Tag Archives: Donald Trump

Scones, Uncategorized

Lost Shore

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Weird things happen. By “weird” we mean things that just seem a bit out of place, a bit incongruous! Logo of Lost Shore CanteenThese days that takes in a lot of things. For us, surfing is normally associated with sun bleached beautiful people on beaches like Bondi and Waikiki, not Scotland! But what do we know? Here we are at Lost Shore Surfing Centre and it’s only twenty minutes away from home on the outskirts of Edinburgh. We know the area well because the Edinburgh International Climbing Arena is in a quarry right next door but “surfing?” It just opened last week so we thought we should be nosey and check it out. Maybe catch a wave or two.

External view of Lost Shore Canteen
The Canteen restaurant

From the car park you have to walk down into a large sunken area which presumably was also some sort of quarry at one time. It’s incredible!  A kind of assualt on the senses.  Music playing, hundreds of people milling around, some with surf boards, some just lounging in deckchairs (warm enough in a wetsuit) and others in the water actually surfing.Surfers at Lost Shore Canteen

They are surfing in what turns out to be Europe’s largest wave pool. It’s situated in a 60 acre country park with accommodation, restaurants, bar, shops and a wellness studio. The accommodation consists of anything from small pods to more than fifty three and four bedroom lodges. It’s almost a small town and seems to have just dropped out of the sky. Miraculous, it may be but it has obviously been a long time in the making. Ten years planning and construction apparently and we didn’t know anything about it. Surders at Lost Shore Canteen

There are two ponds each making more than thirty different types of wave. Don’t ask how they can produce more than 1000 waves per hour but they do.Internal view of Lost Shore Canteen

Because they seemed to have thought of everything we thought there wouldn’t be a problem getting a scone in the Canteen restaurant. It houses three well known Scottish restaurants serving a variety of food.A morning roll at Lost Shore CanteenTurns out scones probably aren’t really cool enough for the surfing fraternity. They want straight forward food and aren’t too bothered about how it’s served.  No scones so just to add a bit more weirdness to our day I had what they called a “morning roll” in the middle of the afternoon.

Not like a roll, it was more reminiscent of a cinnamon bun. No idea how it got its name. It was good though and came in a polystyrene box, the coffee in a paper cup. Great vibe though! We ended up chatting to a family who had driven up from Durham and were staying for a few days.  Their teenage daughter was learning to surf so they thought the whole Lost Shore facility was fabulous.Surfboards at Lost Shore Canteen

Apparently Scotland has some of the best waves in the world. We should have known that because one of our favourite islands Tiree holds the annual Tiree Wave Classic one of the oldest competitions of its kind. They’ve even written books about it. We consider ourselves educated. 

Even weirder

However, Scotland doesn’t have a monopoly on weird happenings. Take the recent Presidential election in America for instance. With apologies to our American readers, here’s a little quiz.

This is how the rest of the world views Trump becoming President Elect … again! It is, however, democracy in action so we will just have to suck it up as they say. However, the prospect of four years of schoolboy economics isn’t exactly thrilling. Throwing an isolationist ring around the US in an attempt to make the wealthiest people on the planet even wealthier at the expense of the poor elsewhere is more than a little bit crazy. Of course, there will be the inevitable backlash but Trump will be gone again by then. That’s assuming he hasn’t done like Xi and Putin and made himself President for Life. Internal view of Lost Shore Canteen

Also weird was the ancient Mike Tyson’s recent fight with a YouTuber more than thirty years his junior.  Whatever happened to standards?Surfers at Lost Shore Canteen

Perhaps not so weird was the fact that we seemed to be the oldest folk here … probably by a factor of almost forty years! Just the thought of trying to get in and out of a wet suit is exhausting. No waves and no scones were caught by us today but it was great just being in this amazing place. 

EH28 8AY            tel: 0131 287 4590             Lost Shore

///imposes.hazel.arise

ps: We thought we were finished with Pat’s recent Macmillan Coffee Morning but more contributions have come in. Final total now stands at £4,810.05 … amazing!

english, Ordinary, Scones

Gail’s Artisan Bakery

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If you have ambitions to live in London we would heartily recommend Barnes village on the banks of the Thames. We are visiting family here. With its delis, bookshops, small boutiques and fine restaurants it doesn’t feel as if it’s only a couple of miles away from the Houses of Parliament. It just has that pretty little village vibe. Of course, that’s until you look in the estate agent’s window and realise that unless you’re willing to part with a couple of million pounds you’re not going to get much by way of a house. Gail’s Artisan Bakery is a typical up market café for the area.

Working from home?

Incredibly, the last time we reviewed Gail’s was more than nine years ago. It hasn’t changed that much but we felt it had a slightly different less welcoming feel about it this time. Baking at Gail's in BarnesStill the same range of delicious looking breads and other bakery and still the same assortment of baby buggies cluttering up the place. Of course, there were also lots of people “working from home“. It must be frustrating for cafés like this to have all these laptop folk sitting for hours with a single cup of coffee.Internal view of Gail's in Barnes

Not that we were much better. It wasn’t long after breakfast so two americanos and a fruit scone to share was the order.A scone at Gail's in Barnes When it arrived at our table we were slightly perplexed to find that the scone was on its own. No butter, no jam and no cream. Did they expect us to eat the scone ‘neat’? Pat had to go and ask and came back with nice little pots of butter and jam … no cream. Maybe with this being an ‘artisan’ bakery our hopes were unreasonably high but suffice to say our scone certainly did not live up to expectations. It was decidedly average and neither of us even finished our halves. Scones at Gail's in Barnes

It wasn’t until we were leaving we noticed that they had other offerings. Sour Cherry & Chocolate as well as Maple & Pecan scones. We should have tried them!

Reward notice for stealing a lambThis is a Range Rover/Porsche kind of area where lots of celebrities live. We came across this notice which seems to indicate that it may always have been relatively affluent. Quite a generous reward for this sort of misdemeanour. Not sure what would have happened to the felon if caught. Probably hanging or even worse … transportation to Australia. That last bit is just for our Australian readers.

A tiny ray of hope

One of our Israeli readers has informed us that people are leaving the country rather than stay and watch the stupidity of the atrocities being carried out in their name. Presumably they’ve worked out how utterly pointless it all is.

Talking of felonious actions, at home we have the Conservatives outraged at members of the new government receiving gifts of clothing. Pot, kettle, black comes to mind! On the other side of the pond Trump has gone ever more extreme with his accusations. It’s a mad old world.

SW13 9HH            Tel: 020 8741 0987          Gail’s

///honest,quiet.oasis

Ordinary, Scones, self-service

Ardnamurchan lighthouse

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Someone said “Go west young man”  so that’s what we are doing today. Ignoring the “young” bit, we are heading as far west as it’s possible to go on the UK mainland. It is, of course, Ardnamurchan and the most westerly point there is at Ardnamurchan lighthouse. This is as close to America as it’s possible to get on the British mainland. So we feel obliged to interrupt this post with the news that Joe Biden has bowed to the inevitable and pulled out of the Presidential race.

Plonker

We have listened to the endless speculation about what happens next but, for us, the most noteworthy  thing about the whole situation is Trump’s comments about Biden. Only a complete plonker could be soooo ungracious. It’s beyond comprehension that a country like the US could only find Biden and Trump as Presidential candidates … unbelievable! It will be interesting to see what happens now, not that anyone cares much in Ardnamurchan.Map of Ardnamurchan

Not as interesting, however, as this post.  Today we are taking the ferry from Tobermory to Kilchoan. We joined the queue for the 9.30 and guess what, when it was our turn it was full. We couldn’t get on. The only consolation being that we were car no1 for the next one at 11 o’clock.

The ferry at Tobermory
First ferry was full of cars and the second one looked like it might fill up with foot passengers

After a walk around the town we returned only to find a horde of foot passengers.  The boat was so full of passengers it looked as if there might not be enough room for cars. And you think America has problems! It all got sorted, of course, and we were on our way at last. Turned out that all the cheery passengers were going to the annual Highland Games at Kilchoan.

Oil painting of Ardnamurchan lighthouse
A dramatic painting by G Scott Grier of the lighthouse

We disembarked and headed off across more miles of single track roads … the sheep seemed no less indignant. You go until you can go no further; you are at the end of the road and at the lighthouse. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was very windy with gusts that stopped you in your tracks.

The fog horn at Ardnamurchan lighthouse
Pat at the fog horn, desperately clinging on to avoid being blown off to America.
Surprise

To our surprise there was a visitor centre which sold all sorts of memorabilia … and a cafe with scones!The cafe at Ardnamurchan lighthouse

Being in out of the wind was a huge relief although Pat seemed to actually enjoy the wind more than she should … she found it invigorating. The cafe at Ardnamurchan lighthouse

Manners

Nevertheless, cobweb free we ordered a scone from a chap who was cheerfully manning the centre single handedly. A scone at Ardnamurchan lighthouseThis used to be a stable block. Lovely stone walls and cobbled flooring. It also has an outside seating area however today our scone along with everything else would have disappeared immediately in the wind. Maybe our scone could have nlown over and hit Trump on the head and knocked some manners into him. Having said that our scone was lovely and light so that probably wouldn’t have worked. 

Our visit here was really enjoyable. The climb to the top of the lighthouse involves 152 steps and two ladders. We thought about it for at least a nanosecond, the scone was quite enough for us.

PH36 4LN        tel: 01972 510210       Ardnamurchan Lighthouse

///depths.perusing.gossip

ps: on our away to the lighthouse we came across one of these little honesty shops. Just leave the money for whatever you took. There was even a little bowl of money so that you could take your change … wonderful!An honesty shop on Ardnamurchan

 

Ordinary, Scones, self-service

Compton Acres

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Compton Acres isn’t exactly local for us. Indeed, it’s about as far away as you can get in Poole in Dorset. We are visiting our family here on England’s south coast. Compton Acres is a 10 acre ornamental  garden with a restaurant/café. While the parents were working we decided to take ourselves and entertain our grandchildren there.

Personalised SatNav

It’s only a five minute drive from their house but our granddaughters, aged nine and eleven, insisted that we switch off the car’s SatNav because they knew where it was. They would act as our own personal GPS. They then proceeded to impersonate our GPS lady. The main problem was that there was two of them and they couldn’t agree. One would say “at the end of the street turn right” but the other would say “no, it’s left“. Suffice to say that after a couple of circuits of the town they eventually agreed to let us turn on the car’s GPS. As it happened we were actually almost there. If we had left them for another minute or so we might have had a triumphant chorus of “you have reached your destination” .Internal view of Compton Acres

Monsoon

Compton Acres is the sort of place that thrives on bus parties on day excursions. It was very busy. Nothing for it but to join the queue at the self service counter. A scone at Compton AcresIt didn’t take too long, however, and we were soon kitted out with a fruit scone to share and hot chocolate and brownies for the girls.  The scone was excellent and could easily have been a topscone if it hadn’t been self-service. It was so busy that we invited two elderly ladies who were having difficulty finding a table to sit with us. They were a delight and had great chat. Having already been round the gardens they warned us that it was very slippery underfoot in places. Unfortunately, by the time we have finished our scone the rain was torrential. We decided to leave our tour of the gardens until the weather was less monsoon like.External view of Compton Acres

News

In these days of wall to wall bad news one of the benefits of being away is that we hardly get any. Too busy with other things. We can, however, report that the Labour Party is now in government. People are waiting to see if they can make less of a mess of it than the Tories. Hard to see how they could be worse so fingers crossed! Of course, the news that Donald Trump had been shot also filtered through. America seems to be even more divided than the UK and that’s saying something. Hopefully some sort of common sense will prevail and the US, like the Donald’s ear will be able to heal itself.

Much greater than all of that, of course, is the fact that England’s footballers were beaten by Spain in the final of the Euros. The post mortem will go on and on and on. The last team to beat Spain was actually Scotland but we weren’t going to mention that … oops!

Lola at Compton Acres
Trying to take a picture of a cup and photobombed by one half of our GPS system

Making our way back to the house you will be delighted to know that our new personalised GPS system actually worked. It shows great promise if you can put up with the nonsense that goes with it.

BH13 7ES       tel: 01202 700778          Compton Acres

///loads.crunch.wishes

Ordinary, Scones, self-service

Mill Café

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The Mill Café is not the building in the title picture, but it’s in there somewhere! The building is obviously part of the Sterling Furniture Warehouse which started life in 1846 as Devonvale Mill. Producing tartan to begin with it has seen many incarnations in its time. Since 1974, however, it’s been this furniture warehouse, the biggest in Scotland. The Mill Café name obviously hints at its original use.Logo of the Mill Café

We are here because we thought we should buy a new chair. We don’t know how many chairs they have here but it must run into thousands. There’s a danger for some, or me in particular, to become ‘chair blind’ … they all start to look the same. When that happens you can become distracted by other things. For me it was these standard lamps.Standard lamps at Sterling Furniture

I was gently but firmly reminded that we already had more than enough standard lamps. and ushered off towards the café.Internal view of the Mill Café

Fruit scone no more

In keeping with the size of the warehouse the Mill Café is not exactly small. It’s self-service but quite efficient. A scone at the Mill CaféWe were soon equipped with a light lunch and a plain scone to share. All the fruit scones had gone. We were told that the fruit scones always sell out very quickly. You might think it should occur to them simply to make more. It’s a wee while since we last had a plain scone so that was to be today’s scone adventure. It was actually very nice. Although not crunchy it had an overall nice consistency and was quite light. Self service, no cream and no hope of a topscone but enjoyable nevertheless. External view of the Mill Café

Poor choices

“Chair blindness” is one thing but we are also developing “promise blindness”. All parties are issuing a great vomit of promises which anyone with half a brain knows they can’t keep. The Tory leader has tried to illustrate his deprived millionaire upbringing by saying that he didn’t have Sky television as a child … diddums! The Labour leader, like a child desperate for friends, continues to welcome a host of unsavoury characters to his side.The LibDem leader is actually just a big kid. And we wouldn’t insult children by drawing a comparison to the Reform Party leader. Aaaargh, the General Election is just a couple of  weeks away! Thank goodness in Scotland we have other parties to vote for.

Across the pond we have the delightful prospect of Biden, with a convicted criminal son running against another convicted criminal. Russia and China begin to look remarkably sensible in the circumstances.

We didn’t buy a chair … waiting for our sight to return to normal!

FK13 6NS          tel: 01259 755191            Mill Café

///verges.habits.stupidity

Ordinary, Scones

The Dean

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We used to live in Edinburgh, very close to Dean Village. The village lies along the banks of the Water of Leith and although it is almost city centre it feels like another world. A while back we became aware of a cafe called Café Braw (“braw” is typical Scottish understatement meaning “excellent”) and made a mental note to visit. Today we are doing just that. However when we got to where we thought it should be we couldn’t find it. We had to stop and ask a passerby. He just pointed to The Dean which we were standing outside. It had changed its name!

Dean Village
The Water of Leith running through the village

Anyway, we hade been looking forward to Cafe Braw but were sadly disappointed with The Dean. It’s tiny. Only two stools to sit on inside and not much more outside. A scone at The DeanIt was a lovely day so sitting outside wasn’t a problem, however, for the entire duration of our visit we were regaled by the thoughts of the owner. He stood on the pavement talking loudly to the couple at the next table who he was presumably trying to impress. Obviously we weren’t worth impressing because he never said a word to us. Perhaps the day could have been saved by the scones but sadly no. They were decidedly average. Coffee was nice though!Dean Village

Neuks and crannies

Anyway, although The Dean was disappointing the main purpose of our visit was to walk along the Water of Leith through Dean Village.

Dean Village
Pat just had to go down here to make sure the washing was hung properly

That’s something we didn’t do enough of when we actually lived here. Work, and stuff like that got in the way. Normally there’s not that much water however recent rains meant that today it was quite swollen. The village itself is very quaint with all its tall buildings piled up along the river as well as loads of little courtyards and other neuks and crannies. It is now a major draw for tourists and perhaps testament to what could be achieved before town planners got their hands on everything. Soon we came to Stockbridge and the street where we used to live as a newly married couple starting out on life’s adventure. It was nice to be back but that’s another story and another scone. Dean Village

Wisdom?

Donald Trump, unsurprisingly, been found guilty. Equally unsurprisingly that has set the cat among the pigeons. You couldn’t make it up. Wisdom isn’t a word you could ever associate with Donald but here at home we are faced with supposedly other wise politicians fighting for our affections. Falling over themselves to promise us the sun, the moon and the stars. Like Donald they all presumably think they have sufficient wisdom to govern over the rest of us, the unwise. Perhaps they could all do well to heed the words of Joe Corrie.

Born in 1894, Corrie was a coal miner and poet  from Slamannan. A village just a few miles from our home. Most of his poems are written in the Scots language so we hope that our non-Scots readers will understand. Or, at least catch his drift. The poem starts with him  comparing philosophies of Plato,  Soloman and Socrates  but ends with these four salutary lines.Poem by Joe Corrie

St Bernard's well, Dean Village
St Bernard’s Well on the banks of the river featuring the Greek goddess of health Hygeia

An inscription over the doorway on the well  reads “Bibendo Valeris”, meaning; drink and you will be well. We’ve tried to follow that advice and we feel very well!

EH3 9BH          tel: 07930 146671               The Dean

///depend.joined.units

Scones, self-service, Uncategorized

Verdant Works

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This post comes from the Verdant Works, a jute manufacturing factory in Dundee. Why, you might well ask? Well, we’re on an outing with the Falkirk Local History Society and the organisers are none other than our very own Trossachs correspondents. And, of course, where they are involved, there may very well be scones as well. Also the Verdant Works is interesting from a historical point of view. At one time jute manufacturing was a huge industry for Dundee. It was the centre of the jute world and even acquired the nickname “Juteopolis”.

Courtyard at Verdant Works
Verdant is a rare example of a “courtyard” mill
Jute, whales and ships

Thousands of tons of jute were imported from Calcutta when India and Pakistan were still British colonies. Embroidered crest for The Weaver Incorporation of DundeeIt wasn’t much use in its raw state because it was too rigid and brittle. Dundee , however, also had a whaling industry and whale oil was found to be ideal to soften it.  It could then be woven into a multitude of high value goods. Dundee also built the ships used to transport the jute to this country. It had everything going for it! Eventually, however, the Indians and Pakistanis wised up and realised that they could produce these goods much cheaper themselves. Today there is no jute industry in Dundee, only these buildings preserved by the Dundee Heritage Trust, stand as testament to a bygone era.

Aerial view of Verdant Works
In 1833 the Verdant Works (centre, picture taken 1963) was so called because it was surrounded by lush green countryside. Within a few years there was 50,000 people employed in the jute industry and the green fields had gone for ever.
Tiding us over

A scone at Verdant WorksAfter the bus journey from Falkirk our correspondents had wisely placed tea and scones pretty near the start of our tour. It’s a big place and not the sort that you can just skip round in half an hour. There’s a cafe at the Verdant Works but it’s relatively small and not suited to a sudden influx of around 60 people. We were taken to a suitable  upstairs room  where a guide was able to give us the A – Z of Verdant history while we had our tea. You just helped yourself to the scones, butter and jam. Internal view of Verdant WorksUnfortunately the scones were a bit industrial, like our surroundings. Rather heavy and solid, definitely not the best. However, after our journey to get here we were very grateful to have them and they were good enough to tide us over to lunch later at the House of Dun. Readers cannot buy these scones unless, like us, you are on an organised tour so they are “uncategorised”.

Pat at Verdant Works
Happy girl after a scone
Romantic notions

Victorian living conditions in DundeeNowadays most people don’t even know what jute is never mind that it was the basis of such a huge industry in Scotland. Anybody courting the notion that Victorian times were in some way romantic times quickly had that idea dispelled. Although a few people made vast fortunes, it was always off the backs of those exploited in India, Pakistan and here in Dundee. Poverty was rife. Women and children, some as young as six or seven, were used in the machine shops. Men, deemed not to have the necessary dexterity, were left at home to look after the children. The horrendous clatter of machines on the shop floor was deafening and these women could only communicate by lipreading. There was no Health & Safety so children were sometimes  shredded when drawn into the machinery, It was about as far away from romantic as it was possible to get..

Union banner at Verdant Works
A Union banner from 1885 gives a hint of what conditions were like

Until visiting the Verdant Works we didn’t know much about the jute industry either so it was absolutely fascinating. Many thanks to our correspondents who did a first class job organising this and the rest of our outing … absolutely brilliant!

Don’t know nothin’
The cludgie
People touring the works are tempted to peek round the door of the cludge (toilet) only to be startled by a loud voice saying “oy, there’s someone in”. Hilarious, people get such a fright

Donald Trump may have been caught with his trousers down as well. The courtroom battle currently underway into his affairs is fascinating, as much for his idiotic behaviour as anything else. However, we’re pretty sure his foaming-at-the-mouth supporters will undoubtedly keep following, come what may. The inquiry into the Post Office Horizon scandal that ruined so many lives is discovering that those in top management positions seemingly knew nothing about it. In fact it would appear that none of them knew anything about anything. That would go a long way to explaining the state of the Post Office today.

DD1 5BT         tel: 01382 309060              Verdant Works

///feast.skills.cure

Scones, topweird

Ale & Pate

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How did we end up here at Ale & Pate in Dalgety Bay? You know how sometimes we go to the cinema in the morning and then go on somewhere in the afternoon. This is one of those days. Logo of Ale & Pate, Dalgety Bay

Weird films

We went to see the movie “Poor Things” at the Hippodrome in Bo’ness. There’s been a lot of fuss about it recently but we still weren’t sure if we actually wanted to see it. It’s almost two and a half hours long and when it finished we were kind of left wondering what we had seen. Set in a fantastical 19th century with gorgeous sets and brilliant acting it’s sort of hypnotically fascinating to watch and a bit weird all at the same time. We think we are glad to have seen it although not 100% sure.

Afterwards we thought we would follow the advice we had received when we posted from the The Bruce Arms in Limekilns. Tracy, the barmaid, had highly recommended the scones at Ale & Pate in Dalgety Bay. Although it is not more than half and hour by car from home we had never been there. The main road skirts past the town so unless you have a good reason to visit you just don’t. We’ve never had a reason … until now!

Originally it was just the little fishing village of Dalgety but then it was redeveloped in 1962 and became Dalgety Bay. Interestingly (or not) the tiny village of Dalgety (pop 252) almost became the capital of Australia. Not this one but one in New South Wales.  Eventually, in 1908, it lost out to Canberra. Boo, we would have voted for Dalgety!

Internal view of Ale & Pate, Dalgety BayBack in Scotland we were trying to find our destination amongst all the 60s style houses that give it that kind of “new town” look. Eventually we tracked it down to a small utilitarian looking unit in the middle of a housing estate. It was above a fish and chip shop, sandwiched between a couple of Indian restaurants and next door to a dental practice. We didn’t know what we had expected but it wasn’t this! Internal view of Ale & Pate, Dalgety Bay

Anyway, if we had any lingering doubts about the place they were soon placated by our first sight of the scones – they just looked fab!Scones at Ale & Pate, Dalgety Bay

Weird scones

There was a choice of “fruit” or goodness gracious, “date and orange”. It had to be one of each. Pat was already making favourable noises by the time I got started on mine. Lately, we’ve had a run of what we term “weird scones”. Scone at Ale & Pate, Dalgety BayNot nasty weird, just different. There was “cranberry” scones at The Bruce Arms then ‘milk chocolate and strawberry’ scones at Callendar House, and now ‘date and orange’. What is going on – weird films, weird scones? No cream but both these really fresh scones had been gently warmed and mine even had a drizzle of icing on top … delicious. Our original disappointment at first sight of Ale & Pate was more than compensated by the friendly service and the excellent scones. Yet another topweird scone.

Not having been in Dalgety Bay before we decided to explore after leaving Ale & Pate. For all its ‘newness’ it does have a fair bit of history. Things would have been very different here over the centuries. DalgetyBay is built on Donibristle Estate, the seat of the Earls of Moray .

Donibristle stables
This was just the stable block for the Earls of Moray at Donibristle House. Now it is private apartments

In fairness it has to be said that there were fewer witches burned in Dalgety than in other villages along this Fife coast. Having said that in 1649, Isobel Kelloch was put to death. She had offered a head scarf to another woman who then suffered a headache. At the same time, and perhaps in the interests of equality, they also burned Robert Maxwell. He was considered an “ignorant” man and a warlock. Imagine how many people we could do away  with if these views still prevailed? The mind boggles!

The beach at Dalgety Bay
Dalgety Bay with Inchcolm Island (pop 2) in middle distance and Edinburgh far right
Weird world
As well as our weird films and weird scones the whole world just seems a bit weird at the moment. The UK and the US both have elections this year. On this side of the pond we have Rishi Sunak. He just seems happily detached from reality. In opposition we have Keir Starmer. He is used to know reality but now denies that he ever did. On the other side of the pond we have Joe Biden whose reality is a now a care home. And, in opposition, Donald Trump who thinks reality isn’t actually real.
 
But never mind all that, as long as all we have to worry about is weird scones, we won’t worry too much! Our thanks go to Tracy at The Bruce Arms for an excellent heads up on Ale & Pate and giving us a reason to visit Dalgety Bay. In spite of searching we failed to find the harbour … we know, how can you not find a harbour? In our defence, at Buckhaven we also failed to find the harbour, so we are experts!. Some day, we will have to return. Watch this space.
 
KY11 9NH       tel: 01383 821599         Ale & Pate FB
 
///myself.half.backyards
Scones, topweird

Bruce Arms

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Well here we are, deep in 2024 already. We hope it’s going to be a good one for everyone. With fast fading memories of Christmas dinner – turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce etc, what better way to celebrate our first scone of the year than with a cranberry one. Yes, a cranberry scone! Cranberries are just one of the many weird and wonderful things that appear once a year along with trees in your living room and puddings you set fire to. The Bruce Arms, here in Limekilns, clearly had a lot left over because there was only plain or cranberry scones on offer.

Sign for the Bruce Arms in LimekilnsIn previous visits to Limekilns we have visited the Sundial Cafe and Coorie By The Coast, but never here. When we walked in the barmaid asked “are you in for lunch?” We said “no, just wondering if you could give us coffee and a cranberry scone?” As she stood behind  a Ferrero Roche style pyramid of cranberry scones beside the large barista style coffee machine, she answered  with a curious smile “maybe!” When we first arrived at the Bruce Arms it felt a bit lacking in atmosphere but now we had a funny feeling this visit might be a bit different. And so it was!

Assumptions

We assumed that the Bruce Arms would have taken its name from Scotland’s famous King and all round good guy, Robert the Bruce. Turns out not to be the case. It’s named after one Thomas Bruce-Brudenell, Earl of Ailesbury whose family were landowners around here in the 17th century. His main contribution during his earthly existence seems to have been naming things after himself. There’s another Bruce Arms in Tanfield on another estate he owned not far from Newcastle in the north of England. Internal view of the Bruce Arms in Limekilns

Living in a small village

Anyway, Tracy the barmaid soon had us sorted with everything. There wasn’t any cream but our scone came with plenty butter. She’d also given us raspberry jam because that was her favourite.  As we sat there it soon became clear that Tracy knew everyone who came in. Not only that she also knew everything about them. We were soon very well acquainted with all their ailments as well as their next hospital and doctor appointments … fascinating! We weren’t eavesdropping, we just couldn’t help but hear! On the plus side there was no talk of deaths. And also, a pregnancy in the village, by all accounts, was going well.

Victorian photo of the Bruce Arms in Limekilns
Old Victorian photo of the Bruce Arms …. it hasn’t changed much!

Eventually, conversation got round to the ongoing saga that is the Post Office scandal. Although it’s been going on for almost thirty years it has only recently been brought to the forefront by a television drama “Mr Bates vs the Post Office”. Hundreds of Postmasters had their lives ruined, some jailed, by what turned out to be nothing more than a software error. The Post Office is wholly owned by the government so since the screening politicians have been falling over themselves to explain why they didn’t realise what was happening at the time. A scandal in itself. Everyone at the Bruce Arms thought it was an absolute disgrace. Eventually, however, we were asked for our opinion. 

A first

Suffice to say, Tracy ended up sitting at our table interrogating us about cranberry scones and pretty much everything else. We were able to tell her that the scones were great, much better than expected and might even have been topscones had there been cream and the jam and butter had not been prepackaged. Coffee was very good as well. In all our years doing this blog, this is the first cranberry scone we have ever come across. In such circumstances we decided to give it a topweird scone award. Well done the Bruce Arms.

Limekilns at Charlestown
The old disused lime kilns that give the village its name
Did you know?
Chalk comes from limestone and chickens fed on a diet that includes chalk lay hard eggs? Just the shells … you would still have to boil them for at least five minutes if you want them hard all the way through! Honestly, the things you learn on allaboutthescones.com!
 
Estonian Navy ship
The Bruce Arms ,the best pub in Britain. according to the Estonian Navy? Who are we to argue with the Estonian Navy
It was an absolute pleasure to chat to Tracy. We learned loads about the village, in the hour or so we were there, without asking a single question.  Just lovely open and honest people and we felt a real sense of community. It’s lovely to come on a place where everyone looks out for everyone else … we don’t see enough of that these days. We left feeling refreshed and trying to assimilate all our new found Limekilns knowledge.
Things to look forward to in 2024
  • Proper justice and compensation for all the wronged Postmasters. Some years ago I and a group of friends sailed to St Kilda. As soon as we landed the warden told us we should leave because a big storm was coming and this far out in the Atlantic was not a good place to be. One thing we had to do, however, was send a postcard home because of the unique franking mark you got at the Post Office. The Post Office is tiny. I bought a hat, a postcard and a stamp. Simple mental arithmetic could have totalled the cost in seconds but the old Postmaster insisted on writing it down on a piece of paper to add it all up. By the time he did that and then checked it twice the storm was imminent. But no software glitches here! 
  • A reduction in the influence of populist politicians like Trump and Johnson. To be a populist politician you need merely cater to the lowest denomination in your following. And every now and again throw them some red meat. Usually in the form of lies.
  • South Africa taking Israel to the International Criminal Court in The Hague charged with genocide. It’s odd that it has fallen to `South Africa to do this after all their struggles with apartheid. When we think of apartheid we think of Glasgow  in 1968. They renamed St George’s Place, Nelson Mandela Place. The South African embassy was housed there. All correspondence to the embassy then had to be addressed with the name of their most famous prisoner … genius!
  • More scones.Stags head hatstand at the Bruce Arms in Limekilns
 

KY11 3HL       tel: 01383 872259          Bruce Arms

///spared.surveyors.melon

Scones, Top

Craobh

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Today, we are out wandering with the intention of finding somewhere for dinner in the evening. Not entirely random, however, we do have a little French restaurant called the Barley Bree in mind. It’s in the lovely conservation village of Muthill and we used to go there quite often to visit our aunt. The story gets a little convoluted but bear with us. Unfortunately when we looked it up on the internet it seemed to be closed and up for sale. Phone calls went unanswered. Not to worry, it had been a long time since we had been in this beautiful part of Perthshire so we decided to carry on and find somewhere  in the next town, Crieff.

However, when we were driving through Muthill we passed the Barley Bree and Pat thought that it looked as if it was open. We couldn’t stop because of the traffic so we carried on another couple of miles to Crieff. Hence you find us here in the middle of the afternoon in Craobh, slap bang in the centre of town. However, wonder of wonders, in the course of the afternoon we discovered that the Barley Bree was now called the Coorie Inn (a play on the Scots saying “coorie in” meaning to snuggle). We got their phone number and voila, we had a booking for later! 

Parking again!

Back to Craobh! We parked right outside and surprise, surprise had to pay via an app. After our previous experience at the Old Mill in Christchurch this gave us a touch of the heebie-jeebies. Guess what, it failed again! We asked a passing lady if she could get it to work. She just laughed and shook her head. However she did tell us that we could park round the corner for free. What a woman! Pat went off to park while I went into the restaurant. To be fair to this app called RingGo, other people seem to use the it without difficulty so we suspect that our version has developed a glitch.Internal view of Craobh restaurant in Crieff

Craobh is Gaelic for ‘tree’ and is pronounced “kroov”. Perthsire is famous for its big trees, hence the name. It’s a lovely restaurant with quite a few tables at the front and then several more through the back. It was completely deserted. The Mary Celeste had more folk. There was only a couple of young girls behind the counter.

They welcomed us and confirmed that they did have scones … hurrah! Then they spent some time consulting their reservation book to see if they could fit us in. Curious, because as far as we could make out every single table was available. Turned out that they were actually fully booked for dinners so were probably just checking that we were not going to interfere with their first reservations. Anyway it was great to hear that they were fully booked and by the sounds of it that was the case most nights … fantastic! 

Slate plates

Since we were having  dinner later we just asked for a scone to share and some coffee. It, or rather they, arrived nicely presented on a piece of slate. Obviously this would upset the bellyachers at wewantplates.com. Scones at Craobh restaurant in CrieffThey get terribly upset about food served on anything other than a plate. Thankfully we have never been known to bellyache about anything! We can tolerate a bit of slate … especially if it’s adorned with warm scones, jam and cream. And we did have side plates. With this sort of attention to detail we began to understand why this place might be so popular. We thought that they just managed to squeak into our topscone category. Well done Croabh!

Stranger than fiction

Sign at Craobh restaurant in CrieffGoodness, it’s all going on in the world. On one hand we have a Russian president gayly murdering anyone he doesn’t approve of.

On the other we have a former US president being fingerprinted and mugshotted. As an ex-professional photographer I can honestly say that I would have been sacked if I had taken a mugshot like that. Besides the subject matter, there just isn’t anything right about it. Trump, as ever, is up to his old school boy tricks, deflecting attention so that nothing of substance ever gets discussed. And yet his supporters keep following like mesmerised cattle apparently oblivious to the harm he does to the US and the world.

In sporting news it is all about the president of total plonkers  Luis Rubiales and the turmoil created by THE KISS. If any of our most imaginative readers were asked to make up a surreal, fantastical week of news it would probably fall well short of the actual reality.Internal view of Craobh restaurant in Crieff

Schwarzenegger says

Our dinner at the Coorie Inn was great. It’s been taken over by Andrew, Phil and Lisa … all previously of the five star Gleneagles Hotel. They’ve only had it for five weeks so still settling in but they seem to be making a real go of it. We wish them well. After a delicious dinner we discovered that they do scones every afternoon! We will be back!

PH7 3EY       tel: 01764 650762       Craobh

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Notice at Craobh restaurant in Crieffps: This notice was in Craobh …. discuss!  Think we know  why it’s from  “source unknown”.