Tag Archives: Beaker People

Ordinary, Scones, weird

Hideaway Cafe at Beecraigs

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There has been a lot of migration from central and eastern Europe. Thousands of people coming to the UK in what seems to be an totally uncontrolled manner. You may think we are talking about relatively recent times but we’re not. We’re talking about 4,500 years ago. There was mass migration back then when thousands of what we now know as Beaker People moved west. They were called Beakers because they were always buried with their rather elegant bell-shaped clay drinking vessels. When they reached Scotland some of them settled around Cairnpapple Hill where there is still a very well preserved Beaker burial chamber.  It is only a stones throw from where we are today at the Hideaway Café at Beecraigs Country Park.Logo of the Hideaway Café at Beecraigs Country Park

Descendants

So, although folk go on endlessly about mass migrations into Britain, it is absolutely nothing new. In fact, when it comes down to it, hardly any of us are from here originally. We are all migrants in one form or another. Judging by our fondness for using drinking vessels, Pat and I may even be direct descendants of the Beaker people. At the end of the day, as they say here in Scotland – we’re a’ Jock Tamson’s Bairns.

Photo of Beecraigs loch in late November
Beecraigs loch

We had decided to take a walk round the loch at Beecraigs. It used to be regular occurrence when the kids were small but we haven’t been back for many years. The loch is actually a reservoir built by German Prisoners of War during WW1. Apparently the German work ethic was nothing like it is nowadays. Work progressed at a snail’s pace until it had to be finished off in 1918 by conscientious objectors. It’s a beautiful walk, however, and it was really nice to relive memories from the past. The walk seemed much shorter than we recalled. Then we remembered, this time we weren’t trying to herd feral children. We didn’t have to stop and investigate every stick and toadstool along the way.

View from Beecraigs Country Park
View from Beecraigs with the Forth bridges in the distance

One of these children actually got married here several years ago and, with its expansive views, it provided a wonderful setting. No weddings today though, it has all changed. The space previously used for weddings is now filled with displays for the visitor centre explaining the local flora and fauna. However, now they have the Hideaway Café … and scones!

Buzzing

The only problem was that the Hideaway was not living up to its name. It had been found and was so busy we couldn’t get in. However, they gave us a pager and told us to go off and wander arouInternal view of the Hideaway Café at Beecraigs Country Parknd the exhibits and when a table became available they would buzz us … brilliant. It worked! Within ten minutes we had our table and were able to order some lunch and a banana and white chocolate scone to share. They had plain and fruit scones however we always feel that we should report on the exotica we come across so that readers can continue to expand their knowledge base.

A scone at the Hideaway Café at Beecraigs Country ParkEverything was good, the service was happy and efficient, the food was fine and even the scone was pleasant enough. No topscone unfortunately. Don’t be put off by banana and white chocolate scones … but don’t deliberately seek them out either. Fruit or plain is a better bet.

Flashbacks

Memories are funny things. We have many happy memories of this place. Our family wedding event was superb but it is difficult to imagine it happening now that the venue has undergone so many changes. Yet we still got little flashbacks of that day as we looked around. Memories can play tricks! Apparently the Queen is claiming that the Duke of York is her son however he has no recollection of ever having met her. Boris doesn’t remember ever telling a lie for goodness sake! That’s how tricky it can get!Photo of Beecraigs loch in late November

EH49 6PL        tel: 01506 847111      Hideaway Beecraigs

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Scones, Uncategorized

The Coffee Club

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Why do you think you would find yourself in Bathgate on a cold winters day? By accident, of course … why else would you be in Bathgate?

Linlithgow Palace across the loch
Linlithgow Palace and a scaupless loch

We had started off with a walk round Linlithgow loch hoping to  catch sight of a scaup . Sometimes these relatively rare ducks make an appearance here. We did the first half of the walk with snow falling quite heavily and the second half in brilliant sunshine. Scottish weather at its very best! No scaups unfortunately but a really enjoyable walk.

Instead of going into Linlithgow for a coffee we thought we would visit a place called the Vu which involved a few miles of driving round the side of Cairnpapple Hill. We had been there a couple of years back and it was nice. Nowadays, however, it has turned into a wedding venue, no coffee, no scones, nothing. They told us to go another mile to Bathgate where there were lots of cafés and bars. Hence we found ourselves, by accident, in downtown Bathgate. Its a post-industrial town which is obviously still struggling with the effects of defunct coal mining. Also British Leyland’s demise in 1986 followed by Motorola’s closure in 2001 with the loss of over 3000 jobs.

In spite of the earlier claim there seemed to be almost no sconeries. This one, The Coffee Club, seemed to have little in the way of competition. Interior view of The Coffee Club in BathgateThe surroundings could only be described as ‘basic’ however we were warmly welcomed and you got the feeling that they would happily make you anything you wanted, even if it wasn’t on the menu. The Coffee Club, however, does not do local produce. Our scone appeared, ready sliced (what’s that all about), with English jam, Irish butter and a great dollop of scooshie cream from goodness knows where. In spite of all that the scone confounded our expectations by not being too bad, fairly light if a little short on fruit. I had seven sultanas in mine … okay,okay, I need to get a life! A scone at The Coffee Club in BathgateTopscone it was not but a commendable effort nevertheless.

The town nestles in the shadow of Cairnpapple Hill which, 5000 years ago, was home to the Beaker People. So called because of the shaped pots found in their graves. You cannot help but wonder what they would make of things if they were to make a return and gaze down on the world from their lofty hilltop. Obviously they would need an iPad or two to bring them up to speed but we think there would be some serious head scratching when they saw what supposedly educated people had made of things in the intervening five millennia.

Progress?

America tearing itself apart over Trump and religion. The EU (surely mankind’s greatest achievement in the last 100 years) tearing itself apart over populism. The UK tearing itself apart over Brexit. Perplexing, or what? But perhaps most astonishing of all for these wee Beakers would be to find that Scotland was being lorded over by a parliament five hundred miles away that doesn’t care a jot about it. As Lesley Riddoch puts it “if the UK Government can completely ignore Scottish democracy on a big issue like EU membership, does anyone seriously think Scottish interests will matter in any other policy decision reserved to Westminster?” ‘Reserved to Westminster’ means just about everything meaningful for Scotland … too much for even the most hard-nosed Beaker to stomach!

If a Beaker was to go into the Coffee Club they would probably think it hadn’t changed that much … joking. Many thanks to Bathgate and The Coffee Club for making us welcome.

EH48 1PD    tel: 01506 656352    The Coffee Club FB