Tag Archives: Aberfoyle

Ordinary, Scones

The Station Coffee Shop

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Okay, we see all your perplexed expressions asking how come we’ve ended up in the the Station Coffee Shop in Aberfoyle when there isn’t even a railway there? And well you might ask, although of all the things featured in this post that might be the least mysterious and the easiest to answer.

The simple answer, of course, is that at one time the Strathendrick and Aberfoyle railway which ran from Glasgow ended here. It was supposed to go on to Crianlarich but, would you believe it, this was as far as the funding would take it. Funding problems are not new! It opened in 1866 and ran until 1951 so although we regularly visit the village we have never known it to have a station. Now the station building has become the Station Coffee Shop.Internal view of the Station, Aberfoyle

But that’s not why we are in Aberfoyle! That’s a bit of a mystery as well and the people responsible are our Devon correspondents. We haven’t seen them for four years but they came to visit us in Falkirk on their way to the Scottish Taiko Drumming Festival … in Aberfoyle! One of them actually does taiko back home in Talaton hence the big trek north. Bear in mind that Devon is a cream first place when it comes to scones so it’s hardly surprising that they might be into ancient Japanese drumming as well!

This was Scotlands first ever Taiko festival. An opportunity not to be missed to see Kenny Endo, an American musician and taiko master. When it comes to taiko our ignorance can only be described as complete and profound. Did we want to learn? Mysteriously, we ended up buying tickets for his concert at Killearn Village Hall in the evening. 

Taiko stuff

A scone at the Station, AberfoyleAnyway, it’s customary to start every taiko festival with a scone. Apologies, that’s not true, we are just trying to justify ourselves. There was lots of taiko stuff going on across the road in the Forth Inn but it was all for people wanting tuition. We  just wanted a scone hence we are here tucking into a rather handsome fruit scone. To be honest it didn’t look that promising but turned out to be very good. It had a rather strange but not at all unpleasant texture and loads of fruit. The cream came in a jar labeled ‘English’, not advisable perhaps in a week starting with the theft of Scotland’s Stone of Destiny yet again. More of that later.

Never too old to learn!

After a walk round Aberfoyle we headed for dinner to the next village and one our favourite pubs … the Black Bull in Gartmore. The railway used to run through Gartmore as well so there must have been a station here too. No evidence of it today! You may remember that we stayed at the Black Bull when we visited the nearby Devil’s Pulpit.

After a lovely meal it was time to head off to yet another village, Killearn, for the concert. The Village Hall here is a very plush affair and during the day has a lovely cafe called the Kitchen Window. When we got there the hall was packed, presumably with other taiko officianados like ourselves? Unfortunately the stage was far too small to accommodate all the drums so they had to spill over onto the main floor. Pride of place, however, went to a very impressive drum that apparently was made from a single 300 year old tree. It’s called a wadaiko and, rather appropriately, the wooden sticks are known as bachi. See, we do learn!Taiko drums in Killearn Village Hall

Once everyone had settled, a hush fell over the hall as Kenny and his troupe of about ten players entered. We had been told it would be loud … it’s loud! Even sitting at the back of the hall you could feel the vibrations through your body. Kenny Endo in action

At first, it seems like a lot of very loud random drum bashing but very quickly you come to realise how disciplined it is. Every ‘bash’ is coordinated with all the other players and once your ear becomes accustomed it is all rather wonderful. A great experience. Many thanks to J&N.

Escape

The last mystery for this post is the coronation. Why? Turns out less than 30% of Scotland are in favour of the monarchy and they are nearly all octogenarians. We were hoping to escape the proceedings on a Hebridean island without any televisions. That plan, however, has become a victim of circumstance so it will be difficult for us, and indeed anyone, to miss the 24hr obsequious coverage.  

As Charlie places his fundament on Scotland’s Stone of Destiny people in the street outside who simply utter a single word of criticism will be promptly arrested and, who knows, may never be seen again. We are all supposed to swear an oath of allegiance to Charlie while sitting on our sofas. What planet are his advisers on? The most ridiculous  and expensive fancy dress party designed solely to cement the top tier of society in what they regard as their rightful places. Instead of angelic choristers we can only hope that Kenny Endo will be doing the music. At least some of the nonsense being spouted by Archbishops in even weirder hats than Charles, would be drowned out. We’re also being invited to say “God Save The King“. Forgetting of course that, if there was a God, he/she/it would thoroughly disapprove of the entire spectacle.

BREAKING:  wonder of wonders, Edward, yes that completely talentless nonentity, is to be the brand spanking new Duke of Edinburgh. Individually they are all nice people but why are we allowed to do this to them? After this post we fully expect a knock on the door! 

BREAKING BREAKING: Donald Trump has just landed in Scotland. Goodness, this rant could go on forever!

FK8 3UG      tel: 01877 389105        The Station

///prank.belt,buildings

Ordinary, Scones

The Aizle Coffee Shop

Today, we are in Ballat. Ballat is a village in northern Syria not far from Homs. It has has a population of about 574 mainly Greek Orthodox Christians. That’s according to Google. Thankfully we are nowhere near there today because a) it’s dangerous b) it’s unlikely to have scones. Instead we are at Ballat crossroads about fifteen miles north of Glasgow because a) it’s dangerous b) it’s likely to have scones.

Let us explain! The A811 road forms part of our normal route over to Loch Lomond and at Ballat it crosses the main Aberfoyle to Glasgow road … not like a normal crossroads in the shape of a straight forward cross, but rather a cross that has been mangled and flattened … you have to cross at a very weird angle and it can all get a little bit hairy.

Probably fine when only used by carthorses but now with juggernauts thundering through at a rate of knots it is an altogether different proposition … the scene of regular accidents.

Internal view of the Aizle Coffee Shop, DrymenThe narrow sliver of land between the two roads is occupied by a complex of shops called the Aizle, one of which is the Aizle Coffee Shop. Goodness knows why anyone would call it that but apparently it is an old Scots word meaning ‘hot ember’ or ‘spark’ … it rhymes with hazel … whatever! Normally we are so thankful at just making it safely to the other side of the junction that we have never bothered stopping here. The only reason we are stopping today is that our tummies are rumbling and we still have a fair bit to go.

Problem, we had not realised the time. We were arriving just as they were closing for the evening. Nevertheless, although we were the only ones around, we were very warmly welcomed. A scone at the Aizle Coffee Shop, DrymenThey didn’t have any proper food left, just the odd cake … and the odd scone. Initially we thought this fortuitous however our scone turned out to be pretty awful … dry and hard … perhaps because it had been lying out all day? Serves us right for arriving so late. Our visit was brief but we felt sustained enough to carry on our way so it did its job. No topscone here however, nowhere near.

One nice thing about this place was that it provided some light reading material at each table. Rather than our usual political rant we will just let you read our table:
The precaution one needs to take when buying standard pills is that the pharmacy one is cheap online levitra dealing with should be authorized. For those adversely affected by tadalafil male sexually enhancement levitra india price http://deeprootsmag.org/2013/11/13/claire-in-autumn/ pill, they should avoid it altogether. How to control premature ejaculation? Premature ejaculation is climaxing levitra generic cialis thought about this remarkably quickly either before or shortly after sexual penetration. PE accounted one of the most general aspects of sildenafil canada pharmacy deeprootsmag.org male sexual dysfunction & has almost exaggerated every man at particular stage of life.

A driver was stuck in a traffic jam on the M25 near London. Nothing was moving. Suddenly a man knocks on the window.

The driver rolls down the window and asks, “What’s going on?”

“Terrorists have kidnapped all members of Parliament, and they’re asking for a £100 million ransom. Otherwise, they are going to douse them in petrol and set them on fire. We are going from car to car collecting donations.”

“how much is everyone giving on average?” the driver asks. The man replies, “Roughly a litre.“

Okay, not in good taste but then again it did match the scone! We actually felt a modicum of sympathy for politicians when we read that piece. Some of them must have a modicum of sense after all. But then we saw the pictures of Theresa May dancing with some black kids in South Africa and all sympathy evaporated. For years, she, along with David Cameron branded Nelson Mandela a terrorist. Now, in the face an impending hard Brexit caused by her own party’s stupidity, she is in Mandela’s country desperately kowtowing for business. Another litre?

G63 0SE        tel: 01360 440456           The Aizle FB

Ordinary, Scones

National Shooting Centre for Scotland

You’ve heard of shooting stars, but have you heard of shooting scones? No, let us enlighten you. As you are aware, we leave no stone unturned in our bid to bring you the latest scone news. However, the situation described in this post even surprised us. We knew that friends were involved in shooting but when they visited us, we had no idea they were competing at the European down-the-line Clay Pigeon Shooting Championships … eh?? Turns out that the venue was a shooting school half way between Falkirk and Slamannan and recently, having had a load of money spent on it, had been designated the National Shooting Centre for Scotland. Flags flying at the National Shooting Centre, Scotland

Hundreds of gunmen

Although it is only a few miles from our house (sometimes we can hear the guns if the wind is in the right direction) we were totally unaware of its new elevated status. In fact, we were pretty much unaware of anything to do with it. Out of sheer curiosity we decided to go along and see what it was all about. Imagine our surprise when we came to the end of a dirt track on the high and pretty desolate Slamannan plateau and emerged through some scrubby trees to find what must have been about seven or eight hundred folk milling around. Most of them carrying shotguns. Surreal or what? Strange for mere sconeys like us, who lead very sheltered lives and are not used to seeing guns. To see sooo many!Competitors at the National Shooting Centre, Scotland

The site is huge and the competition was in full swing with shooters shooting on numerous specially designed crescent shaped stands. Five competitors per stand each taking it in turn to shoot the ‘birds’ as they call them. The orange coloured clay pigeons.

Clay pigeon cassette at the National Shooting Centre, Scotland
Some ‘birds’ waiting to be shot

Eardrum fatigue

Although we are now conversant with all aspects of the sport,  suffice to say, at this point we didn’t have a scooby.

Scottish ladies team shooting at the National Shooting Centre, Scotland
Scottish ladies team … the ‘bird’ highlighted has only nanoseconds to live

We did know, however, with guns going off everywhere, that it was noisy … very noisy! Everyone had ear defenders on. Not so those who were simply here to eat the scones they had spied earlier in the clubhouse. Eardrum fatigue eventually drove us back in that direction.

Internal view of the National Shooting Centre, Scotland
Team strategy meeting for the Welsh in the clubhouse

 

The scones looked good but the lady who was serving was slightly wide-eyed and more than a tad frazzled. She was valiantly coping with multitudes of hungry gunmen on her own. Against all the  odds her sense of humour was still evident. Though when I asked if she had personally baked the scones. Oh, if looks could kill! To make matters worse she had to pre-load the scones using large catering packs of butter and jam. This slowed things down considerably. Perhaps it was just as well that we had decided to share a scone between us. A scone at the National Shooting Centre, ScotlandAt last we had two halves of a scone but, because our lady had been rushing, one half just had a dollop of jam in the centre. It needed spreading. But there was nothing around that bore any resemblance to a knife. Presumably, in a place with hundreds of guns, a knife might be deemed dangerous! I had to use my finger. There’s a first time for everything!

Are they mad?

The scone itself was quite good, almost finger lickin’ good. But you know our criterion for a topscone, so this one was never going to make the grade. Enjoyable enough though, especially on an wet windy day like this. What sort of people compete in a sport that involves shooting brightly coloured bits of clay in the rain? Do they have to be totally mad or just half mad? We asked a chap from the South African team. He replied curtly “you don’t have a life unless you shoot“! Are they mad? Well no more than a bunch of people trying to get a small ball into a tiny distant hole in the ground by hitting it with a stick.  Seriously though, these folks are completely dedicated and, because the level of competition is so high, extremely skilled. cartridges at the National Shooting Centre, Scotland

Berettas and Brexit

With our new found knowledge we could regale you with the differences between down-the-line, traps, skeets, over & unders, the handling properties of Brownings and Perazzis versus Berettas, and all sorts of other things you can’t even begin to imagine … however it is probably easier if we just explain the UK’s strategy for Brexit … yes, that would be much much easier because they still don’t have one! Huge thanks to A&C for letting us share this experience.

FK1 3AL     tel: 01324 851672     National Shooting Centre Scotland

UPDATES: Plastic K6 telephone boxes in Aberfoylethe couple we met on the Isle of Rùm who were making a holiday nettle cord eventually completed it and sent an update. It eventually included nettle from Camusdarach, Rùm, Arisaig and Mellon Udrigle and finished with bramble from the shores of Loch Maree … because they couldn’t find any nettles?? Our Trossachs correspondents are back in their natural habitat after their sojourn to St Kitts and Nevis and sent a picture of a K6 they spotted in Aberfoyle. Made in China we think. Many thanks to all for keeping us up to date.

Scones, Top

The Woodhouse

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For those of you who know the tiny community of Kinlochard, here’s a question. What would a group of fifty Russians and Greeks be doing in the village? While you are cogitating let us tell you why we are here. As if our Trossachs correspondents don’t do enough, scouring places like Gibraltar and Lithuania for scones, they very kindly invited us to a ‘Scottish night’ at the village hall. They have already had very successful Indian and Italian nights. What a night it was! Excellent Scottish themed food and drink, and even better company.

Just walking the half mile from the house to the hall was exciting. Us townies tend to forget what ‘dark’ means until you are in a place like this. It’s dark! Goodness knows how Rob Roy and his merry band got around without iPhone torches! Unlike larger towns and cities, little places like Kinlochard certainly know how to generate community spirit. And it’s a really nice experience. There were no Russians or Greeks at our night however.

View across Loch Ard with Ben Lomond in the distance
Loch Ard with Ben Lomond in the distance

The Moss

The next day was beautiful. After a wee walk round the village we had to head for home  but decided to visit Flanders Moss on the way. Having attended a fascinating Scottish Wildlife Trust talk about the Moss the previous week we thought we should check it out. Again, it is one of these places that you know of as one of Scotland’s chief defences against the English in times gone by and as a place you drive past frequently. Not as a place you actually ever visit.

View from the viewing tower at Flanders Moss
part of Flanders Moss with Ben Lomond on the left and Ben Ledi on the right

Strictly Come Sconing

It’s a designated National Nature Reserve and now it has a magnificent high viewing platform that provides a brilliant vantage point looking out towards Aberfoyle and the Lake of Menteith. Don’t think there is any connection with Flanders in Belgium. The name seems to be a corruption of an old gaelic word. On the edge of the Moss near to Kippen you come to The Woodhouse. Another of these café farm shops that seem to be popping up everywhere. Interior view of the Woodhouse Café, KippenYou would think there would be a cut-off point where there were too many and they would become  unsustainable? Not yet, they all seem to be really busy and

The Woodhouse is no exception. After our walk, lunch was definitely order of the day however there was no way we could pass up the chance of a scone test so that you, dear sconeys, can know that on your own visit to Flanders Moss it is safe to come here for sustenance. The things we do!

They are quite big so we decided to share one between the four of us … one of the biggest testing panels we have ever assembled. A sort of scone version of Strictly. Scones at the Woodhouse Café, KippenThe tea and scone was presented beautifully with an eclectic range of crockery. And with locally produced butter and cream as well as homemade strawberry jam – four 10s so far. Taste was excellent as well so, without too much deliberation it was declared a topscone. Well done The Woodhouse!

St Andrews day

Oh yes, the Russians and Greeks! They were in Kinlochard for a St Andrew’s night dinner … St Andrew, of course, being the patron saint of Russia and Greece as well as Scotland … but you all knew that! Quite why they should find themselves in Kinlochard however is still a bit of a mystery. Earlier today, St Andrew’s Day, the Prime Minister made a speech saying how proud she was of everything Scottish (the oil price is soaring) while simultaneously Angus Robertson was jeered for wishing the Commons a happy St Andrew’s day. Just have a great day everyone!Cake display at the Woodhouse Café, Kippen

FK8 3JA       tel: 01786 870156        The Woodhouse FB

Ordinary, Scones

The Smiddy Farm Shop Café

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Logo for the Blair Drummond Smiddy Farm Shop, Butchery and CaféIncredible

No sooner have we posted Venachar Lochside, a new and thriving business in the heart of the Trossachs, when along comes another one.  This time it is The Smiddy. Or to give it it’s more fullsome name, the Blair Drummond Smiddy, Farm Shop, Butchery and Café … phew! We have watched it being built over the past year on the road out of Stirling, slightly beyond the Safari Park, where it forks for Aberfoyle and Callander, and had heard it was to open towards the end of October. Since we were in Stirling and, having taken the precaution of phoning to see if it had actually opened. Having been reassured that it was, we thought we should check it out. Picture of restaurant area at the Blair Drummond Smiddy

Just opened

When we arrived, though, we discovered it was much newer than we had ever anticipated … it had been open for all of 75 minutes … breaking news, as they say in the media! So what do you get when you visit a farm shop/café that has only been in existence for just over an hour? Well, you get lots of things that are not quite right: wifi not working; shelves not full; items not priced; staff slightly stressed but you also get things that are very right: pleasant helpful staff; local produce (meat from Old Leckie farm and bakery items from Stag); great coffee (Henry’s) … and great scones! Picture of a fruit scone at the Blair Drummond SmiddyNo cream but plenty jam and butter and the most fruit we have seen in a fruit scone in a long time. The baker at the Smiddy (Harry) had done a great job. After much deliberation however we reckoned that they were just slightly too big for our taste. And, with there not being any cream, they just missed out on a topscone award … pity.

Teething problems

Okay, there were a few teething problems with this newborn enterprise but, given the circumstances, remarkably few. Overall this is a great place and will get even better as it settles down. Yet another fantastic stop-off point for the Trossachs. It’s already quite big but you can see how it has been designed with expansion in mind and we are sure it will have to do just that in the not too distant future.

Interior view showing butchery counter at the Blair Drummond Smiddy
The butchery counter and our favourite workbench ever

If only such foresight and planning could be demonstrated by the UK government. The nightmare is, that when it comes to the pantomime that is the US elections, we have been rendered unable to scoff in the slightly superior way that we would like. Our own lot are just as bad, if not worse. What an admission that is!

The Jungle

On a slightly different tack, the Calais ‘Jungle’ refugee camp is being dismantled as we write. The contents scattered around the rest of France. No matter what you think of the politics, on a purely human level it is an absolute catastrophe. Can any of these people even begin to imagine what it is like to sit in gorgeous Stirlingshire on a beautiful day eating Harry’s scones and drinking Henry’s coffee? We doubt it! Let’s hope that some day they can, at least, imagine it. We wish them and the Smiddy the best of luck for the future.

FK9 4UY          tel: 01786 235024      The Smiddy

Ordinary

Liz MacGregor’s Coffee

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Those of you who know Aberfoyle probably already know that this is Rob Roy country so the name of this particular tearoom is maybe not that surprising. The reason for us being here is once again down to R B Cunninghame Graham. You may remember, he wrote about the Princess of Buckhaven in a previous post. In another of his stories, ‘A Braw Day’, written in 1900 about his last day at his home in Gartmore House. He makes a passing reference  .. ‘the curious moondial, with its niches coloured blue and red’.

If you Google ‘moondial’, unsurprisingly, it tells you that it is an instrument for telling the time using the moon rather than the sun. It also says it is only accurate on the night of a full moon. One week before or after a full moon it is more than 5 hours out! Why on earth would you bother? Moondial at Gartmore Parish Church

We thought we should try to find out if it was still there and to see what sort of form it took. You’re probably thinking, “this pair couldn’t find a harbour the last time they went looking, what chance a tiny moon dial?” Turns out you would not be too far wrong. This particular moondial is no longer telling the time at Gartmore House .. it had been used to help fill in a harbour in Fife!! No, no,no, no, we did eventually find it tucked away round the back of the local Parish Church in a plot dedicated to the Cayzer family who bought Gartmore in 1901.

How to work a moondial

There it was .. not at all what we expected. Moondial at Gartmore Parish ChurchA couple of hundred years ago, someone, somewhere spent a lot of time and effort designing this thing and presumably it must be more accurate than the Google one assuming you know how to read it. It’s an extremely complicated piece of kit. It cries out for explanation by some of you repositories of useless information. Yes, we are thinking of the Ludbrokes and Hopwoods of this world! Having spent some considerable time trying to figure it out, we concluded that, rather than get up in the middle of the night and go out in the dark to find out what the time was, we would just keep using our iPhones in that traditional and time honoured manner.

Now, if you have ever been engaged in hunting down moondials, you will know that time passes quickly. Before we knew it, it was late afternoon and we hadn’t yet had a scone. The solution was a couple of miles away in Aberfoyle where it was great to see everyone still sitting out at all the roadside cafés, in the mid-October sunshine. However, time was pressing and we just managed to catch Liz MacGregor’s Coffee Shop before it closed. We got the very last scone. MacGregor 11

Rather than fight about it, Pat made the ultimate sacrifice and opted for a piece of coffee cake. I, the winner, set about my fruit scone. It came with a pot of jam and a very generous portion of cream. Not that much of a winner though. Perhaps, because it was the last one, it did not seem as fresh as it should have been. Not bad though, I enjoyed it but no ‘topscone’ award. It’s always a wee bit unfortunate when you get a place that’s just about to close. You end up the only ones there and feeling as if you are holding up proceedings. Not that anyone tried to rush us in any way whatsoever .. but you just get that feeling. But, with everything taken into account … lovely weather, a scone, a moondial … an all round ‘braw day’.

A Master of Life

On the nearby Cunninghame Graham memorial the epitaph reads “Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham 1852-1936 – Famous Author – Traveller and Horseman – Patriotic Scot and CiMacGregor 02tizen of the World – As Betokened by the Stones above. Died in Argentina, interred in Inchamahome – He Was a Master of Life – A King Among Men”. He is still hugely venerated in Argentina which has its presidential elections today. Something, being the politician that he was, would have hugely interested him. Canada also goes to the polls to today, it will be interesting to see if Harper’s Putinesque administration can survive. Let’s hope it’s a ‘braw day’ for the folks in Argentina and Canada as well.

FK8 3UG    tel: 01877 389376      Liz MacGregor’s Tearoom TA

ps: Why don’t you Google the word ‘subsequently’, it has a great explanation.