The last time we were here in the Potting Shed was back in August 2020. Not that long ago really but somehow it seems longer. At that time we were the beneficiaries of the government’s ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme designed to get people going back to restaurants after they thought the worst of the pandemic was over. You only had to pay 50% of your food bill and the government paid the other half. Very generous we thought until we realised where the other 50% came from …. us!
Roman Camp Hotel from the Potting Shed
Anyway, here we are again and we still have the pandemic Who would have thought? The only difference now is that there are no discounts … boo!. Still, COVID doesn’t seem as bad now as back then so we should be thankful for that.
Back in 2020 this was a brand new venture set up by the Roman Camp Hotel. As you might expect, it’s situated in what used to be the old potting shed for the hotel’s walled garden. It has its own staff and kitchen though so is run pretty much independently. It’s a very pleasant place to grab a bite to eat and have a stroll round the beautiful grounds on the banks of the river Teith.
We knew from previous experience that when you order a scone here you get two … one fruit and one plain. They’re relatively small though so after a light lunch we ordered a scone so that we could have one each. They came complete with little glass jars of butter and jam and a large dollop of cream. They had just been baked so were delightfully fresh and at £3 great value for money and an easy topscone … yeah!
Fighting talk
The Roman Camp Hotel has always been painted pink. Not some girlie whim by the original owners but a sign to any Jacobite fleeing government forces that this was a safe house. Behind the wood panelling in the Library there’s a tiny hidden chapel where Catholics could worship away from prying eyes. And elsewhere, in a cupboard, lies the entrance to a secret tunnel from which those under attack could make good their escape. Bet Boris wishes he had one of these in Downing Street … or maybe he has?
Whatever, he certainly made it to Kiev yesterday. The scary thing about that is the fact that, right now, nobody would like a war more than Boris. He seems unable to dig himself out of the mire surrounding the Sue Gray Report so a war with Russia would be the perfect distraction. Prime Ministers are not usually deposed during wartime so a long war would be even better. Oh dear, is that too cynical?
Most people only know Braemar through pictures of the Queen sitting with her family, swathed in tartan, watching big hairy men in kilts throwing tree trunks around. Because Balmoral is less than a mile away, the Royals usually visit the Braemar Highland Gathering every year and, of course, their attendance draws thousands of Royal watchers. There is no doubt that the village and places like the Bothy Braemar prosper because of these regal connections but it also does well from the nearby Glenshee Ski Centre. But first let me tell you a story from that part of the world. Prepare to be shocked!
No room at the inn
Many years ago myself and a couple of friends were heading for Braemar to climb in the Cairngorms mountains. By the time we got to Glenshee it was dark and there was blizzard conditions.. Although we were still making good progress on the snowy roads in our trusty little Riley Elf, it wasn’t long before we came on a minibus full of youngsters that was stuck. The south side of Glenshee is unrelentingly uphill! The piles of sand at the roadside were frozen solid but our ice axes soon sorted that out.
We spent the next couple of hours following their bus and every time they got stuck we went through the same procedure. Late in the evening we reached their destination, a huge mansion house which served as a Church of Scotland Christian Centre. Because we just had a tent and were unsure if we would ever get over the summit of Glenshee in the awful conditions they invited us to stay overnight. We gratefully accepted.
The manger
However, they hadn’t reckoned with the management of the centre. When they discovered we were there they made no bones about it … we had to leave. The youngsters pleaded but to no avail. We offered to just put our sleeping bags down in the porch outside but no, we had to vacate the premises completely. Back out in the snowy darkness and getting in to the car, a man appeared and, immediately seeing the problem, said that he would put us up in a nearby manger. Okay, just kidding about the manger, it was just an outhouse! That’s what we did! We stayed at his place and eventually made it to Braemar the next day. Make of it what you will. I, however, will never be able to understand why a lighting bolt from someone all-seeing didn’t obliterate those management folk right there and then.
The one that’s open
No such problems this time. We sailed over Glenshee where there was hardly any sign of snow. Not great for a ski centre at the end of January but very good for us. Braemar has a lot of quite large Victorian hotels and, for its size, a plethora of restaurants and cafes. The hotels were open but the Bothy Braemar was the only cafe doing business. Considering, its external appearance it’s actually quite large inside and is fairly obviously geared up to cater for a clientele of climbers, walkers and skiers. Best of all, they had what looked like nice scones… hurrah!
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It is self service but the staff were were very warm and friendly. We ordered a couple of fruit scones. Compared to the scone we had had in our previous post from the Moulin Inn, this was a huge improvement. Still not good enough for a topscone award, unfortunately, but enjoyable nevertheless. Overall, we really liked the Bothy Braemar and it was great to be back in this part of the world.
View from the Bothy
Who is the most famous person you have never heard of? It surely has to be Sue Gray. For the past couple of weeks no journalist or politician has been able to utter a sentence without mentioning her name at least once. Now we hear that her report into partying in 10 Downing Street may never see the light of day. Apparently, because it has now become a police investigation it may be so redacted it wouldn’t be worthwhile. Oh my gosh, isn’t it just as well we aren’t cynical!!
Back in 1695 when this placed opened its doors for the first time things were different.
Moulin Inn prior to 1886
For one thing, Scotland was still a proud independent nation. Though as we all know that all changed in 1707 when a handful of corrupt aristocrats ( a parcel of rogues) sold the country down the river. In 1715, James Edward Stuart (the Old Pretender) made his ill fated attempt to regain the Scottish and English thrones and reverse the Act of Union. Incredibly, the Moulin Inn had been going for fifty years before Bonnie Prince Charlie (the Young Pretender) tried again in 1745, marching his army past these doors on his way south. If only the walls could talk, what stories they could tell?
Shenanigans
Over the years the Moulin Inn has expanded and is now the Moulin Hotel … the bit to the right of the picture I still the original Inn. We are staying here for a few days. As many of you know retirement means you get no time off and weekends just blend in to the rest of the week, so wee breaks like this become terribly important. Anyway, you know Tina Turner’s song “Steamy Windows” that alludes to shenanigans on the back seat of a car? Well, the theme song for this place should be “Squeaky Floorboards”. Couldn’t find a single floorboard that didn’t squeak! Not much chance of creeping around here in the middle of the night undetected … but given its age perhaps that’s not entirely surprising.
Customer care
We asked our lovely landlady, Jill, if we could get a scone and some tea. Her face said it all, they didn’t do scones “We’re really just a pub with rooms … no call for scones” she said. Then, suddenly, she said “But if you come in tomorrow I can probably organise something”. The following day we did indeed go back and within a few minutes Jill had us settled down with some tea and scones. Unfortunately it then became apparent what she had done, she had gone out and bought some scones … probably from a supermarket! This was super impressive customer care! The scones themselves, however, were not impressive … acceptable but nowhere near a topscone. Well done Jill, if it wasn’t for you we wouldn’t be able to write about this place! Don’t come here for a scone though … they don’t do them!
Moulin is a beautiful peaceful little village but it also has a lot going on. There’s a brewery run by the hotel (tried the Ale of Atholl several times) and a lovely little distillery at Edradour. It produces a special whisky for Westminster, however, given the newly introduced ban on ‘business meetings’, it may well see a sharp downturn in sales.
Edradour distillery
Don’t tell Boris
The Black Spout waterfall just beyond cattail Dhub
On the outskirts of the village there’s an ancient and rather overgrown ruin. It’s all that remains of Caisteal Dubh (The Black Castle of Moulin). Built in 1326, it was set on fire in 1512 because they feared it was contaminated by plague. It’s been a ruin ever since. Imagine if Boris cottoned on to this as a new way of controlling COVID? “If you catch coronavirus you must isolate for ten days but not in your own house which you must burn to the ground!” It would certainly divert attention away from ‘partygate‘ so don’t be surprised if it actually comes to pass.
Thoroughly enjoyed our stay here, it is a fantastic part of the world. Hopefully it won’t be too long before we can do it all again.
Don’t worry, we haven’t taken leave of our senses completely. Although we did a Cafe Circa Revisited, only a couple of weeks ago, this is not the same. That was at the Scottish Antique and Arts Centre at Doune whereas this post is from its sister operation at Abernyte. They are about fifty miles apart. Goodness knows why we are here? When we visited Doune we bought a whole lot of stuff we didn’t need. We should really stay away from these places.
A wall featuring Luskentyre beach on the Isle of Harris at Cafe Circa.
Sucked in
Doune is big but Abernyte is even bigger … there’s bound to be something we don’t need here but would we be able to find it? About half way round, however, and suffering from bric-a-brac blindness, we felt ourselves being inextricably drawn towards the cafe. The cafe is also bigger than the one at Doune. These antique centres are so large they really do need a restaurant or cafe where weary rummagers can rest and recharge.
Trauma
The very attentive staff found us a table and took our order for some sandwiches and a fruit scone to share. Pat had actually wanted a cheese scone she had spied on the way in but she was overruled. Now, far be it from us to inflict the deep trauma of our lives on you dear reader but I don’t see how we can protect you from this. Our sandwiches were excellent but, would you believe it, by the time I had finished mine Pat had absentmindedly cut our scone in half and had started to eat it … before I had taken a photo … what??
Apologies
Bear in mind that this is in spite of years of training … unbelievable! This photo of a decapitated scone is all we can offer you. However, Pat did apologise sincerely unlike some others we could mention. Nowadays, hardly a day goes by without an apology of some sort from the government. Mind you they do have much to apologise for.
Over the past year so much has puzzled us about Boris Johnson’s premiership. How did he get there, what on earth goes on in his head and why can’t he string two sensible words together? Well, now that he has admitted he cannot tell the difference between a boozy party and a business meeting, it explains soooo much! Honestly when was the last time you went to a party that was so bad you thought you were at work? Only in Downing Street!
Never learn
Everything was very good at Cafe Circa, we thoroughly enjoyed our visit. Unfortunately the scone didn’t quite make the topscone grade but was very nice nevertheless. In case you’re wondering if we found anything we didn’t need, we eventually left with a tea set (we need another tea set like a hole in the head) a sink without any taps (don’t ask) and a Lazy Susan! We didn’t need any of them!.
Happy New Year everyone! We hope that you enjoy a happy, healthy and prosperous 2022. May all your scones be topscones filled with lots of lovely jam and cream! Normally we spend Hogmanay at our local pub but this year, due to COVID restrictions, we decided to give it a miss and just spent it at home.
So far, the year has been scone free but needless to say we hadn’t reckoned on our correspondents. The last place we expected to hear about a scone, however, was Fredericton, the capital of New Brunswick in Canada.
Heroic adventure
Two of our correspondents got in touch to try and claim the highest scone ever featured on this blog. Wait until Richard Branson hears about this! Will he take up the challenge? Our correspondents had gone to extraordinary lengths! Refreshing to realise that folk still have that heroic spirit of adventure; 1st to the South Pole; 1st to climb Everest etc etc. You can probably tell from the title photo, however, that they did not transport a scone to the summit of Everest, a mere 29,000 ft … no, no, no, they had higher aspirations. 40,000 ft to be precise. And even though Everest grows at 1.5 inches a year, that was going to take a long time. They eventually managed to do it albeit with a little assistance from British Airways.
Unaware
Fredericton used to be called Pointe Ste-Anne until the British drove out the French settlers in 1758 and renamed it after one of King George III’s fifteen children. What are we Brits like? The French were foreigners in Canada after all?? Whatever, we are pretty sure that the 60,000 good people of Fredricton would have had no inkling of the momentous sconological event happening directly overhead.
Scone with height confirmation from flight information
By all accounts the scone was rather good but of course our correspondents were not qualified to give any sort of award, It does look a little odd in appearance and it is amazing that Rodda’s Cornish Cream can get to these dizzying heights as well as just about everywhere else on the planet. They thoroughly enjoyed them, however, and that’s all that really matters, isn’t it! As for the highest scone award, yes this is indeed it. Our previous high flying scone was a measly 33,000 feet but we cannot remember who reported it. We have introduced a new ‘highest’ category however, so if any of you want to challenge perhaps you should contact Branson, Bezos or Musk.
Travelling in COVID times
Needless to say, our correspondents did not do this specifically to gain the highest scone award, fantastic though it may be. No, they were going to visit family in Conneticut and in these COVID times that is no mean feat. To quote “not difficult taking the tests but filling in the required half baked and inaccurate websites is mind numbing. “Help line” has now become the world’s greatest oxymoron”. They made it, however, so congratulations on that as well as their scone achievement.
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PS: when we reported from Cafe Circa we said that we would let you know what the book we bought, ‘A Tillyloss Scandal’ was about. The author was none other than J.M. Barrie who created Peter Pan. He was from Kirriemuir which he called Thrums in the many stories he wrote about the town. Most of the dialogue is in the local dialect … so not a particularly easy read! It is set in the early 1800s: “Tillyloss is three broken rows of houses in the east end of Thrums, with gardens between them, nearly every one of which used to contain a pig-sty“.
Attending your own funeral
The main character is one Tammas Haggart. When he discovered that his wife, Christy, pretended to her friends that she was married to another man he was not best pleased that she should think so little of him. He left, not knowing where he would end up. After walking some distance he eventually fell asleep sitting against a tree. He awoke to find that he had been robbed of his hat and his great coat that had been lying beside him. Unbeknown to him the thief fell into a nearby quarry and died with a badly damaged face. The local folk, however, identified him as Tammas simply by the clothes he was wearing. Later when Tammas returned to the town he overheard folk talking of his demise and of the funeral arrangements. Thus, a few days later, from a distance, he was able to observe his own funeral.
Tammas went off and had many adventures as far as Edinburgh and some even say London. Eventually some years later he returned to Thrums and, of course, caused quite a stir. Consternation caused by the fact that not only was he alive but who on earth had they buried? Tammas went home to see Christy but rather than a big welcome he found her sitting quietly by the fire smoking his pipe.
As scandals go?
So now you know. Not perhaps a scandal on the scale we have nowadays with Andrew, Duke of York and Ghislaine Maxwell. However, it turns out that Prince Andrew is simply maintaining a long standing tradition. In 1809 the then Duke of York was disgraced in similar circumstances. Have no fear, however, we are sure, that Humpty Dumpty’s Duke of York was an honourable exception … phew!
Although 4 Coo Wynd is only a few minutes walk from our home it’s three years since we were last here. Goodness, a lot has happened since then! Back then we were bemoaning the fact that businesses in Falkirk didn’t seem to last. This place was called Cafe Trio back then and before that it was Sorocha’s and before that it was Mathiesons and before that, in 2003, it was Sleeves … a record shop – remember them? Having said all that, 4 Coo Wynd is right next door to Thomas Johnston Butchers, established in 1861, so what on earth are we going on about??
Cow Wynd with Santa overhead
Three years ago we were debating the important issues of the day e.g. what jam to have with a treacle scone and would Brexit have an effect on the scone supplies. The answer to the first question was ‘none’, just butter is best. Brexit hadn’t yet happened but we were looking forward to the promised sunny uplands. Still waiting! Didn’t bother discussing COVID-19 because we had never heard of it!
Back to the present. For the benefit of our far flung readers we should perhaps explain the name “4 Coo Wynd”. It is simply the address of the cafe which, more accurately is 4 ‘Cow’ Wynd. Coo is simply Scottish pronunciation of “cow”. In the 18th century, Falkirk Tryst was the biggest cattle market in the country. The town was a rumbustious place in those days. However, there is more to Falkirk than just cows … much more.
This was as far north as the Romans got. They liked it so much they decided to settle here, a sort of shangrila. Emperor Antoninus even built a wall across Scotland and through the town to protect it from less civilised influences. Traces of this period can still be found with the ice cream parlours scattered around the town?
Falkirk has seen two major battles. The first, in 1298, was one of the major battles in the First War of Scottish Independence … can you believe it’s still going on? The second was in 1746, the penultimate battle fought on British soil but fought for the same reason as the first.
In 1565 the marriage agreement between Mary Queen of Scots and the Dauphin of France was signed at Callendar House. She would become Queen of France as well as Scotland.
In the 18th century the town became the heart of the iron industry with 61 foundries. Starting with munitions for the Battle of Trafalgar to the famous red telephone boxes still found all around the world. The inventiveness of these foundries making baths, stoves and sanitary ware led to massive increases in public health and comfort.
Now the town has the Falkirk Wheel and the Kelpies and shortly, two distilleries … what’s not to like?
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Okay, okay, the world owes a great deal to Falkirk but can we just get on with scones, we hear you cry! We decided to start with a bacon roll from their all-day-breakfast menu, followed by a fruit scone. Probably the best bacon rolls we have ever tasted … excellent! The scone was very good too but, unfortunately just not quite good enough to make the topscone grade. Shame, the service was warm and friendly, we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to 4 Coo Wynd.
Predictions
Given the current fiasco that passes for UK government we, perhaps, shouldn’t be all that surprised at the predictions of a recent poll. It says that, at the next election, ALL Scottish MPs at Westminster will be from the Scottish National Party. We did mention earlier that the first battle of Falkirk in 1298 was during the Wars of Scottish Independence. Soooo, do you think that, if this prediction actually came to pass, it would make any difference? Of course not!
the High Street
Three years ago we also reviewed a scone from Passiontree Velvet in Toowoomba, Queensland. These were the heady days of unrestricted travel and bountiful scones all over the world … ahh, the memories! Once again it looks like our scone adventuring has been brought to a shuddering halt by COVID-19. 4 Coo Wynd will probably be our last for a while. That means we need to take this opportunity to wish all our readers a very merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous 2022 when it comes. You have put up with our rants for a very long time, best wishes to you all!
It’s almost six years since we last reported from Cafe Circa. Have we really been doing this for that long?? Definitely confirms our state of mind?
Doune is not far from home so sometimes, if we have a few hours to spare, we come here to the Scottish Antiques & Arts Centre. It’s full of totally random stuff. This is definitely the place to come, to buy things you didn’t know you needed or even wanted. Today, for instance, we bought two coffee cans (one missing a saucer), a Venetian masquerade mask (don’t ask) and an 1893 book “The Tillyloss Scandal”. No idea what the book’s about but it sounds interesting. We’ll let you know!
Obviously, we don’t visit the cafe every time we are here. In the interests of expanding your sconological knowledge we would normally try and go somewhere else in the vicinity. At this time of year, however, the days are short and it was already starting to get dark as we entered. And, after six years, it needed to be re-reviewed anyway!
Nice and cosy in here though. It still occupies the same footprint it did six years ago but the decor has changed considerably! Instead of the usual COVID perspex space dividers they have voiles of thin translucent fabric that create quite a pleasing effect.
Recycling
There were many things we liked about the Cafe Circa scones. The service was great and the presentation with little pots of jam, cream and butter was excellent. We will never know why more restaurants don’t do this! The glass pots (probably recycled from the Tiptree jam you get everywhere) can just be washed out and refilled. A little extra work perhaps but much better for the planet. Unfortunately, the scones themselves (£3.50), although very good, didn’t quite make it as topscones … pity.
Cafe Circa, like everywhere else at this time of year, has their Christmas tree up and the place bedecked in an attempt to engender festive cheer. It’s usually full of people like us trying to figure out why they bought the stuff they’ve acquired a few minutes earlier. Elsewhere, however, Christmas cheer is in short supply. Omicron is on the rampage and has thrown Christmas into doubt yet again. England, at last, has followed the more sensible countries of the UK and reintroduced face masks, social distancing and may even go as far as vaccine pasports. Downing Street frowns on Christmas parties though they see to be okay with it all as long as they are termed “gatherings” or “business meetings”. Look out for mistletoe at future business meetings!!
When Robert Louis Stevenson wrote “Treasure Island” he may have been thinking of the place we are in today. He certainly was when he wrote “Memoirs of an Islet” and the poem “A Good Boy”. We know this because his ill health meant he spent much of his childhood years in this small spa town. Later when he was living in Hyères in the South of France he wrote “I shall never forget the days at Bridge of Allan; they were one golden dream”. Yes, we are in Bridge of Allan, not to take the waters but rather the scones at the Westerton Arms.
Footballers
How times have changed! Seems odd nowadays to think that, in Victorian times, whole towns grew up around a spring. There was nothing particularly special about the water apart from the fact that it was clean; something we now simply take for granted. Wealthy Victorians would flock to these towns for their health benefits. You can see echoes of this past everywhere in Bridge of Allan. Lots of green spaces and grand mansion houses that, nowadays, are largely the preserve of obscenely overpaid footballers. By the way, if you look to the left of the title picture, you can see the Paterson Memorial clock … nothing to do with us! The Paterson in question was a local doctor who served the local community for many years.
The Westerton Arms began life in 1831, almost twenty years before Stevenson was born. He, like us, may well have come here for a scone? Although almost 170 years old it is surprisingly fresh and modern inside and would appear to be undergoing still more refurbishment. The staff were very welcoming and soon had us kitted out with some excellent lunch.
Reasons to go to Samoa?
They brought our coffee while we waited for our scones and lo-and-behold it was our favourite from Henry’s Coffee Company. It doesn’t get much better than this so things were looking very promising. Unfortunately, it didn’t continue. The scones (£2.95 each) were decidedly average and served with American jam and French butter … quelle dommage! The scone itself was a fairly lifeless affair. When we expressed our disappointment we were told that all the other cakes were made in their own kitchen but they didn’t know where the scones came from?? Maybe this is why Robert Louis Stevenson left Scotland and ended up in Samoa?
Holding your breath
The Pope, on his recent visit to Greece, has scolded almost all western leaders over their treatment of immigrants. Likewise Tony Blair has been scolding the same leaders over their handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Neither Tony or Francis have the power to do anything about anything so it’s easy for them to go off on one! Will their words effect any change? Don’t hold your breath!
ps: The next day we got a lovely surprise when one of our neighbours popped in with some scones. If only the scones the day before had been as good as these they would have been topscones.
Today we are at Torwood Garden Centre just a couple of miles from home. They have a huge Blossoms Restaurant which we have visited several times. We hadn’t realised though that Blossoms had a separate dog coffee shop called Rousay’s Cafe. Rousay was the owner’s border terrier. You can get ‘pupcakes’. and even an afternoon tea. All made with dog friendly ingredients.
Now we would normally steer well clear of anywhere there are lots of dogs but on this occasion we could only see one. And it looked quite friendly. They also had scones so in the interests of diversity, inclusion and all that sort of stuff, we thought you might like us to review a dog cafe. Woof, our dedication knows no bounds!
Confusion
There was no afternoon tea on offer for mere humans so a sandwich for lunch followed by a scone was the order. The two lovely ladies behind the counter were desperately trying to operate in a space designed for one. There was much confusion … especially at the till. Eventually we got our sandwiches and they said they would bring our tea and coffee to the table. They did, but not until we were finished our lunch. No idea what was going on but neither, of course, did they. We wondered if we had sat up and begged with our tongues out would it have come quicker? It did arrive in time for our scone, however, so all was not lost. We were the only customers left by then, goodness knows what happens when they get busy.
Happy pooches
Our scone was surprising good. Not the crunchy exterior we normally like. It was sort of soft all over but rather pleasant nevertheless. It came with little pots of jam and cream. No topscone here. However, we know how daft people can get about their dogs so we’re sure they’ll really appreciate this place and will happily overlook deficiencies as long as their pooch is happy. Not for us though.
Is this sort of place supposed to fill you with joy?
Disinvited
What is it with Boris? Just as we were pledging to stop carping on about him (it had become too easy) he goes and does it again! Defending the indefensible in his own party, loosing the place in a speech to the CBI and jabbering on about Peppa Pig World. Then getting the British delegation disinvited from the EU emergency talks on stopping immigrants crossing the Channel. Mind you, last year more people left the UK than came in so shortly we might be advertising for immigrants! Now he is belatedly introducing face masks again in England because of the the new Omicron variant … but not in hospitality? C’mon Boris, give us a break! There are plenty others we would like to criticise but you keep hogging all the really ludicrous stuff for yourself!
It’s ten years since we were last here. Back then we were staying here for our daughter’s wedding which was held at nearby Hopetoun House. This time we were just on our way to the airport to do a pick-up. From the outside Dakota Edinburgh looks like a rather austere black box but inside it’s opulent interior tells a completely different story.
This had us fooled for a minute. Just a life size ornament!
More recently they made the first Dakota Deluxe Hotel in Glasgow and now there are three in Scotland and two in England. Why Dakota? The name was inspired by the revolution that took place after the first flight of the Dakota airliner between New York and Chicago in 1936. It provided sophisticated style and impeccable service at prices people could afford. That’s what this place is all about. But could they provide a half decent scone? That was the question on everyone’s lips. Okay, maybe not everyone!
It all kicked off beautifully when they came to explain that their scones were all made to order so it might take a wee while. No problem, we weren’t going anywhere and we had to get rid of a light lunch in the meantime. When they did arrive it was all presented as you would expect at the Dakota. A little bowl of clotted cream, an individually wrapped pat of butter and a pot of jam for each scone. But, of course, it’s all in the tasting. No disappointments here, they were delicious. Lovely and warm with that slightly crunchy exterior we are so fond of. No hesitation … topscone!
What would they give?
Sometimes on our scone adventures it makes us ponder on how fortunate we are. While we sit here in the lap of luxury there are fathers loading their families into tiny rubber boats to try and sail across the Channel. Families at the Belarus/Polish border that have travelled from the Middle East and Africa in search of a better life and are left freezing and hungry. Unable to go forwards or backwards. It’s hellish. By comparison we lead completely charmed lives. Do we feel guilty? Not personally but it’s hard to escape the fact that our wonderful Britain has usually played a major role in creating the misery from which these poor folks are trying to escape. What would they give for a scone at Dakota?
Discretionary?
We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Dakota Edinburgh even though it’s not exactly the cheapest … £13 for two coffees and two scones. The only downside came when a 10% ‘discretionary’ service charge was added to the bill. Presumably because it’s ‘discretionary’ you can ask for it to be removed but how many people do that? There’s a note at the bottom of the bill saying it will be passed on to the staff. Is this an admission that they don’t pay the staff enough? The service we received was excellent but we would prefer they didn’t do it this way. Just saying! But then we remember, with our charmed lives, that we actually have absolutely nothing to complain about.
Back in 2020 this was a brand new venture set up by the Roman Camp Hotel. As you might expect, it’s situated in what used to be the old potting shed for the hotel’s walled garden. It has its own staff and kitchen though so is run pretty much independently. It’s a very pleasant place to grab a bite to eat and have a stroll round the beautiful grounds on the banks of the river Teith.
We knew from previous experience that when you order a scone here you get two … one fruit and one plain. They’re relatively small though so after a light lunch we ordered a scone so that we could have one each. They came complete with little glass jars of butter and jam and a large dollop of cream. They had just been baked so were delightfully fresh and at £3 great value for money and an easy topscone … yeah!
The Roman Camp Hotel has always been painted pink. Not some girlie whim by the original owners but a sign to any Jacobite fleeing government forces that this was a safe house. Behind the wood panelling in the Library there’s a tiny hidden chapel where Catholics could worship away from prying eyes. And elsewhere, in a cupboard, lies the entrance to a secret tunnel from which those under attack could make good their escape. Bet Boris wishes he had one of these in Downing Street … or maybe he has?
