originated in Edinburgh in the 19th century. A tea merchant by the name of Drysdale had a small shop in the Old Town and sold a tea simply called “breakfast”.

Our Queen’s Breakfast was very good. Like all good teas the service and presentation combine to create an ‘experience’. Different from what you would experience if the same tea was presented in, for example, a Lyle’s syrup tin with a wire handle. Many years ago, on my first day as a student labourer, I was directed to make the tea for about thirty men in the site hut. Since I found all the syrup tins half full of old tea leaves I decided to clean them all out .. what a disaster. Lucky to escape with my life.  A scone at Anteagues Tearoom, EdinburghAt Anteaques, however, it is all beautiful china ware, fantastic glass teapots and gleaming silver cutlery. Not a trace of a site hut or a syrup tin anywhere.  The scones are home baked and really very good, as was the cream. Not scooshie, perish the thought.

Rose petal jam

The best thing, however, was the jam .. rose petal jam, especially imported from Grasse in the south of France .. fabulous! So fabulous we had to buy a jar to take home.

Trump and Cameron

The ambience in Anteaques Tearoom is one of genteel sophistication and we would have loved to have given it a topscone, if only for the jam, but the scones were just a whisker off the mark … pity. Scones at Anteagues Tearoom, Edinburgh

When you sit in a place like this you could easily forget that the world outside is not as pleasant as it is in here. Trump and Sanders slugging it out in New Hampshire. Surely, even with it’s past record of electing complete plonkers, America could not elect Trump .. surely? Cameron slugging it out in Europe, frantically pretending he’s making some sort of difference. The logic of Cameron’s situation is that, if he gets his way (he is not asking for much) he will campaign to stay in. If not, presumably he will campaign to leave. No matter what happens everyone knows that he will never recommend leaving … so where is the logic?

Worth the effort

If you find it all a bit upsetting then get along to Anteaques for tea and scones. You will emerge in a much better state of mind. To add to the quirkiness of the place, it is only open three days a week. Friday, Saturday and Sunday .. and .. because it’s so small you really have to book a table in advance. Worth the effort though. Enjoy that rose petal jam.

EH8 9JH     tel: 0131 667 8466      Anteaques

Ordinary, Scones

The Coffee Bothy

Logo for the Coffee Bothy at Deanston DistillerySince the closure of our own much missed Rosebank distillery in 1993 we have had to travel almost twenty miles to Deanston  to get to our nearest distillery. Not that we particularly need to get to a distillery. We did the distillery tour several years back. Deanston, however, is always worth a visit, just for the coffee shop if nothing else.

In the beginning

This place actually started life as a cotton mill back in 1785. It employed so many people that they built a model village round the mill in much the same way as David Dale did at New Lanark. Workers were paid in tokens that could only be exchanged at the village shop which, you guessed it, was operated by the mill owner. A perfect monetary circle .. for the owner! In 1966 the cotton industry came to an end and the building was converted to a whisky distillery drawing water from the nearby river Teith. For those of you with twitching tendencies, the river just opposite the distillery is a good spot for seeing common sandpipers. Interior view of the Coffee Bothy at Deanston DistilleryDeanston 03

Initially it was closed to the public but a couple of years back they must have thought they should cash in on the tourism side of the industry. It was opened the place up for distillery tours. Of course, there had to be the obligatory coffee shop. In this case, the Coffee Bothy, one of three such enterprises run by Blairmains Farm. Scones at Deanston DistilleryWe have been here several times before and have always enjoyed it’s good food and good value. When you order a scone you actually get two which, being quite small, isn’t a problem. In fact it’s a positive benefit if you want to try two different kinds. You also get plenty of jam and cream, though unfortunately it’s scooshie cream and you all know what we think of that. Not topscone but very enjoyable nevertheless.

UK economy

Much of the movie ‘The Angel’s Share’ was filmed here. For those unfamiliar with the term ‘angel’s share’ perhaps we can explain it like this. Imagine that our UK economy is the whisky in a barrel. Deanston Distilley name on barrelBy a process akin to osmosis, over the years, the whisky evaporates through the wood and upwards to the angels who gradually get happier and happier. They can hardly believe their luck. Meanwhile the whisky in the barrel gets less and less and weaker and weaker. Think you can see where we are going with this.

Eventually the barrel is empty and useless but in the process a few angels have become very happy indeed. A perfect analogy for Osborne’s UK economy. Sell off everything that belongs to the people to your mates at knockdown prices. Then hire it all back to the people at extortionate rates .. brilliant! We think he may have worked in that Deanston shop at one time!

If you haven’t done the Deanston distillery tour, you should. It is fascinating .. and then go to the Coffee Bothy for a brace of scones. A good day out and there is something strangely comforting about eating scones surrounded by two million litres of the amber nectar.A stag's head at the Coffee Bothy at Deanston Distillery

FK16 6AG             tel:01786 843013                The Bothy