Tag Archives: 2001: A Space Odyssey

Ordinary, Scones

Brig o’ Turk Tearoom

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In the past, whenever we have been here in this part of the Trossachs, the Brig o’ Turk Tearoom has been closed. Today we seem to be retracing events of 1973 when we got married in a Glasgow registry office before driving in HAL, our trusty Citroen Dyane, to the village of Strathyre for our reception.

Pat with HAL in 1972

As we drove over the Duke’s Pass with its multiplicity of hairpin bends we marvelled at the fact that we ever made it to Strathyre. With four of us in the car it must have taken all of HAL’s 602cc to power us up these inclines (he was named after the computer that had a mind of its own in 2001, Space Odyssey). In terms of performance  HAL, with a following wind, could do 0-60mph slightly faster than it takes to soft boil an egg. We loved HAL dearly and were very sad when we eventually had to go our separate ways.

Today we are in another French car but much more powerful … no need to take account of the wind direction. We descended the other side of the Pass and were treated to fabulous views of Ben A’an and  the surrounding hills. We felt we were very lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the world. And as if to confirm that thought, when we reached the tiny hamlet of Brig o’ Turk, the tearoom was open … lucky, lucky, lucky!

Salacious

Externally it looks like a big green shed but it’s a big green shed that’s been here for 100 years. It first opened its doors in 1923 and it’s been fairly eventful.  The tearoom was used as a set in the remake of the film “the 39 Steps”. Brig o’ Turk was also the setting for a famous love triangle. It was between the much celebrated writer,  artist and philosopher, John Ruskin, his wife Effie Gray and John Everett Millais. The affair has been made into a Netflix film “Effie Gray“. If you want more detail you should watch it. The story is much too salacious to be recounted on an erudite, genteel scone blog such as this.Internal view of Brig o' Turk Tearoom

Veggie

Internally it looks quite pleasant but still rather shed like. We were going to be eating again later so for now we just wanted tea and a scone. A scone at Brig o' Turk TearoomIt’s one of these places which is enthusiastically vegatarian. They are determined that you will leave healthier than when you came in. They pride themselves on their local produce … even the menu is limited until their vegetable garden starts to produce. Why then is their Meadow Churn butter not local and from the Iceland supermarket? Of course, there was no cream so just the scone  with the butter and some jam. It was all rather nice though and we were happy that we had managed to  visit the tearoom at long last.Logo of Brig o' Turk Tearoom

Just a few hundred yards from the tearoom lies the bicycle tree. A young man going off to fight in WWI left his bike lying against the tree. It either says something for the honesty of the neighbourhood or the state of his bike that it wasn’t stolen. He never returned to collect it and the tree slowly grew up round about it. Parts of the bike can still be seen about eight feet up protruding from the trunk. In 2015 it was given protected status. It’s not a threat to anyone competing in the Tour de France although the young man probably died there.External view of Brig o' Turk Tearoom

Don’t mess

The Westminster politicians currently messing with the devolution settlement for Scotland should be thankful that they won’t have to deal with Ellen Stewart. She’s a bit of a hero with folks in Brig o’ Turk. In 1650 when Cromwell’s army was blazing a bloody trail across Scotland leaving thousands dead they eventually came to the Trossachs. For safety the locals decided to place their women and children on an island on Loch Katrine. However, when an English soldier decided to swim out and capture their boat he hadn’t reckoned with the women folk in these parts. As he clambered up the rocks on the beach Ellen promptly chopped his head off with a sword. Don’t mess with the Scots … especially the women!

FK17 8HT        Tel: 01877 376283     Brig o’ Turk Tearoom

///crispy.shallower.lashed

ps: the other day, friends invited us round to their house for an afternoon catchup and some nibbles. The nibbles, of course, turned out to be scones.

Half were plain and the other half were fruit. Gently warmed by the sun, lots of jam and cream and the company of good friends … lucky, lucky, lucky again!

pps: recently I was lamenting to a Texan singer/songwriter friend that the older I got the less I seem to understand. She replied that knowing how little you know is in itself, wisdom. Okay, it was never in doubt but I would just like readers to know that although I don’t know anything, I am wise!

Ordinary, Scones

The Greengrocer Café

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 The logo of the Greengrocer café, StirlingBack in the day when Scotland was a proud, honest and self-respecting country rather than the rather sad colony it has become, the town of Stirling epitomised the struggle between Scotland and its southern neighbour. Its very name means ‘place of strife’. From 1296 onwards the town was frequently occupied by English forces only for them to be driven out by the Scots some time later. It has gone back and forth like a fiddler’s elbow ever since. It could be argued, it is currently under English occupation. Scotland, even with its own government in Edinburgh, has scant say over its own affairs.

Never mind all that though, we are here to do some important stuff … shopping. The short rainy trip to Stirling had become necessary because of the mere fact that there are relatively few large stores left in Falkirk. It has been badly hit by the online revolution. The same shops, however, still seem to thrive here in wealthier Stirling. There’s always been a ‘friendly’ rivalry between Falkirk and Stirling, a bit like that between Glasgow and Edinburgh. Traditionally, Falkirk with its much bigger population and heavy industries made the money: a bit like Glasgow, while Stirling, retained much more strategic and political clout:a bit like Edinburgh.

Rumbling tums

Anyway, after a wonderful few hours of retail therapy in the Thistles Shopping Centre we began to feel a little peckish. This shopping centre is the only one in the world to feature its own 16th century  jail, the Thieves Pot. All very well if you fancy a spot of incarceration but does zilch for a rumbling tum. In fact the entire Thistles Centre seemed to do little in the way of restaurants or cafés. Just wall to wall retail outlets. A short walk along Port Street, however, led us here to the Greengrocer Café. A delightful mix ofA scone at the Greengrocer café, Stirling café, delicatessen and greengrocery. It’s tucked away down a little lane. A nice feature is the large communal table in the main shop. However we decided on a smaller one in the main café area at the back.

The staff welcomed us warmly and we immediately took a liking to the place. Nice atmosphere, a wide range of food on offer and homemade cakes to die for. Pat was lusting after a ginormous strawberry pavlova in such a way that I had to remind her, in no uncertain terms, of her sconological duties. We ordered a light lunch followed by a shareable fruit scone. Everything was excellent and our scone was no exception. The only downside was the cream.

Alstroemeria table decoration at the Greengrocer café
Alstroemeria table decoration

They had said it was whipping cream however it seemed more like the scooshie stuff to us. It was okay but, unfortunately went a bit watery, shame! But for that relatively minor issue this could easily have been a topscone.

HAL

When we finished our scone it was back out into the wet for our journey home only to be told, on the car radio, of the demise of Douglas Rain .  Brexit and Californian forest fires were suddenly of little importance. Now, some of you may not be aware of the significance of Rain’s passing but his was the voice of HAL, the computer in Stanley Kubrick‘s, 2001: A Space Odyssey.  HAL had a mind of its own and back in 1972, we gave our first ever car, a Citroen Dyane, which also had a mind of its own, the same name. Tears were shed when HAL eventually went to the great garage in the sky. Now his voice has gone too. As Trump would say … sad!HAL, our Citroen Dyane in 1973FK8 2ER      tel: 01786 479159        The Greengrocer Café FB