Tag Archives: Church of Scotland

The Bothy Braemar

28 January 2022 billpaterson1@me.com 1 Comment

Most people only know Braemar through pictures of the Queen sitting with her family, swathed in tartan, watching big hairy men in kilts throwing tree trunks around. Because Balmoral is less than a mile away, the Royals usually visit the Braemar Highland Gathering every year and, of course, their attendance draws thousands of Royal watchers. There is no doubt that the village and places like the Bothy Braemar prosper because of these regal connections but it also does well from the nearby Glenshee Ski Centre . But first let me tell you a story from that part of the world. Prepare to be shocked!

No room at the inn

Many years ago myself and a couple of friends were heading for Braemar to climb in the Cairngorms mountains. By the time we got to Glenshee it was dark and there was blizzard conditions.. Although we were still making good progress on the snowy roads in our trusty little Riley Elf, it wasn’t long before we came on a minibus full of youngsters that was stuck. The south side of Glenshee is unrelentingly uphill! The piles of sand at the roadside were frozen solid but our ice axes soon sorted that out.

We spent the next couple of hours following their bus and every time they got stuck we went through the same procedure. Late in the evening we reached their destination, a huge mansion house which served as a Church of Scotland Christian Centre. Because we just had a tent and were unsure if we would ever get over the summit of Glenshee in the awful conditions they invited us to stay overnight. We gratefully accepted.

The manger

However, they hadn’t reckoned with the management of the centre. When they discovered we were there they made no bones about it … we had to leave. The youngsters pleaded but to no avail. We offered to just put our sleeping bags down in the porch outside but no, we had to vacate the premises completely. Back out in the snowy darkness and getting in to the car, a man appeared and, immediately seeing the problem, said that he would put us up in a nearby manger. Okay, just kidding about the manger, it was just an outhouse! That’s what we did! We stayed at his place and eventually made it to Braemar the next day. Make of it what you will. I, however, will never be able to understand why a lighting bolt from someone all-seeing didn’t obliterate those management folk right there and then.

The one that’s open

No such problems this time. We sailed over Glenshee where there was hardly any sign of snow. Not great for a ski centre at the end of January but very good for us. Braemar has a lot of quite large Victorian hotels and, for its size, a plethora of restaurants and cafes. The hotels were open but the Bothy Braemar was the only cafe doing business. Considering, its external appearance it’s actually quite large inside and is fairly obviously geared up to cater for a clientele of climbers, walkers and skiers. Best of all, they had what looked like nice scones… hurrah!

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It is self service but the staff were were very warm and friendly. We ordered a couple of fruit scones. Compared to the scone we had had in our previous post from the Moulin Inn, this was a huge improvement. Still not good enough for a topscone award, unfortunately, but enjoyable nevertheless. Overall, we really liked the Bothy Braemar and it was great to be back in this part of the world.

View from the Bothy in Braemar — View from the Bothy

Who is the most famous person you have never heard of? It surely has to be Sue Gray. For the past couple of weeks no journalist or politician has been able to utter a sentence without mentioning her name at least once. Now we hear that her report into partying in 10 Downing Street may never see the light of day. Apparently, because it has now become a police investigation it may be so redacted it wouldn’t be worthwhile. Oh my gosh, isn’t it just as well we aren’t cynical!!

AB35 5YP tel: 01339 741019 The Bothy FB

///depths.aviation.fired

Ordinary, Scones

Bessie’s Café

3 October 2018 billpaterson1@me.com 2 Comments

This morning we went to the Hippodrome cinema in Bo’ness to see C’est la Vie starring Jean-Pierre Bacri. We do this regularly if we can get out of bed in time … life has sooo many pressures! A French film with subtitles, it’s a beautifully crafted and funny story of the backstage shenanigans at a posh chateau wedding. Worth seeing if you get the chance. Afterwards, we ended up on the opposite side of the the river Forth, in Fife, at the picturesque little village of Culross (pronounced kooros) which, oddly enough, is the location for another movie currently under production.

Mrs Halfpint

It’s a zombie film called The Curse of the Buxom Strumpet starring Dame Judi Dench and Sir Ian McKellen. In the story Dame Judi plays Mrs Halfpint, the local landlady in the town of Upper Trollop, played of course, by none other than Culross itself. In 1713 a deadly disease consumes Upper Trollop turning the inhabitants into monsters. A few redoubtable folk, led by Mrs Halfpint try to escape by ship to France. The premiere won’t be until next year so if we divulge any more we would have to kill you all. Just go see when it comes out.

Suffice to say that Mrs Halfpint may well have been in the employ of the Bessie of Bessie’s Café, or Bessie’s Bar, as it used to be called. The café used to be her malt-house, used in making beer for her pub. And would you Adam ‘n Eve it (been going to London too much) Bessie’s surname was Paterson. You can see from the picture that she was a fine upstanding lass in the best tradition of Paterson women.

We have been here before on several occasions when it was run by the National Trust for Scotland and were never too impressed … normally when we are in the village we go to another café called The Biscuit.

DIY Americano

Bessie’s is under new management however so we thought we should check it out. It had started raining so we were glad to be in out of the wet and delighted to be merrily greeted by the staff who soon had us supplied with a couple of fruit scones. Earlier we had agreed to having them heated so they arrived wonderfully warm and with lots of jam and cream.

They also supplied my Americano as an expresso with a jug of hot water, a sort of DIY kit. Not quite sure of the logic since I just had to pour all the water into the expresso myself. Heyho, different! Pat took one bite and announced a topscone right away. However, she subsequently discovered a small doughy bit in the middle which unfortunately ended up demoting her verdict. Mine was perfect, so think Pat must have got a rogue one … shame. Bessie’s is joined onto the Palace and they do a good range of food so definitely worth a visit if you are in these parts.

External view of Culross Palace, Culross — Culross Palace

Troublesome people

Talk of rogues reminds us that it’s the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham this week. Boris and Theresa are slugging it out for supremacy. “Fiddling while Rome burns” comes to mind. They should be thankful they are not holding their conference here in the Kingdom of Fife where, if you remember our review of the Clock Tower Café, they had their own ways of dealing with troublesome people.

Now, call us naive if you like but we always thought, not that we have thought about it that much, if you wanted to burn a witch your major expenditure would be a gallon of petrol. Not so. In 1636, just along the coast from here, William Coke and his wife were sentenced to death for witchcraft. Apparently, to help them burn more easily, the normal practice was to clothe them in hemp coats and place them in barrels that had been pre-tarred. For anyone who thinks that this process comes cheap, think again. The expenses were considerable and probably put everyday witch burning out of reach for most people.

10 loads of coal – 3 pounds 6 shillings and 8 pennies,
tar barrel – 7 shillings,
hangman’s rope – 6 shillings,
hemp coats – 3 pounds and 10 shillings,
making the above – 8 shillings,
expenses for judge – 6 shillings,
executioner (for his pains) – 8 pounds and 14 shillings,
executioners expenses – 16 shillings and 4 pennies.

That’s almost £5,000 in today’s money however at that time, the Church and the Council split the costs … nice! Don’t think they would do that nowadays but we would still recommend that Theresa and Boris avoid Fife for the time being. Because there’s always Crowdfunder!

KY12 8JQ tel: 01383 247381 Bessie’s Café FB

Ordinary, Scones

The Clock Tower Café

4 September 2018 billpaterson1@me.com 2 Comments

Here we are back in Pittenweem. The Pop-up Café we reviewed at the beginning of August during the week-long Pittenweem Arts Festival has disappeared. Doubtless to reappear next year at the same time. However, you don’t need an arts festival as an excuse to visit this little seaside village. It’s great to visit anytime and this time we are in the Clock Tower Café. When you look at the multitude of picturesque little lanes and wynds you could be forgiven for thinking that nothing much, other than some fishing and the odd arts festival, has ever happened here. Looks can be deceiving however. ‘Twas not always thus! The Clock Tower, which takes

External view at the Clock Tower Café, Pittenweem — The Tolbooth from the Clock Tower Café

its name from the nearby Tolbooth, can give an insight into livelier, if more disturbing, times.

In 1705, Patrick Morton, son of a local blacksmith, made a series of witchcraft accusations against some of his neighbours which resulted in them all being unquestioningly incarcerated in pitch black dungeons underneath the Tolbooth, part of the Parish Church.

No luck

Some starved to death but one, Janet Cornfoot, managed to escape. She got about ten miles to the village of Leuchers where she sought help from the local minister, George Gordon. He was more interested in the reward for her recapture, however, so she was promptly returned to Pittenweem. No luck!

There, a mob tied her up, beat her severely, and dragged her by the ankles down to the harbour where she was dangled upside down from the masthead of one of the boats. People then threw rocks at her as she swung to and fro. Still no luck! Eventually she was taken down and a door placed on top of her which was then laden with heavy rocks to crush her. Finally, a horse and cart was driven over her before she was thrown in an unmarked grave having been refused a Christian burial. Oh Janet, if it wasn’t for bad luck! In the end, Morton, who made the original accusations, proved to be a thoroughly untrustworthy liar. However no action was ever taken against him or any of the mob.

Church of Scotland

When we recoil in disgust at some of the barbarous acts beamed into our living rooms from around the Middle East in the name of religion, it is perhaps salutary to bear in mind that, not that long ago, the Church in Scotland was behaving in an equally barbaric fashion. Thank goodness it is slightly more enlightened nowadays.
Anyway, even though Janet Cornfoot was undoubtedly dragged down the High Street past this place on her way to the harbour we did not let that put us off. No, no, no, the Clock Tower had scones, so in we went with barely a passing thought for poor Janet. There’s a few tables in the front part of the café but we went through to an area at the rear where there were plenty more. The staff were lovely. They quickly had us sorted with a light lunch and a scone to share.

There was lots going on with people coming and going all the time and exchanging banter. It had a nice friendly atmosphere. The scone was a slightly odd shape but good nevertheless … no topscone but good. Pittenweem is fortunate to have many good cafés.

Janet and Donald

Back then, however, Janet Cornfoot needn’t have turned to Donald Trump for sympathy or understanding. We are not huge John McCain fans, he was a bit of a warmonger, but he did spend more than five years as a POW in Vietnam and that must have been tough. So when Trump said “he’s not a war hero, he was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” presumably he wouldn’t have got on well with Janet. Probably would have been part of the mob. That figures, doesn’t it?

View at the Clock Tower Café, Pittenweem — one of the many tiny lanes

Extraordinary achievments

Recently the SNP became the second largest political party in the UK, overtaking the Conservatives. An extraordinary achievement when you consider they represent only 8% of the UK population. Also, at a time when the UK needs a strong opposition like never before, the Labour Party, by far the biggest party in the UK, manages to render itself worse than useless over a mere form of words. An extraordinary achievement. As a result the third largest party in the UK remains all powerful. While simultaneously making a complete mess of things. Also an extraordinary achievement. If our Janet had a grave she would be spinning.

KY10 2LA tel: 01333 313111 Clock Tower Café TA

english, Ordinary, Scones, self-service

Hauxley Wildlife Centre

20 May 2018 billpaterson1@me.com

While Megan tries to convince Harry that she hadn’t really wanted a big wedding, we are still a safe distance away in the north east of England. The Hauxley Wildlife Discovery Centre near Druridge Bay is internationally renowned for its birds. It’s amazing because it was once a very industrial open-cast mining site. In 1983, however, it was taken over by Northumberland Wildlife Trust and transformed into this fabulous haven for wildlife. They’ve done a magnificent job with an extensive shallow pond surrounded by great paths and multiple hides. Definitely one of the best reserves we have come across.

A speckled brown wood butterfly at Hauxley Nature Reserve — Speckled wood butterfly

We spent a couple of hours visiting the hides, spying on the host of birds and butterflies that have made this their home. Pat was happy to add a few new species, like blackcap and whitethroat to her list. Once we had done a fairly lengthy circuit of all the hides it was scone o’clock and time to return to the reception centre.

Last minute scones

Even this large straw-bale built reception centre was put together by a small army of Northumberland Wildlife Trust volunteers. The café not only had scones but huge viewing windows where you could eat your scone while continuing to watch birds. What more could you ask for?The self-service service was very warm and friendly as you would expect in this part of the world. There wasn’t any cream and not much jam but the scones themselves were very good and very welcome. Our group actually bought all the scones they had. If we had been a few minutes later there would have been none and that would have been a disaster. No topscone here unfortunately but a very good effort in a quite magical place … keep up the good work!

Talking of disasters … let’s return to the wedding. Seriously, you have probably gathered by now that we are not great fans of Royalty but we do like Suits, so we really do wish the new Countess of Dumbarton (yes, that’s one of Megan’s many titles now) and her hubby every good fortune with their marriage.

Who cares when there is a Royal wedding?

It was great to see that all the homeless people had been either removed from Windsor or covered up with Union flags. All the towns potholes had also been repaired. Can all UK towns have a Royal wedding, please? Elsewhere there were plane crashes in Cuba, another mass school shooting in the Texas, the start of Ramadan and the opening of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland where they will be discussing whether the C of S has 10 or 20 years left to live. But who cares when there is a Royal wedding? Not to worry the bird-list continues to grow.

NE65 0JR tel:01665 568 324 Hauxley Wildlife

Scones, Top, weird

Wild Olive Tree Café

13 April 2018 billpaterson1@me.com

. If you can’t see anything resembling a café in the above picture that’s because it’s hidden. Hidden within the St George’s Tron Church, the rather large pointy building sitting centre stage. The Church of Scotland opened it in 1808 and it’s still going strong today. We had heard a rumour about this church. The rumour could have been about all the fantastic work they do in conjunction with the Glasgow City Mission and the Bethany Christian Trust to help the most vulnerable people in Glasgow. As explained to us at some length by ‘big Andy’. A lovely bloke who seems to take care of everything here. The rumour could also have been about their ‘gifted soup/coffee’ scheme. You can buy an extra coffee or soup which they then offer to people who can’t afford them. The rumour might even have been about their green credentials or the fact that all their bread comes from the Freedom Bakery in Low Moss prison. But no, it wasn’t any of those.

Would you adam ‘n eve it, it was about scones! We had heard from a very well respected source that their scones were worthy of inspection. That’s what drew us in here. Yes, we are are actually that shallow! Recently the congregation and the Church of Scotland spent over £3m refurbishing the whole building and The Wild Olive Tree Café came about as part of that redevelopment.

Cheddar and sunflower seed

It is intended to provide a place of quiet sanctuary. Away from the hustle, bustle and general madness going on just outside the door in Scotland’s busiest shopping street. In here, the almost serene atmosphere, seems like another world. The café specialises in soup, scones and cakes … what more would you want? As for scones there was a choice of:

Spiced Sultana
Apricot Date & Vanilla
Cheddar & Sunflower seed
Goats Cheese & Caramelised Onion … wow, and all freshly baked!

I opted for the the spiced sultana and Pat went for the cheddar and sunflower seed. Both were wonderful. Mine had a lovely crunchiness on the outside and deliciously spiced on the inside … never before tasted a scone like it! Pat’s was beautifully cheesy with a lovely crunch courtesy of the sunflower seeds. There wasn’t anything not to like about the whole experience … nice surroundings, friendly service, good presentation and fantastic scones. Even my drink was Dear Green Coffee, roasted right here in the beating heart of Glasgow … excellent! These were definitely the best scones we have had in ages. No problem awarding a topscone here.

In many ways this place reminded us of our recent visit to the Glasgow Gurdwara where our Sikh friends were also doing lots of good work with the needy. The only problem with both this place and the Gurdwara is that they are required at all. Britain is one of the richest oil producing countries in the world yet there are still thousands of people here and in every other major city who are on the breadline. How come? The lowest state pension of any developed country in the world doesn’t help. Lots of old folk living in poverty and hopelessness.

Painting of the Last Supper by I.D. Campbell at St George's Tron Church and the Wild Olive Tree Café in Glasgow — The Last Supper using guests at the Glasgow City Mission as models

Remember me

This eight foot long painting hangs in the café and kind of encapsulates the situation. It is a depiction, by the artist-in-residence Iain Campbell, of the Last Supper featuring Jesus among men who have fallen on hard times. We have seen the original Last Supper by Da Vinci in Milan but this version seems much more powerful … sorry Leonardo! At the supper Jesus said “remember me” but somehow all these men seem totally forgotten. Jesus is one of them … you pick! Meanwhile our wonderful government can still spend billions on weapons of mass destruction and, at this very moment, are actively contemplating going to war with Syria? Trump and May haven’t had a war yet so it’s probably to be expected. On whose behalf would they go to war … certainly not these guys, they’ve got much more immediate things to worry about!

Internal view of St George's Tron Church and the Wild Olive Tree Café in Glasgow — the Wild Olive Tree … pruned to within an inch of its life

G1 2JX tel: 0141 248 2049 Wild Olive Tree Café

ps: To be or not to be … the Pedant has sent us a picture of a brace of K6 telephone boxes in Stratford upon Avon. The question is, are they protecting that wastepaper bin or are they taking it into custody?

Scones, history and a dollop of politics