As of 6pm last night the whole central belt of Scotland went into lockdown again. Not quite as draconian as the previous one but pretty strict nevertheless. All licensed premises are closed and we are forbidden from visiting anyone else’s home. The rest of Scotland can still serve alcohol but only outdoors. This is Scotland at the end of October so they might as well close as well. We think that COVID is responsible for us developing an allergy … to the news! All these rules and regulations, facts and figures have started making us feel decidedly queezy.

It was a pleasure, therefore, to be out and wandering around in Dunblane’s High Street on a wonderful autumn day and ending up here at the Beech Tree Café.

We had parked in the High Street because there were no signs to say we couldn’t. Later, however, we spied a traffic warden putting tickets on cars … arggh! When we spoke to the him, however, he assured us we got the first hour free so we had time to go for a coffee. Sigh of relief but we couldn’t understand why there were no signs giving us this information. It wasn’t until we got home and were looking at the photos that we realised where we had gone wrong. I had taken a photo of this sign because I thought it was odd and hadn’t noticed the sign beneath it. Heyho! Still don’t know what a ‘comfort partner’ is but after all this parking stress I feel I need one.

Pixies

Anyway, the Beech Tree Café is definitely the place to destress. It has been going for seventeen years and is a family run affair. Sisters Trisha and Vicky. mum Wilma and Auntie Liz … otherwise known as “The Beech Tree Babes”. They don’t employ a chef but have pixies that come in every morning to prepare all the food from scratch. The pixies bake the scones as well … exciting! We think we were attended to by Wilma who refered to us as “my darlings”. We’re sure that nothing would ever get this lady down, she was irrepressibly welcoming and cheerful.

It was still morning so after a delicious brunch we asked for a fruit scone to share. We tend not to do morning scones but hey, what the hell, you have to take your chances in these uncertain times. It took a wee while to appear but then  we remembered “we don’t do fast food, we do fresh food as fast as we can” was their motto. When it did eventually appear we were more than a little astonished.

It had been split into two halves and each half was already preloaded with jam and cream. And then some more cream and then a little bit more cream .. wow! Wilma put one half in front of Pat saying “ for my gorgeous girl” and then the other in front of me saying “for my gorgeous boy”. Well, blow me down! Pat gets that every day but no one has said that about me since my mother when I was about one year old. Topscone right away … for acute powers of observation if nothing else. I would have simply put it down to flattery if it hadn’t been so damned accurate!

Top or bottom?

Pat likes the top of the scone when we share but this time I got the top … first time ever! Thank you Wilma! Defo topscone! Steady on Bill, don’t get completely carried away! You all know by now our well documented views on preloaded scones so even though the scone itself was great and despite the compliments, we couldn’t really award a topscone, shame! When I was paying the bill Wilma slyly whispered with a wink “was there enough cream on your scone?” I think it was rhetorical. Anyway this gorgeous boy was very happy with his visit to the Beech Tree Café and wouldn’t hesitate to go back again … and neither would Pat.

Anticipation and miracles

Boris Johnson has made an announcement to say that he is going to make an announcement next week. Can’t wait, the anticipation is excrutiating! Also, after Trump declaring that God had saved him from coronavirus we’re pretty sure the world will have turned totally atheist by now! Having said that, we were well over our free hour by the time we got back to the car and we hadn’t got a ticket … thank you God?

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