Category Archives: self-service

Ordinary, Scones, self-service

Pitlochry Festival Theatre

5 Comments

We are back home now after our short but very enjoyable break in Pitlochry. After our posts from Fonab Castle and Victoria’s we can now bring you one from Pitlochry Festival Theatre which we visited on our final day.

Advert for the Sound OF Music
The hills are alive

Currently they are putting on the Sound Of Music. Sadly though, there are no performances on two days every week and we were there on one of them. The cafe was open, however, so all was not lost. A scone coming up but first a fairy tale!

External view of the Pitlochry Festival Theatre

Fairy Tale

Readers could easily be forgiven for asking how a small town like Pitlochry in rural Perthshire with a population of less than 3000 has a theatre at all. The theatre could comfortable seat a fifth of the population. The story of the theatre is a bit of a fairy tale in itself and testament to one man’s vision and single minded determination.

In the early days of WWII, John Stewart, head of Skerries College in Glasgow, hid a slip of paper in a wooden post down by the River Tummel. It read ‘When peace is declared I shall return to this spot to give thanks to God and to establish my Festival’. On VE Day he did just that.

View of Port na Craig ferry site
Port-na-Craig was the site of the original ferry that crossed the River Tummel, connecting it to Pitlochry. The theatre roof can be seen behind Port-na-Craig
Whisky Galore

Because of the post war shortage of building materials he could not get permission from the government to build the theatre.

Bridge over the River Tummel
The ferry operated until 1913, when a suspension footbridge was built

As a result the theatre began life as a large tent in the garden of his Knockendarroch House. In 1952 a storm destroyed the tent almost spelling the end of the theatre. Stewart, however, formed a Society to which he gave over his house, garden and workshops. The Society was able to build a more substantial theatre at Knockendarroch and gave him permission to continue living in his own house.  Success followed success and 1959 saw the world premier of Whisky Galore – The Musical in the current building at Port-na-Craig. Incredible! And we have to arrive on a day when there’s nothing on! However, the future for the “theatre in the hills” looks bright. The new Artistic Director is none other than local boy and fierce campaigner for Scottish Independence, Alan Cumming.  Internal view of the Pitlochry Festival Theatre

The theatre itself is impressive and the cafe is a fairly typical self service facility in the foyer area. A scone at the Pitlochry Festival TheatreIt’s a large light airy space and surprisingly busy considering the time of year and the fact that there were no live performances. There was a choice of plain and fruit scones so as usual, we chose fruit. They looked as if they had loads of fruit and they did, maybe too much. Not a topscone but very enjoyable nevertheless.

Tickety boo?

Pitlochry seems like another world where everything is just fine. When you are here in the Festival Theatre it feels even more like another world.

Sign in Pitlochry
It’s a sign

In the real world, however, things aren’t quite so tickety boo. That Far Eastern beacon of democracy, South Korea, has suddenly and inexplicably declared martial law. Luckily North Korea has sent half its army to fight with Russia in Ukraine. Russia has also resumed fighting in that almost forgotten war in Syria. In Europe, France seems determined to make itself ungovernable. Across the pond, at the risk of giving banana republics a bad name America continues with its system of Presidential pardons. Why? The hills are alive with the sound of people scratching their heads!

PH16 5DR           tel: 01796 484626         Pitlochry Theatre

///charge.choppers.talents

Ordinary, Scones, self-service

Dynamic Earth

9 Comments

The title picture is of Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh with the Salisbury Crags and Arthur’s Seat in the background. Obviously you want to know the age of Arthur’s Seat, everyone does, don’t they? It’s a 346 million year old extinct volcano, give or take a couple of million. Back then, fire and lava would have been spewing everywhere!  But,of course, that all happened when Scotland was much closer to the equator than it is today … obviously!  Another old Celtic explanation is that a huge dragon used to terrorise the city until one day it ate too much,  lay down to sleep and turned into the Arthur’s Seat.  Today, looking up at the craggy hill, for some reason the dragon explanation seems much more believable.External view of Dynamic Earth

Awkward questions

The only reason we are able to furnish you with these little nuggets is because we’re here with a couple of granddaughters at the Dynamic Earth Science Centre and Planetarium. It tells the epic story of how planet earth began. The girls are always asking awkward questions so this seemed like the place to get some answers.Internal view of Dynamic Earth

You know how they say that the best place to start is at the beginning. Well. here you can enter a Time Machine which takes you all the way back to the Big Bang. The visual and sound effects are amazing. At one point you have to hang on to railings as the ground violently shifts and rumbles beneath your feet and volcanoes explode all around. Luckily, rather than millions of years, it only takes about 90 minutes to walk all the interactive experiences from the Big Bang back to the present day. However, you do emerge from the Time Machine with more than a touch of information overload.Lola and Ebba holding up the world

Facts and figures

Our 9 and 11 year old girls are fascinated by tectonic plates and how mountains and valleys are formed so this was ideal for them. Did you know that continents move 2cm every year? Did you know that 200,000 people are born ever day or that 2 people die every second? Well, if you didn’t, you do now!

These days, for Pat and I, information overload kicks in pretty early. What a relief then to find A cheese scone at Dynamic Earththat there was no thinking  or decisions required at the cafe. Cheese scones, take them or leave them!  We took them along with a bowl of lentil soup. The girls had a kiddies goodie bag which they emptied in double quick time.. The soup/cheese scone combo was surprisingly good and much easier digested than some of the rather mind boggling facts and figures. It was never going to be a topscone but enjoyable nevertheless.Internal view of Dynamic Earth

Differentiation

Our 11 year old is fascinated by Time Machines. When we suggested that she just wanted to go back to the beginning of time, we were emphatically corrected. “No. I just want to go back 70,000 years!” Okay, why just 70,000 years?. “Because that’s when human’s cognitive abilities developed so that they could differentiate themselves from other animals“. she explained in her serious voice. A slow “okaaay” was our only response. These girls are a constant source of surprise and joy.

Cognitive development
Lola holding up the world
Maybe she can save the world?

However, given that we have presumably been developing our cognitive skills over 70,000 years it makes the slanging match that characterises the American Presidential elections somewhat puzzling. You’d think, after all that time, that selecting the most powerful person on earth would be a tad more sophisticated.

But we should know by now that people are fickle. Australians, for example. Recently Lidia Thorpe protested during King Charles’s visit to Australia with “You are not my King“. Charlie’s official title is “King Charles the Third, by the Grace of God King of Australia and His other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth”. The question is why do people, particularly straight thinking Australians, put up with this sort of nonsense? Even the King himself, a thoroughly decent chap, looked embarrassed being reminded of Britain’s genocidal land grabbing tendencies. Privately, we suspect he would have been on Lidia’s side.

Now they are discussing dropping the word “Empire” from the King’s honours list. Could this be yet another attempt to sanitise Britain’s history. Perish the thought!

External view of Dynamic Earth
Starting to get dark as we left Dynamic Earth
Fungi?

The only slight disappointment to our day was the  Planetarium visit. We had always assumed that Planetariums only did things about planets.  On this occasion it was all about fungi! Interesting enough but not what we had expected. In terms of learning, we did learn not to make assumptions! An very enjoyable day of time travel for everyone concerned.

EH8 8AS         tel: 0131 550 7800             Dynamic Earth

///clots.lived.margin

Ordinary, Scones, self-service

John Lewis

3 Comments

As department stores go John Lewis is just a little bit different. It began back in 1864 with a small drapery shop in London’s Oxford Street and has prospered ever since. Okay, but what makes it different? Its full name is the John Lewis Partnership because all of its 74,000 staff are partners in the company and share in its success. Part of their mission statement states “Driven by our ambition to make the world a happier place by leading with kindness and delivering integrity“. The cynic might say “Well they would say that, wouldn’t they“

Well we were a bit cynical as well but then we experienced it first hand. We’ve given up looking for hydrangeas and now we are on the hunt for an armchair. John Lewis has a huge furniture department hence we’re here at their Glasgow store.Entrance to the cafe at John Lewis department store in Glasgow

A slip of paper

However, In spite of an amazing range we couldn’t quite find what we were looking for. One of the staff tried very hard to help us but eventually he apologised and gave up. Asking if there was anything else he could help us with, we asked “the war in Ukraine?” He just smiled and took himself off. A bit later on, however, he caught up with us again and handed us a slip of paper. He felt bad that we hadn’t found a chair so this little piece of paper entitled us to free coffee and cakes in their cafe. How kind was that? For us, the world was indeed a happier place.Internal view of cafe at John Lewis department store in Glasgow

Baristas?

Suffice to say, this little piece of paper forced us to find their cafe and eat scones and drink coffee. Otherwise it would never have crossed our minds … honest! Previously we have reported on The Cafe by Benugo which is an independently run restaurant on the third floor. This time we were in their own self service cafe ‘The Place To Eat‘ on the first floor. Like the store the cafe is huge. There was a bit of a log jam around all three coffee serveries (it takes a long time to make a coffee these days) but eventually we had what we wanted and were able to find a table by a window.

View down Sauchiehall Street from our table
View from our table up Sauchiehall Street on a rainy day

They have a large sign saying “Please leave everything on your table, we will clear it up“. And they did! There must have been about sixty or seventy tables but as soon as anyone left, the table was cleared and cleaned. a scone at John Lewis department store in GlasgowIt was diffucult to choose between looking out the window at everything going on outside or just watch all the comings and goings in the cafe. Dilemas, dilemas! It was all really good. Nice little pots of clotted cream and jam and the scone iteself was wonderfully textured with just the right amount of crunch. A topscone had it not been for the self-service nature of the place.Internal view of cafe at John Lewis department store in Glasgow

A happy place?

We were impressed, this place does do it’s best to make the world a happier place. Of course, there’s only so much they can do. Our young chap didn’t have any answers for Ukraine but then, no-one else does either. It’s impossible to see how either side can win. And now, with long range missiles in the mix, it seems to be in danger of escalating in to goodness knows what. In the Middle East, with the might of the US behind them, Israel cannot help but win the war … but they will never know peace. No winners, only unhappy losers. With their expertise in kindness and making things ‘happy’ perhaps a John Lewis management team  could provide a few pointers?

G1 2GF        tel: 0141 353 6677          John Lewis Partnership

///upper.clips.tides

Ordinary, Scones, self-service

Ardnamurchan lighthouse

1 Comment

Someone said “Go west young man”  so that’s what we are doing today. Ignoring the “young” bit, we are heading as far west as it’s possible to go on the UK mainland. It is, of course, Ardnamurchan and the most westerly point there is at Ardnamurchan lighthouse. This is as close to America as it’s possible to get on the British mainland. So we feel obliged to interrupt this post with the news that Joe Biden has bowed to the inevitable and pulled out of the Presidential race.

Plonker

We have listened to the endless speculation about what happens next but, for us, the most noteworthy  thing about the whole situation is Trump’s comments about Biden. Only a complete plonker could be soooo ungracious. It’s beyond comprehension that a country like the US could only find Biden and Trump as Presidential candidates … unbelievable! It will be interesting to see what happens now, not that anyone cares much in Ardnamurchan.Map of Ardnamurchan

Not as interesting, however, as this post.  Today we are taking the ferry from Tobermory to Kilchoan. We joined the queue for the 9.30 and guess what, when it was our turn it was full. We couldn’t get on. The only consolation being that we were car no1 for the next one at 11 o’clock.

The ferry at Tobermory
First ferry was full of cars and the second one looked like it might fill up with foot passengers

After a walk around the town we returned only to find a horde of foot passengers.  The boat was so full of passengers it looked as if there might not be enough room for cars. And you think America has problems! It all got sorted, of course, and we were on our way at last. Turned out that all the cheery passengers were going to the annual Highland Games at Kilchoan.

Oil painting of Ardnamurchan lighthouse
A dramatic painting by G Scott Grier of the lighthouse

We disembarked and headed off across more miles of single track roads … the sheep seemed no less indignant. You go until you can go no further; you are at the end of the road and at the lighthouse. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was very windy with gusts that stopped you in your tracks.

The fog horn at Ardnamurchan lighthouse
Pat at the fog horn, desperately clinging on to avoid being blown off to America.
Surprise

To our surprise there was a visitor centre which sold all sorts of memorabilia … and a cafe with scones!The cafe at Ardnamurchan lighthouse

Being in out of the wind was a huge relief although Pat seemed to actually enjoy the wind more than she should … she found it invigorating. The cafe at Ardnamurchan lighthouse

Manners

Nevertheless, cobweb free we ordered a scone from a chap who was cheerfully manning the centre single handedly. A scone at Ardnamurchan lighthouseThis used to be a stable block. Lovely stone walls and cobbled flooring. It also has an outside seating area however today our scone along with everything else would have disappeared immediately in the wind. Maybe our scone could have nlown over and hit Trump on the head and knocked some manners into him. Having said that our scone was lovely and light so that probably wouldn’t have worked. 

Our visit here was really enjoyable. The climb to the top of the lighthouse involves 152 steps and two ladders. We thought about it for at least a nanosecond, the scone was quite enough for us.

PH36 4LN        tel: 01972 510210       Ardnamurchan Lighthouse

///depths.perusing.gossip

ps: on our away to the lighthouse we came across one of these little honesty shops. Just leave the money for whatever you took. There was even a little bowl of money so that you could take your change … wonderful!An honesty shop on Ardnamurchan

 

Ordinary, Scones, self-service

Compton Acres

2 Comments

Compton Acres isn’t exactly local for us. Indeed, it’s about as far away as you can get in Poole in Dorset. We are visiting our family here on England’s south coast. Compton Acres is a 10 acre ornamental  garden with a restaurant/café. While the parents were working we decided to take ourselves and entertain our grandchildren there.

Personalised SatNav

It’s only a five minute drive from their house but our granddaughters, aged nine and eleven, insisted that we switch off the car’s SatNav because they knew where it was. They would act as our own personal GPS. They then proceeded to impersonate our GPS lady. The main problem was that there was two of them and they couldn’t agree. One would say “at the end of the street turn right” but the other would say “no, it’s left“. Suffice to say that after a couple of circuits of the town they eventually agreed to let us turn on the car’s GPS. As it happened we were actually almost there. If we had left them for another minute or so we might have had a triumphant chorus of “you have reached your destination” .Internal view of Compton Acres

Monsoon

Compton Acres is the sort of place that thrives on bus parties on day excursions. It was very busy. Nothing for it but to join the queue at the self service counter. A scone at Compton AcresIt didn’t take too long, however, and we were soon kitted out with a fruit scone to share and hot chocolate and brownies for the girls.  The scone was excellent and could easily have been a topscone if it hadn’t been self-service. It was so busy that we invited two elderly ladies who were having difficulty finding a table to sit with us. They were a delight and had great chat. Having already been round the gardens they warned us that it was very slippery underfoot in places. Unfortunately, by the time we have finished our scone the rain was torrential. We decided to leave our tour of the gardens until the weather was less monsoon like.External view of Compton Acres

News

In these days of wall to wall bad news one of the benefits of being away is that we hardly get any. Too busy with other things. We can, however, report that the Labour Party is now in government. People are waiting to see if they can make less of a mess of it than the Tories. Hard to see how they could be worse so fingers crossed! Of course, the news that Donald Trump had been shot also filtered through. America seems to be even more divided than the UK and that’s saying something. Hopefully some sort of common sense will prevail and the US, like the Donald’s ear will be able to heal itself.

Much greater than all of that, of course, is the fact that England’s footballers were beaten by Spain in the final of the Euros. The post mortem will go on and on and on. The last team to beat Spain was actually Scotland but we weren’t going to mention that … oops!

Lola at Compton Acres
Trying to take a picture of a cup and photobombed by one half of our GPS system

Making our way back to the house you will be delighted to know that our new personalised GPS system actually worked. It shows great promise if you can put up with the nonsense that goes with it.

BH13 7ES       tel: 01202 700778          Compton Acres

///loads.crunch.wishes

Ordinary, Scones, self-service

Hopetoun Garden Centre

3 Comments

We visited Hopetoun Garden Centre back in 2018 and although it’s only a 15 minute drive away we haven’t been back until now. There are just too many garden centres closer to home. This is a good one however, with lots of architectural stuff. If you are looking for a statue of the Three Graces you’re in the right place.

Elections

On a week where the Great British Public go to the polls to elect our government for the foreseeable future there were several thought provoking signs amongst the plants here.  Having been bored to death by the efforts of those  campaigning to be our next Prime Minister, this sign seemed to strike a cord.A sign at Hopetoun Garden Centre

Rearranging the calendar

This one at the entrance commemorates a non-event in 1782. Could July 4th 2024 be another?

A sign at Hopetoun Garden Centre
It was a Wednesday

Nothing definitely happened from the 2nd to the 14th September 1753 mainly becuase these days just didn’t exist. They had to disappear to bring Britain into line with the rest of Europe that used the Gregorian calendar. There were riots by folks who thought the government had shortened their lives by eleven days.  Can’t imagine that people with birthdays on any of the missing days would have been too happy either. This was also the year in which Britain declared January 1st to be New Year’s Day; something Scotland had done 153 years earlier, in 1600. We like a party!Internal view of the Orangery tearoom at Hopetoun

Bottoms

Anyway, all this nothingness is not advancing your sconological knowledge one iota. A scone at the Orangery tearoom at HopetounThe café area is large and called The Orangery. It’s self-service and we were lucky enough to get the last cherry scone.  There was plain and fruit but we thought the cherry one to share suited our mood. No cream but a nice little pot of jam and some Irish butter completed the ensemble. I usually get stuck with scone bottoms as Pat snaffles the tops. On this occasion, however, she offered me a portion of the top so I could experience its delicious crunchiness. It was really nice and potentially a topscone had everything else been in place. A sign at Hopetoun Garden Centre

We have our election in four days and the US has theirs in four months. The prospects there might even be worse than the UK’s. One candidate doesn’t seem to know what day of the week it is and the other refuses to believe it’s Monday because he  thinks it’s a conspiracy by Tuesday people. Does the world need better than this right now … yes it does!

EH52 6QZ                tel: 01506 834433           Orangery

///emotional.zone.driftwood

Our Trossachs correspondents have reported from the good ship Fingal, a floating hotel which we reviewed back in 2019. Back then the scones were round and excellent but evidently they are now square.  Scotland is rightly proud of its square sausage but we have never come across square scones before. In 2019 we thought Fingal was perfect for itinerant millionaires so we had better start saving if we want to sample square scones for ourselves..Square scones at Fingal

Ordinary, Scones, self-service

Mill Café

5 Comments

The Mill Café is not the building in the title picture, but it’s in there somewhere! The building is obviously part of the Sterling Furniture Warehouse which started life in 1846 as Devonvale Mill. Producing tartan to begin with it has seen many incarnations in its time. Since 1974, however, it’s been this furniture warehouse, the biggest in Scotland. The Mill Café name obviously hints at its original use.Logo of the Mill Café

We are here because we thought we should buy a new chair. We don’t know how many chairs they have here but it must run into thousands. There’s a danger for some, or me in particular, to become ‘chair blind’ … they all start to look the same. When that happens you can become distracted by other things. For me it was these standard lamps.Standard lamps at Sterling Furniture

I was gently but firmly reminded that we already had more than enough standard lamps. and ushered off towards the café.Internal view of the Mill Café

Fruit scone no more

In keeping with the size of the warehouse the Mill Café is not exactly small. It’s self-service but quite efficient. A scone at the Mill CaféWe were soon equipped with a light lunch and a plain scone to share. All the fruit scones had gone. We were told that the fruit scones always sell out very quickly. You might think it should occur to them simply to make more. It’s a wee while since we last had a plain scone so that was to be today’s scone adventure. It was actually very nice. Although not crunchy it had an overall nice consistency and was quite light. Self service, no cream and no hope of a topscone but enjoyable nevertheless. External view of the Mill Café

Poor choices

“Chair blindness” is one thing but we are also developing “promise blindness”. All parties are issuing a great vomit of promises which anyone with half a brain knows they can’t keep. The Tory leader has tried to illustrate his deprived millionaire upbringing by saying that he didn’t have Sky television as a child … diddums! The Labour leader, like a child desperate for friends, continues to welcome a host of unsavoury characters to his side.The LibDem leader is actually just a big kid. And we wouldn’t insult children by drawing a comparison to the Reform Party leader. Aaaargh, the General Election is just a couple of  weeks away! Thank goodness in Scotland we have other parties to vote for.

Across the pond we have the delightful prospect of Biden, with a convicted criminal son running against another convicted criminal. Russia and China begin to look remarkably sensible in the circumstances.

We didn’t buy a chair … waiting for our sight to return to normal!

FK13 6NS          tel: 01259 755191            Mill Café

///verges.habits.stupidity

Scones, self-service, Top

Cafe Portrait

4 Comments

A few months ago we visited Cafe Portrait in late afternoon only to be told that if we wanted any of their “absolutely delicious” scones we would have to be there much earlier in the day. The manner in which we were told sounded almost like a challenge, throwing down the gauntlet, even!

External view of the National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh
Opened in 1889 at a cost of £70,000, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery on Queen Street
Scones versus lunch

Never ones to shirk a scone challenge we set about it today. Rather conveniently the Portrait Gallery is on the same street as the Whisky Society where we were to have lunch. Suffice to say we were there early enough and they had scones … fruit and cheese and mustard. Mindful of our lunch date later we decided to share one of the cheese and mustard scones … unexplored territory for us!  But first we spent some time going round the exhibits.

Internal view of the National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh
The Foyer. The Gallery was built in 1889 at a cost of £70,000 funded by John Ritchie Findlay, owner of The Scotsman newspaper.

Scotland certainly had its fair share of heroes and scoundrels. Here’s a random selection.

Robert Burns
Robert Burns, reproduced on shortbread tins the world over, this is the first time we have seen the original by Alexander Nasmyth in 1787
Gregor MacGregor
Gregor MacGregor painted in 1804. Scotland’s greatest scoundrel through selling packets of useless land in a semi fictitious Kingdom in Central America. Somehow he managed to be buried with full military honours in Venezuela
Portraits of Flora MacDonald and Bonnie Prince Charlie
Flora Macdonald who famously helped Bonnie Prince Charlie escape to France (painted by Richard Wilson in 1747) and the Bonnie Prince himself (painted by William Mosman in 1750)
Execution of Charles I
The rather jolly looking beheading of Charles I. Perhaps we have progressed after all … Charles III shouldn’t have to worry too much nowadays (painted by Jan Wessop in 1649)

Okay, but what about the scones? Cafe Portrait is big and airy and busy.  We might discover whether or not their rather immodest claims for their scones were justified or not.Internal view of the National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh

A first

There’s lots of delicious looking food on offer but, mindful of our lunch date, we only wanted a scone to share. A scone at the National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh The fruit scones looked good but we decided to be adventurous and try their cheese and mustard offering. We hadn’t come across that combination before. No need for jam and cream, butter was all that was required. It was delicious with a lovely textured crunch and soft interior that tasted like nothing we had tasted before. Probably more cheesy than mustardy but the two together formed a very savoury treat! We had to admit that their original bragging was entirely justified and we felt slightly chastened for having even doubted it … topscone.

Illogical

The only downside to our visit was that the lift wasn’t working.

Painting of photographer with a plate camera
I started my career on plate cameras like this. Now, just fifty years later, I only ever use my phone … incredible.

Turned out that it hasn’t worked for the whole of this year. Apparently it’s the only one of its type in the world and they are currently waiting for technicians to come from Italy to try and fix it. Only the directors of an art gallery could get into a situation where a completely unique lift is required. Hopefully it will be sorted soon because there are a lot of stairs.

Talking of illogical decisions It would appear that this year the world reached an all time spending high of £2.6 trillion on arms manufacturing. Surely this is an indictment on all of us. Just think for a second on what that vast amount of money could have done had we not directed it towards death and destruction. The world needs a ‘reset’ button where it can return to original settings. But were the original settings any better? Aaaargh!

And today Humza Yousaf stepped down as First Minister of Scotland in a very graceful speech. Probably too nice a man for politics, it will be interesting to see what happens now.

Robert Moffat missionary
Robert Moffat missionary with John Mokoteri and Sarah Roby. Mokoteri and Roby were supposedly his adopted children but were more akin to servants

In case you’re worried, we hadn’t spoiled our appetite and managed a fantastic lunch at the Whisky Society, helped down by a few glasses of the amber nectar.

EH2 1JD         tel: 0131 624 6200          Cafe Portrait

///supporter.united.emerge

Scones, self-service, Uncategorized

Verdant Works

3 Comments

This post comes from the Verdant Works, a jute manufacturing factory in Dundee. Why, you might well ask? Well, we’re on an outing with the Falkirk Local History Society and the organisers are none other than our very own Trossachs correspondents. And, of course, where they are involved, there may very well be scones as well. Also the Verdant Works is interesting from a historical point of view. At one time jute manufacturing was a huge industry for Dundee. It was the centre of the jute world and even acquired the nickname “Juteopolis”.

Courtyard at Verdant Works
Verdant is a rare example of a “courtyard” mill
Jute, whales and ships

Thousands of tons of jute were imported from Calcutta when India and Pakistan were still British colonies. Embroidered crest for The Weaver Incorporation of DundeeIt wasn’t much use in its raw state because it was too rigid and brittle. Dundee , however, also had a whaling industry and whale oil was found to be ideal to soften it.  It could then be woven into a multitude of high value goods. Dundee also built the ships used to transport the jute to this country. It had everything going for it! Eventually, however, the Indians and Pakistanis wised up and realised that they could produce these goods much cheaper themselves. Today there is no jute industry in Dundee, only these buildings preserved by the Dundee Heritage Trust, stand as testament to a bygone era.

Aerial view of Verdant Works
In 1833 the Verdant Works (centre, picture taken 1963) was so called because it was surrounded by lush green countryside. Within a few years there was 50,000 people employed in the jute industry and the green fields had gone for ever.
Tiding us over

A scone at Verdant WorksAfter the bus journey from Falkirk our correspondents had wisely placed tea and scones pretty near the start of our tour. It’s a big place and not the sort that you can just skip round in half an hour. There’s a cafe at the Verdant Works but it’s relatively small and not suited to a sudden influx of around 60 people. We were taken to a suitable  upstairs room  where a guide was able to give us the A – Z of Verdant history while we had our tea. You just helped yourself to the scones, butter and jam. Internal view of Verdant WorksUnfortunately the scones were a bit industrial, like our surroundings. Rather heavy and solid, definitely not the best. However, after our journey to get here we were very grateful to have them and they were good enough to tide us over to lunch later at the House of Dun. Readers cannot buy these scones unless, like us, you are on an organised tour so they are “uncategorised”.

Pat at Verdant Works
Happy girl after a scone
Romantic notions

Victorian living conditions in DundeeNowadays most people don’t even know what jute is never mind that it was the basis of such a huge industry in Scotland. Anybody courting the notion that Victorian times were in some way romantic times quickly had that idea dispelled. Although a few people made vast fortunes, it was always off the backs of those exploited in India, Pakistan and here in Dundee. Poverty was rife. Women and children, some as young as six or seven, were used in the machine shops. Men, deemed not to have the necessary dexterity, were left at home to look after the children. The horrendous clatter of machines on the shop floor was deafening and these women could only communicate by lipreading. There was no Health & Safety so children were sometimes  shredded when drawn into the machinery, It was about as far away from romantic as it was possible to get..

Union banner at Verdant Works
A Union banner from 1885 gives a hint of what conditions were like

Until visiting the Verdant Works we didn’t know much about the jute industry either so it was absolutely fascinating. Many thanks to our correspondents who did a first class job organising this and the rest of our outing … absolutely brilliant!

Don’t know nothin’
The cludgie
People touring the works are tempted to peek round the door of the cludge (toilet) only to be startled by a loud voice saying “oy, there’s someone in”. Hilarious, people get such a fright

Donald Trump may have been caught with his trousers down as well. The courtroom battle currently underway into his affairs is fascinating, as much for his idiotic behaviour as anything else. However, we’re pretty sure his foaming-at-the-mouth supporters will undoubtedly keep following, come what may. The inquiry into the Post Office Horizon scandal that ruined so many lives is discovering that those in top management positions seemingly knew nothing about it. In fact it would appear that none of them knew anything about anything. That would go a long way to explaining the state of the Post Office today.

DD1 5BT         tel: 01382 309060              Verdant Works

///feast.skills.cure

Ordinary, Scones, self-service

Bothy Bakery

5 Comments

The Bothy Bakery is in Grantown-on-Spey in the Scottish Highlands, so how did we end up here? And before you jump to conclusions although this is the heart of whisky country, it’s not that. Normally we go to Ness Estates near Inverness for Easter with the family. This year, however, we

Delnabo Lodge
Delnabo Lodge

decided on Delnabo Lodge near Tomintoul, the UK’s highest village. At 1200 feet it’s a risky strategy in March/April when there was still a risk of snow. Have you ever tried rolling eggs in snow? Anyway, we drove there and the family all arrived safely from a combination of Inverness and Edinburgh airports. Delnabo Estate covers 3000 acres and the Lodge can accommodate up to 18 guests in total luxury. There’s only 13 in the family so we invited a family friend to join us.

Sign for the Bothy Bakery, Grantown-on-SpeyHe said he would travel by train and meet us in Grantown-on-Spey. That’s why we are here! Couldn’t find the station so we asked a lovely old  lady in the street who said “There’s no station here but there bloody well should be” smiled and walked on. Turned out the nearest station was in Aviemore, 14 miles away. Our friend doesn’t use a mobile phone (we know??) so we were in a bit of a quandary. True to form, he just turned up having taken a bus from Aviemore.

External view of the Bothy Bakery, Grantown-on-Spey
Grandkids perusing the cakes

Grantown is a nice place with lots of little independent shops and craft places. There’s lots of cafés but a  young chap in one of the art galleries told us the best cafe was the Bothy Bakery, in a local industrial estate. Didn’t sound too exciting but we decided to give it a go anyway. Turned out not to be a café as such but a bakery with a few tables and chairs outside in the car park. No worries, it was a nice day and all the food including the scones looked great. 

The Kiwi owner founded the very successful Mountain Cafe in Aviemore several years ago but it didn’t survive COVID. A scone at the Bothy Bakery, Grantown-on-SpeyHe decided to reinvent his operation and set up the Bothy Bakery, here in his home town. There’s plenty people working in the bakery and they deliver everything to the surrounding area so it seems to be successful. No airs and graces here and no cream either! Our scone was placed in a brown paper bag and we went outside with what they described as some Kick Ass coffee. There was also some prepacked Irish butter and a plastic tub of strawberry jam in the bag. The scone was actually very nice and it was lovely to be sitting out in the sun with all the family. A puppy at the Bothy BakeryHowever, our granddaughters abandoned us completely as soon as a girl appeared with a cardboard box containing a puppy. Can’t compete with a puppy!

PH26 3TA       tel: 01479 788011        Bothy Bakery

///shelters.liquid.twitching