Tag Archives: Afghanistan

Nithbank House

31 August 2021 billpaterson1@me.com 1 Comment

.We’re away for a few days … hurrah! These days it’s not that easy to find a hotel or B&B with availability because everywhere in Scotland seems to be fully booked. The COVID staycation phenomenum has seen loads of people coming here from other parts of the UK … and who can blame them? Many will have visited for the first time so hopefully the staycation will become a regular thing rather than the usual jetting off to foreign parts. We did, however, find Nithbank House which had a room free for a couple of days … bingo!

The Chamberlain

Driving down Nithsdale we stopped off at Drumlanrig Castle for a bit of a nosey. It looks like it could house a small army but actually only two folk live there, The Duke and Duchess of Bucchleuch and Queensberry. Drumlanrig’s 90,000 acres forms only a relatively minor part of the 280,000 acres the Duke owns in Scotland. It’s good to know he has done nothing, apart from being born, to merit such vast wealth. It transpired though that Nithbank House was built in the 1790s by the 4th Duke as accommodation for his Chamberlain … a kind of estate factor. And, would you believe it, we were going to be staying in the Chamberlain’s Quarters!

View from Nithbank — the view from our scone over the river Nith and Nithsdale

Shallow or shallow

The house has a magnificent location looking out over Nithsdale. In the blurb it says that everyone is welcomed with warm scones. Now we don’t want you to think that we are shallow enough to be enticed by such frivolous inducements … okay, okay we are! It is run by Melanie and John, two very warm and friendly people, and when we arrived Melanie said we could have our scones in our room, the lounge or outside. We opted for outside and within a few minutes we were sitting in the sun admiring the view.

External view of Nithbank — Pat limbering up for a scone

The beauty of the view was only bettered by the arrival of our scones. Wow, this is how scones should be presented!

There were two treacle scones and two fruit ones. Nice little dishes of cream and jam as well as one full of finely cut strawberries. Everything was homemade. Unfortunately one of the treacle scones could have done with another minute in the oven however the rest were fabulous. Given the setting, the presentation, the service and the scones themselves we decided that one slightly undercooked scone could be overlooked … easy topscone. Well done Melanie and John!

The power of love

Internal view of Nithbank — A Rembrandt at Nithsdale House. Drumlanrig Castle thinks it has the original.

In such a romantic setting you can’t help. but think back to 1715 and the love between the Earl of Nithsdale and his wife, Lady Winifred. For his part in the Jacobite Uprising he had been found guilty of treason and thrown in The Tower of London to await his execution. Lady Nithsdale rode to London in deep snow accompanied only by a maid. She visited the Earl and together they hatched a daring escape plan. Elaborate and extremely dangerous but it worked. They escaped to Italy where they spent the rest of their lives probably reminiscing about Scotland and Nithsdale. They’d have sympathised with the folks currently having to flee Afghanistan.

Afghanistan

Today is the first day in two decades that Afghanistan has not been occupied by foreign troops … cause for celebration in itself! It remains to be seen how things will pan out with the Taliban. Strangely though, at the moment they seem to be only ones talking any sense. In future Afghanistan will be ruled by a handful of men who think they know what is good for everyone else. However, we all know what that feels like! With talk of kalashnikovs and burkhas, Nithbank seems like it’s on another planet. Planet Nithbank for us!

DG3 5AP tel: 07823 773211 Nithbank Country Estate

///sonic.puppy.automatic

Ordinary, Scones

Glenturret Lalique distillery

26 August 2021 billpaterson1@me.com 5 Comments

It’s touching when people write and ask if we are still alive just because they haven’t received a scone post for a while. Apologies, we are okay but we have been a little distracted by other things recently. To kick things off again we thought that we should visit a special place, Glenturret Lalique distillery just outside Crieff. When I was young my big brother and I used to get sent here every year for our holidays. Not to the distillery itself but to Distillery Cottage which was just a few yards along the road and the home off aunt Muriel. No idea why we were sent to stay with Muriel but maybe our parents just wanted rid of us for a few weeks … that’s a distinct possibility!

The swing

The little glen in which the distillery sits is idyllic and we had the freedom to explore far and wide … we regarded it, horizon to horizon, as our own. The sun always shone and our aunt used to make banana flip for pudding … bliss! At that time the distillery was closed and was falling into disrepair. We used to play in it’s many abandoned buildings. There was a swing in one and when James Fairlie bought the place in 1957, with a view to reopening it as a distillery, he asked us if he could take it down. Just think … if we had said “no”, none of this would have happened!

Anyway, the distillery has had many incarnations since then. The last one was the Famous Grouse Experience but now it has been taken over by Lalique the upmarket French glass manufacturers. Today I was here once again with my big brother who had invited myself and Pat for lunch.

Bar at Glenturret Lalique distillery — The bar

Things have changed! Our old swing has been replaced by a huge Lalique chandelier for one. Tempting though it was we did not try it out as a swing … we’re grown up now! Everything about the place screams ‘quality’ … they had even imported French waiting staff. Pat and I were very happy not to be paying the bill. Lunch consisted of haggis Scotch eggs, sea trout, Wagyu steaks, scallops and elaborate chocolate desserts … absolutely wonderful!

Lounge at Glenturret Lalique distillery — the salon

Duty calls.

Remembering our scone duties, however, we asked if we could have tea and scones in the salon. I had heard they did a Glenturret sherry-soaked fruit scone … but it wasn’t to be, only ordinary fruit ones. A return visit for afternoon tea is now essential!

As might be expected the scones came beautifully presented with delightful little dishes of cream and homemade jam. My tea came in a lovely cup produced in Germany to Lalique’s design. It had a matt white finish but no handle. Oddly, it did not feel hot to pick up – dashed cunning those continental types.

Design over substance

Now you would expect the scones to be top notch in a place like this, wouldn’t you? But they weren’t. Good, yes but not topscone material, plenty of fruit but just a wee bit on the solid side for our liking. Not to worry when we come back for our Glenturret sherry soaked scone we might get a better result … especially if we have a few of them!

World records

Glenturret Lalique distillery is not only famous for once housing our swing it was also home to Towser the Mouser. Towser holds the Guinness World record for killing mice, 28,899 to be precise. How did they work that out and are they absolutely sure it wasn’t 28,900? She lived all of her 24 years in the distillery and has a thoroughly well deserved bronze statue testifying to her considerable achievements. We could have played with Towser if she had been around in our time but she would have probably been too busy!

This visit was a special treat from my big brother and it was very special. Hope the wallet didn’t protest too much. Pat even bought me a bottle of Glenturret sherry cask whisky. She could have got it in a Lalique bottle but she’s too Scottish for that sort of nonsense. Should I try soaking a scone in it?

Borders

At last the US and UK are leaving Afghanistan … should never have been there in the first place. Inexcusable for Britain which has a centuries old disastrous history in the region. On the way home from Crieff we noticed swallows lined up on the telephone wires getting ready to fly back to South Africa after the summer. They will be replaced by thousands of geese coming here from Siberia and Greenland. With the current woeful situation in Afghanistan it occurred to us that borders have a lot to answer for.

PH7 4HA tel: 01764 656565 Glenturret Lalique

///epic.impose.extremely

english, Ordinary, Scones

Centurion Bar

7 March 2019 billpaterson1@me.com 1 Comment

Here we are still in Newcastle. Except this time we are at the station waiting for the train to whisk us back home. It is one of Britain’s busiest stations with a half hourly service to London and others going west to Liverpool and north to Edinburgh and Inverness. It was opened by Queen Victoria in 1850 and is now one of very few Grade One listed railway stations. With almost an hour to wait we found ourselves in the Centurion bar of The Royal Station Hotel. It’s not just any old bar. It’s a very spacious and grand hall which used to be the First Class Lounge. It was decked out with flags for the Six Nations Rugby Championships. We decided to sit under the nice blue one on the right.

Nirvana

The name, Centurion’ suggests a Roman connection and, of course, there is. What was it with the Romans? They came all this way to build tourist attractions? In the year 122, Emperor Hadrian built his wall right through Newcastle to end up at, would you believe it, Wallsend in the east of the city. No sooner was it finished than Emperor Antoninus Pius decided, in 142, to build another wall further north. It ran across the entire breadth of Scotland and through the middle of our home town, Falkirk. Trump and the Romans would have got on just fine. Some historians insist that the reason for building these walls was to keep unruly Scots at bay. However we like to think that they just enjoyed life in Falkirk so much they decided there was little point in going further. They had reached nirvana.

Before long, however, the hedonism and feasting on scones served with Rodda’s Cornish Cream drove them back to Hadrian’s Wall where that sort of behaviour seemed more appropriate. Nowadays the remains of Antonine’s Wall can still be seen in Falkirk but apart from the Roman Bar and a few Italian restaurants there are few signs that the Romans were ever around. Both walls, however, still serve very well in their primary function as tourist attractions. The Hadrian’s Wall Path passes close to this station.

More than expected

Enough about Romans, what about the scones? Yes we decided to have a scone but little did we know that every hot drink ordered came with a complimentary croissant. When our scone arrived it was accompanied with butter, jam and a croissant … too much!! Had we realised we might have asked them to keep the croissant and give us a free scone. And had we not had to pay for the scone it might have fared better in our review. It was okay but definitely not a topscone.

Despicable us

In the end even Newcastle was too much for the Romans. At least, when their Empire collapsed they all just went back to Italy and that was that. Not so with the British Empire. Almost every trouble spot around the globe was designed by us. Iraq and Afghanistan to Palestine and Ireland as well as the current problem between India and Pakistan. All the result of British meddling. When it comes to creating a political mess we do it fantastically well and now with Brexit we can bring that expertise to bear at home as well! Whoopee!

Thankfully, this week, the United Nations highest court in the Hague has ruled against us in what must be one of Britain’s most despicable acts. They have ruled that Britain’s 1968 claim to sovereignty over the Chagos Islands is illegal and they must be returned to Mauritius immediately. Surely you have seen this news splashed all over the media? No? Hopefully, after more than fifty years, all these poor displaced people will be able to return to their homes. What this means for the US military base at Diego Garcia (it was the reason for this crime) no one knows.

We do think, however, that Scotland should raise a similar action against the UK at the Hague … for the travesty of 1707!

Pleasant as it was sitting in the Centurion, the train came and we were duly whisked back to nirvana.

NE1 5DG tel: 0191 261 6611 Centurion

Scones, Top

The Wee Blether Tearoom

3 October 2015 billpaterson1@me.com 5 Comments

Before we start and for those of you who do not speak ‘pure Scots’ perhaps we should explain ‘wee blether’. It is when people get together and gossip about anything and everything. A blether can also be a noun. The act of blethering or someone who blethers .. tells stories not necessarily based in fact. You remember an earlier post about the MP for Shetland who mislead his constituents so as to get elected. In English you would call him a liar, pure and simple. However, in Scots, if we wanted to be less harsh, we might call him ‘a wee blether’ .. got it?

Meanwhile back in the real world, Russia is bombing Syria, the US is bombing Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia is bombing Yemen and Britain’s nuclear submarines patrol endlessly and uselessly. Fortunately, in the midst of this mess the Wee Blether Tearoom is a perfect oasis of light hearted good sense. We had had it on good authority from a couple of local Kinlochardians (or whatever you call people from Kinlochard) that this place was worth a visit. They were not wrong.

Soup and bread

The menu reminds you that “we are not a fast food establishment, not even a restaurant, we’re a small family run tearoom, we strive to provide the best quality food as quickly as we can” .. a good start! It is up to the minute with deals, in fact everywhere you look there are offers that have to be read with some care. However, for not taking themselves too seriously Ricky and Shona (the owners) do a great job of combining a lovely relaxed atmosphere and great food. Sitting in the sun looking out over Loch Ard it is not difficult to relax and the sweet potato and coconut soup accompanied by almost a half loaf of wonderfully soft brown bread was absolutely delicious.

When our scones arrived however we realised that the soup and bread might have been a mistake .. they don’t do dainty scones and they came fully loaded with jam and cream. Now we have said in the past that we prefer to load our own scones. Make a scone of two halves then load and eat each half separately. In our opinion that’s the way it should be done. On this occasion at least we were provided with a fork and spoon with which to tackle them. They were fab!

Sweeties

Even although there was not a single kid in the place Ricky came round dishing out sweets to everyone. Like the big kids that we are, we dutifully took them. Nice touch though. We also took up their latest offer, pay double for one scone and get the second free .. great! This place is friendly and well named. If you came here on your own it wouldn’t be long before you were having a wee blether with someone. Well done to Ricky and Shona, great place and topscone.

teapot collection at the Wee Blether Tearoom, Kinlochard — teapot collection

FK8 3TL tel: 01877 387337 Wee Blether Tearoom

Scones, history and a dollop of politics