Coffista

17 August 2024 billpaterson1@me.com 5 Comments

Today is a day of firsts. Certainly the first time we have been in this place, Coffista in the Fife seaside town of Leven. We got here by travelling on the brand spam=nking new, Levenmouth railway. Closed in 1969 but reopened just two months ago. It was a miserable wet day so what else would we do but take a train trip? And if we made it to Leven by train that would be another first.

Good advice

Actually the day started with yet another first. It happened when the two of us went to our local station and asked for return tickets to Leven. The girl said a Falkirk/Leven return ticket would be a few pence short of £40. However, she said she could give us Falkirk/Edinburgh tickets then separate Edinburgh/Leven tickets for a total of £33. We don’t understand either but it was the first time we had been offered this sort of advice … great! You end up with a bundle of tickets but a saving of £7 could pay for our scones.

And here’s another first. Although the Forth Rail Bridge has been there all our lives, we had never actually been over it. Sailed under it, flown over it but never over it on a train. The Edinburgh/Leven part of our journey would sort that.

Regal Princess at the Forth Bridge — As we rumbled over the Forth Rail Bridge the Regal Princess cruise liner was on its way from Orkney to Le Havre. The other two Forth road bridges are reflected in the window

It has to be said that this new Levenmouth railway only adds a further two stations after Kirkaldy – Cameron Bridge and Leven itself. Not much you might think but it’s almost unheard of for any new stations to be added to the network so we regard it as fairly momentous. Also momentous for this part of Fife which was regarded as a deprived area. People can now live in Leven and easily commute in and out of Edinburgh. Even after just two months of its existence, there are new housing developments being built as a result of the railway.

Spirits

We should mention the village of Cameron Bridge, home to the biggest disillery in Europe. It makes Archers, Pimms,, Gordon’s and Tanquery gin as well as Smirnoff vodka. It also helps make Johnnie Walker, J&B, Bell’s, Black & White, VAT69 and White Horse whiskies. It’s on an industrial scale. and looks more like an oil refinery than a traditional distillery.

Leven, a town once famous for weaving, is in the Parish of Scoonie, Might this be an omen for our scone at Coffista? Considering “scoonie” means in Pictish, “place of the lump-like hill” perhaps not. The cafe has only been going for a few months and is run by a very enthusiastic lady who bakes everything in-house. She even makes all the jams! It had been raining but as soon as we entered the heavens opened. It was biblical! We were extremely lucky to have just stepped inside. A warm welcome and then promptly being asked if we would like cream and jam with our scones looked like the good Parish of Scoonie might actually deliver. By the time we took our seats however, we were informed that there wasn’t any cream. Would we like butter instead?

Entertaining

it was entertaining just being here … there was lots of chat. One old chap, obviously a regular, insisted on telling jokes to anyone prepared to listen. Slightly obscure jokes seemed to be a speciality but thankfully, at least he found them funny. Another elderly group were debating the life of batteries and how they don’t last as long as they used to. Maybe batteries become more important as you get older?

The owner was very proud of her steam oven and insisted on telling us all about it. Fairly technical stuff so we didn’t understand much of what she said. However, the scones did taste a little bit like they had been baked in such a device. Perfectly acceptable but maybe just a little bit “damp”? The £7 we saved on our rail tickets didn’t quite cover everything but it wasn’t far off. An enjoyable visit for all sorts of reasons but eventually it was time to brave the elements again.

Shelter

Because of the weather we decided against going to the beach. We would just take the next train back home, however, we arrivaed at the station just in time to see it leave without us … aargh! . An hour to wait for the next one so, considering the weather we made a dash for the nearest pub. Turned out to be one of these trendy steakhouse cocktail bars that specialises in BBQs. In spite of being just a few miles from the biggest distillery in Europe they only had only one British whisky and no British beers. Presumably it mustn’t be’ trendy’ to drink British? It was Expresso Martini for Pat and ‘the’ whisky for me. What is the world coming to?

Seashell decorated wall in Leven — A seashell decorated wall in Leven

In our recent post from the Orient Express we travelled on the Edinburgh tram system for the first time. We’re getting good at these travel firsts. Just build a railway or a tram system and, if there’s a scone at the end of it, we’ll be there!

painting of a Highland cow — A picture in the pub

Bollards

What with Gaza, Ukraine, India, UK, Sudan, and the US world politics is just too depressing so here’s something a little different. Recently we had a visitor who announced he was going to Edinburgh to find “the bollard”. We had no idea what was talking about but he said he only knew about it through allaboutthe scones.com. Turned out it was the Edinburgh Press Club post to which he was referring. The bollard in question marks the centre of the city from which everything is measured. As bollards go it might even be termed a topbollard? Extraordinary, some people are interested in things other than scones!

KY8 4FG tel: 07415 759832 Coffista

///stencil.drawn.coaching

Scones, Uncategorized

Laggan a’ Bhainne

10 August 2024 billpaterson1@me.com 17 Comments

After our previous post from the Orient Express you might not be unduly surprised to hear that this post comes from Laggan a Bhainne (pronounced ‘Lagan a vanya’) in the wilds of the Scottish Highlands. It’s an indulgence on our part because it’s really about our family and its origins. The justification is that many of our readers across the world know our family to a greater or lesser degree and maybe curious to learn more. For those who don’t know the family there is a scone but one that is just a bit different. For those a bit short on the Gaelic language “laggan” means a little hollow in the hills and “bhainne”, means milk. “little dell of milk” in English.

Uncle Johnny with his fog bosun — Uncle Johnny, known locally as Johnny Kyltra spend his entire working life as a deer stalker on Culachy Estate on the side of Loch Ness. He maintained that he saw the Monster. He was also fond of a dram or two … or three.

Drovers

We (the entire family) were tracing the origins of our “Uncle Johnny” McDonald on my mother’s side. He was the last “man” born on the high Corrieyairack Pass. It rises to over 2,500 feet and Laggan a Bhainne is about half way up. Donald McDonald, lived here with his wife Catherine and their family of which Johnny was one. Donald was a shepherd and part of his duties involved ensuring that the drovers taking their cattle over the pass to the sales in Falkirk, didn’t linger too long and eat all the grass. Not an easy job.

After the Jacobite uprising in 1745, General Wade built a military road over it. It linked garrisons in an effort to quell further unrest. Around 1890 the Estate changed from sheep to the more profitable deer stalking. The family whose services were no longer required had to move down to the village of Fort Augustus.

VIPs

He lived for most of his working life at Kyltra on the outskirts of the village with Mary his housekeeper. The house had no water or electricity and it still doesn’t even today. Pat and I had the pleasure of visiting and were treated to boiled eggs … a meal reserved for VIP visitors.

Kids in a truck — A 4×4 full of excited French, English and Scottish cousins

Getting our family up to Laggan a Bhainne was no mean feat but thanks to my brother’s remarkable ability to herd cats. it worked.

Convoy of 4x4s on way to Laggan a bhainne — Convoy of 4x4s with Loch Ness in the distance

It involved a 46 seater bus from Falkirk plus a fleet of all terrain vehicles to take us six miles up the Corrieyarrick. It was exciting to be travelling a route that our ancestors must have travelled on foot on many occasions. Because Laggan a Bhainne was very fertile it was used in the summer by the villagers of Fort Augustus who would bring their cattle up here in the summer. They would live in temporary houses made of turf. Our ancestors had a stone house because they lived here all year. It would have been a happy place though in the winter it must have been tough.

Piper and family at Laggan a bhainne — Some of the family standing where the house used to be and listening to the emotive tunes of Spud the Piper

When they eventually moved out the Estate flattened the house to stop it being used by poachers. There are only a few stones left lying in the grass to mark the spot .

The sky

Johnny was a well know character and piper. A journalist once asked him how he felt about having to move down to the valley. Johnny turned towards the hills and said “as long as I can still see the sky over Laggan a Bhainne“.

Family at ancestral home — Me, my sister who came over from France with her family and my brother, wearing Johnny’s kilt standing in our ancestral home

The Somme

Johnny with his pipes outside Kyltra cottage — Johnny playing outside his home at Kyltra

Johnny’s McDonald tartan kilt has a few holes. We like to think they were caused by German bullets whizzing through while he stood there defiantly playing the pipes at the Somme. Moths, however, is another possible explanation.

What about the scones? Well for this post they are imaginary. Had we been here 150 years ago, our great grandmother would have been feeding us scones with homemade cream and jam. We imagine them to be topscones.

The bath

Aged 90 he was admitted to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness. A friend visiting him asked him how he was. He replied “they’ve given me a bath, I think it’ll be the end of me“. And so it was, he developed pneumonia and died there in 1972. I attended his funeral.

Commemorative plaque at Laggan a bhainne — We left a plaque at the site to indicate to others that people used to live here.

When you are here at Laggan a Bhainne the fact that someone beat someone else by seven thousands of a second at the Paris Olympics seems supremely unimportant.

A fantastic day, thanks to all at Culachy Estate for facilitating our visit.

///reveal.glows.dreaming

ps; The river that runs through Laggan a Bhainne is the Allt a Bhainne … the river of milk. We have a rare bottle of Allt a Bhainne whisky. Only those who have actually been to Laggan a Bhainne qualify for a dram. Now there’s a challenge!

Scones, Top

Orient Express

3 August 2024 billpaterson1@me.com 12 Comments

After our previous post from Café Sunart in the wilds of Scotaland’s west coast Pat said that she was looking forward to our next trip. Little did she know it was to be on the Orient Express. Today we are travelling from Venice to Paris in the grandeur and splendour of this magnificent train. On the way we pass through Verona before crossing over the Brenner Pass to Austria. Then on to Zurich before reaching Paris for the Olympics. All the while drinking champagne and being entertained by a chap playing the music of bored piano players in restaurants the world over. If you would like to get a sense of the journey in the western part of Italy just click here Orient Express 15 480

Okay, okay, you’ve probably guessed by now that this is too silly even for us. We’re actually in a restaurant in Edinburgh that serves afternoon tea and tries to replicate the Orient Express experience. They make a very good job of it!

Contrasts

It was back in 1883 that the first train left Paris on a seven day trip to Constantinople with just forty passengers. It’s a journey I’ve done in reverse. In 1970 I had hitchhiked Falkirk to Istanbul over nine days. The return trip was by train. However, that experience was about as far away as it’s possible to get from this. There wasn’t even a buffet car, I had to rely on the generosity of my Turkish travelling companions who knew the ropes and had food and drink with them.

No such problems here. First we had to select our sandwiches from the sandwich menu and our champagne was served with a piece of strawberry delicately balanced on the rim of the glass. A three tier plate appeared with the sandwiches we had selected on the bottom, hot pastries in the middle and cakes on top. It was all delicious. As we watched the vineyards slip by on the approach to Verona we were asked how we would like our scones … plain, fruit or cherry. We both opted for fruit. There was a tea menu and coffee on offer. We were almost in Milan when they asked if they could begin preparing our scones. This is how it should be done!

Disembarkation

Our scone was accompanied with clotted cream, strawberry jam and bergamot curd. The bergamot curd was unusual … very tangy but delicious. Bergamot is supposed you help you relax … hardly necessary here. The scone wasn’t crunchy on the outside but was still fantastic. Eventually we had to disembark in Innsbruck because we had to get back for a BBQ in Falkirk courtesy of the Scotrail Express. The whole experience only cost us £25 each; great value and highly recommended!

Andy Murray has lost his doubles match at the Olympics and announced his retirement. We feel a sense of relief, pretty much the same as when Biden announced his. The modern Olympics is full of sports you only hear of at the Olympics … “race walking” and “quadruple skulls”, “BMX freestyle”, “surfing shortboard”, “golf”. Okay, we put that last one in just for badness but they all sound equally daft and a bit tiring! We’re fine where we are.

Queen Charlotte

This restaurant is in Queen Charlotte street. Queen Charlotte was born in Germany in 1744 and became queen of Great Britain and Ireland in 1761. She had fifteen children (two of them future monarchs) but that is not what she should be remembered for. No, she seems to have been responsible for the introduction of the Christmas tree. The first was at a children’s party at Windsor in 1800 … and we’ve all been mindlessly mimicking it ever since. What are we like?

EH6 7EX Tel: 0131 555 6660 Orient Express

///fishery.object.people

Ordinary, Scones

Café Sunart

31 July 2024 billpaterson1@me.com 2 Comments

Okay, somewhat belatedly, this is the final chapter of our little Ardnamurchan adventure. Reluctantly dragging ourselves away from Mingary Castle pampering, we are heading back to the Corran ferry that brought us to Ardnamurchan. Although It’s part of the mainland it feels very like an island. The ferries probably have something to do with it. But the general isolation of the place makes it feel quite islandish.

Education

Anyway, just in case readers think that the educational aspect of this blog is solely dedicated to scones, let us purge any such dastardly thoughts with this little snippet from Café Sunart in the village of Strontian, population approximately 300.

The chemical element No 38 on the periodic table (a new species of earth) was discovered in a mine here in 1790. It was named after the village where it was found. Among other uses, strontium atoms are used in the world’s most accurate atomic clock; “accurate to one second in 200 million years“. Who is going to be around to check? Anyway, who says this blog isn’t educational?

Dancing

However, rather than chemical elements, we prefer to think of the village hall. Many years ago it was the scene of one of the best ceilidhs we have ever had the pleasure of attending. Eightsome reels and Strip the Willows galore. We wouldn’t have anything like the required energy these days.

All very well, we hear you say, but what about the scones? Unfortunately, they were nothing to write home about. The service was friendly enough but the place had a slightly utilitarian ambience about it. Compared to the other scones on our trip this was the most forgettable. However, the village is very pretty and it was nice to be back again.

Shortly after leaving Strontian we were back at the Corran ferry and sadly leaving the Ardnamurchan peninsula on our way home. We have had an amazing time.

Water of life

In the Olympics in Paris, the triathlon may be demoted to a duathalon. The river Seine is too polluted for swimming. Surely a damming comment on the profligate way in which we live these days. At the Ardnamurchan distillery the water is so pure they can magic whisky out of it. Pat even bought me a bottle of the Ardnamurchan Midge as a reminder of our trip … yeah!

PH36 4HZ tel: 01967 402277 Café Sunart

///bucks.imagined.currently

Scones, Top

Mingary Castle

24 July 2024 billpaterson1@me.com 8 Comments

After having all cobwebs unceremoniously removed at Arnamurchan Lighthouse we retraced our route back to Kilchoan and Mingary Castle. Returning on the same road (the only road) we felt the sheep looked even more indignant.

External view of Mingary Castle — Built in the 13th century as a MacDonald stronghold, Mingarry Castle, with its nine foot thick walls looks difficult to get into. That was the whole idea. One ship from the Spanish Armada laid siege to it for several days before giving up.

First impressions of Mingary can be slightly off putting. There doesn’t seem to be any windows and you have to walk round to the western end to find a small door. Once through the door, however, you come in to an inner courtyard and everything changes.

Internal courtyard at Mingary Castle — The inner courtyard

How do they do it?

Sheltered from the wind it is warm and cosy in the summer sunshine. We were staying over in the MacDonald suite which ranged over two floors under the roof to the left of the above picture. This place is almost impossibly remote yet recently it has been showered with awards … AA Hotel of the Year, and chef/owner Colin Nicholson, Chef of the Year. Incredible!

We had to be careful. Dinner in the evening meant that we had to have our afternoon tea early enough not to spoil our appetite. These are the problems with which sconeys like us have to wrestle. The young girl looking after us (she had a university degree in Gaelic) was fantastic. Firstly she brought us a delicious variety of sandwiches and later presented us with three tiers of goodies. Savouries on top, sweet things in the middle and fruit and plain scones on the bottom layer. All the while keeping us continuously supplied with fresh hot tea. What about the scones? You can probably guess by now that they were absolutely perfect. Just the way we like them. Accordingly, an easy topscone and another serious competitor for Fonab Castle’s title of “best scone in the world”.

Battlements at Mingary Castle — View from the battlements towards the Sound of Mull

The media

You do feel remote here and far away from the travails of the modern world. It’s an extraordinary place. Reluctantly we looked at the news and discovered that the wall to wall coverage of Kamala Harris had been replaced by news of Janet Jackson’s upcoming tour. How fickle is the media? Which is more exciting … Kamala or Janet?

Tomorrow we head back home via the Corran ferry that brought us here. That will complete a little circular tour of this fantastic part of Scotland.

PH36 4LH tel: 01972 614380 Mingary Castle

///isolating.reconnect.liberated

Ordinary, Scones, self-service

Ardnamurchan lighthouse

22 July 2024 billpaterson1@me.com 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.

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!

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.

Manners

Nevertheless, cobweb free we ordered a scone from a chap who was cheerfully manning the centre single handedly. This 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!

Scones, Top

Little Bespoke Bakery

21 July 2024 billpaterson1@me.com 5 Comments

After our previous post from Saffron in Poole we are now about 600 miles further north at the Little Bespoke Bakery on the Isle of Mull. We did spend a couple of days at home before setting off again on this mini adventure which has been planned for some time. In Scotland at this time of year you really have to book accommodation well in advance. Tobermory was to be our first overnight stop but we were getting there by a slightly unusual route. A wee map might help.

Map of Ardour and Morvern — Corran ferry and Lochaline ferry on way to the Little Bespoke Bakery

First we drove to the Corran ferry. It takes you across a narrow strip of water to Ardgour and Morvern. It only takes five minutes and the alternative is a one hour drive. This is probably the most isolated and deserted part of Scotland. There’s a lot of what many people would describe as “nothing”, just hills and empty moors. But for us that’s the attraction. The scenery is amazing. Today, however, we were just driving through on our way south to another ferry at Lochaline. It was going to take us to Fishnish on the Isle of Mull and eventually, the Little Bespoke Bakery.

Indignant sheep

This Bakery was not our intended destination but the route between the ferries was very much single track with passing places. Also lots of sheep that seem to enjoy just casually walking along the middle of the road, slightly indignant at our presence. Almost no traffic but by the time we had crossed over on the ferry and reached the village of Salen on Mull we were ready for a scone. It’s a busy place with people coming and going all the time. In the toilet there was a sign saying “Oh, Hello Gorgeous” … no idea how they knew I would use the facilities!

They make all their own bread and a range of delicious looking cakes. However, they say a warm welcome is their speciality and that is what we got. Our scone came with cream and jam and was deliciously fresh with a lovely texture. Maybe we were overexcited about being back on Mull but the decision was, topscone.

Eventually we took our leave and carried on our way to Tobermory via Calgary Bay.

Pat at Calgary Bay — Pat dipping her toe in the water at the Calgary Bay beach

The last time we were here there was a wedding on the beach. The wedding party waiting on the beach as the bride magnificently arrived by boat. Now, that’s the way to make an entrance.

The Oath

What have we missed in the news … the State Opening of Parliament. A pointless display of obscene wealth as Charles does an Andy Murray delivery of what “his” new government intends to do for us. While taking ‘the Oath’ one new MP announced he was doing so under protest. Swearing allegiance to the King but missing out the words “and his heirs and successors“. Eventually after various threats he had to say the whole thing. About time Westminster dragged itself into the 21st century.

Great to be back in Tobermory. In the evening we went to the Mishnish, a pub with many happy memories from previous visits. This was no exception as we befriended a lovely couple from Vienna. What are the chances? When we leave here it will be on yet another ferry.

PA72 6JE tel: 01680 300200 Little Bespoke Bakery

///tomato.barstool.dogs

Scones, Top

Saffron

19 July 2024 billpaterson1@me.com 3 Comments

We are still in Poole though technically we’re in Westbourne which, to us, just seems like part of Poole. The good people of Westbourne, however, would probably disagree.It has a slightly independent air about it. With both halves being in relative agreement our new fangled granddaughter GPS system worked well on this occasion. It took us directly to Westbourne Arcade. Pat had been here shopping the day before in Rose the Store and wanted to return to thank them for being so kind and helpful. Saffron was virtually next door.

Arcade where Saffron is — Wimborne Arcade built in 1884. Lots of shops and even a small 19 seat cinema

Numerals

It’s run by a couple of high fliers. One worked as cabin crew with British Airways for many years and the other with Virgin Atlantic. With their big welcoming smiles their experience in hospitality was obvious right from the start. While our granddaughters rearranged the sugar pouches so that they were all the right way up one of them was talking about Roman numerals. Along with all the other nonsense that comes out of their mouths we thought nothing of it. Later however their parents showed us this picture which had been done at school, not as part of any kind of project but just because she “felt like it”. The original must have been about ten feet long. In vain, I desperately looked for a mistake. There had to be at least one, but no, every one correct. Sometimes kids can take you totally by surprise.

A scone and a baby chino at Saffron — Our scone complete with cream and jam plus a chocolate babychinno with marshmallows for the girls

Fresh

We also got almond croissants for the girls (don’t tell the parents) and were informed that Americans don’t know how to say ‘croissant’ properly. Apparently they say ‘croiSANT’. Our American readers should feel free to confirm or deny this dastardly rumour being put about by young British girls. We could easily tell that our scone had been baked just a few hours earlier, it was so fresh! An easy topscone.

BH4 9AY . tel: 01202 759587 Saffron FB

///into.tinsel.decks

We came to the end of our week in Poole wondering if we had done enough to entertain our granddaughters while their parents worked. Maybe the trip to Tesco followed by another to Homebase hadn’t been enough? After a wee poetry session at bedtime the night before we were presented with this little note the following morning. It was the best week for us too. Now we just have the long drive back to Scotland.

Of course, with a Microsoft global IT outage you might never receive this post … you should be so lucky!

Ordinary, Scones, self-service

Compton Acres

16 July 2024 billpaterson1@me.com 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” .

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. It 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.

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

1 July 2024 billpaterson1@me.com 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.

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!

Bottoms

Anyway, all this nothingness is not advancing your sconological knowledge one iota. The 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.

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..

Good advice

Spirits

Entertaining

Shelter

Bollards

Drovers

VIPs

The sky

The Somme

The bath

Contrasts

Disembarkation

Queen Charlotte

Education

Dancing

Water of life

How do they do it?

The media

Plonker

Surprise

Manners

Indignant sheep

The Oath

Numerals

Fresh

Personalised SatNav

Monsoon

News

Elections

Rearranging the calendar

Bottoms

by Bill and Pat Paterson and is about finding good scones throughout the world, with a little bit of politics