Tag Archives: edinburgh

Lost Shore

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!

Dynamic Earth

The title picture is of Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh with the Salisbury Crags and Arthur’s Seat in the background. Obviously you want to know the age of Arthur’s Seat, everyone does, don’t they? It’s a 346 million year old extinct volcano, give or take a couple of million. Back then, fire and lava would have been spewing everywhere!  But,of course, that all happened when Scotland was much closer to the equator than it is today … obviously!  Another old Celtic explanation is that a huge dragon used to terrorise the city until one day it ate too much,  lay down to sleep and turned into the Arthur’s Seat.  Today, looking up at the craggy hill, for some reason the dragon explanation seems much more believable.External view of Dynamic Earth

Awkward questions

The only reason we are able to furnish you with these little nuggets is because we’re here with a couple of granddaughters at the Dynamic Earth Science Centre and Planetarium. It tells the epic story of how planet earth began. The girls are always asking awkward questions so this seemed like the place to get some answers.Internal view of Dynamic Earth

You know how they say that the best place to start is at the beginning. Well. here you can enter a Time Machine which takes you all the way back to the Big Bang. The visual and sound effects are amazing. At one point you have to hang on to railings as the ground violently shifts and rumbles beneath your feet and volcanoes explode all around. Luckily, rather than millions of years, it only takes about 90 minutes to walk all the interactive experiences from the Big Bang back to the present day. However, you do emerge from the Time Machine with more than a touch of information overload.Lola and Ebba holding up the world

Facts and figures

Our 9 and 11 year old girls are fascinated by tectonic plates and how mountains and valleys are formed so this was ideal for them. Did you know that continents move 2cm every year? Did you know that 200,000 people are born ever day or that 2 people die every second? Well, if you didn’t, you do now!

These days, for Pat and I, information overload kicks in pretty early. What a relief then to find A cheese scone at Dynamic Earththat there was no thinking  or decisions required at the cafe. Cheese scones, take them or leave them!  We took them along with a bowl of lentil soup. The girls had a kiddies goodie bag which they emptied in double quick time.. The soup/cheese scone combo was surprisingly good and much easier digested than some of the rather mind boggling facts and figures. It was never going to be a topscone but enjoyable nevertheless.Internal view of Dynamic Earth

Differentiation

Our 11 year old is fascinated by Time Machines. When we suggested that she just wanted to go back to the beginning of time, we were emphatically corrected. “No. I just want to go back 70,000 years!” Okay, why just 70,000 years?. “Because that’s when human’s cognitive abilities developed so that they could differentiate themselves from other animals“. she explained in her serious voice. A slow “okaaay” was our only response. These girls are a constant source of surprise and joy.

Cognitive development
Lola holding up the world
Maybe she can save the world?

However, given that we have presumably been developing our cognitive skills over 70,000 years it makes the slanging match that characterises the American Presidential elections somewhat puzzling. You’d think, after all that time, that selecting the most powerful person on earth would be a tad more sophisticated.

But we should know by now that people are fickle. Australians, for example. Recently Lidia Thorpe protested during King Charles’s visit to Australia with “You are not my King. Charlie’s official title is “King Charles the Third, by the Grace of God King of Australia and His other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth”. The question is why do people, particularly straight thinking Australians, put up with this sort of nonsense? Even the King himself, a thoroughly decent chap, looked embarrassed being reminded of Britain’s genocidal land grabbing tendencies. Privately, we suspect he would have been on Lidia’s side.

Now they are discussing dropping the word “Empire” from the King’s honours list. Could this be yet another attempt to sanitise Britain’s history. Perish the thought!

External view of Dynamic Earth
Starting to get dark as we left Dynamic Earth
Fungi?

The only slight disappointment to our day was the  Planetarium visit. We had always assumed that Planetariums only did things about planets.  On this occasion it was all about fungi! Interesting enough but not what we had expected. In terms of learning, we did learn not to make assumptions! An very enjoyable day of time travel for everyone concerned.

EH8 8AS         tel: 0131 550 7800             Dynamic Earth

///clots.lived.margin

Orient Express

After our previous post from Café Sunart in the wilds of Scotaland’s west coast Pat said that she was looking forward to our next trip. Little did she know it was to be on the Orient Express. Today we are travelling from Venice to Paris in the grandeur and splendour of this magnificent train. On the way we pass through Verona before crossing over the Brenner Pass to Austria. Then on to Zurich before reaching Paris for the Olympics. All the while drinking champagne and being entertained by a chap playing the music of bored piano players in restaurants the world over. If you would like to get a sense of the journey in the western part of Italy just click here  Orient Express 15 480 

Okay, okay, you’ve probably guessed by now that this is too silly even for us. We’re actually in a restaurant in Edinburgh that serves afternoon tea and tries to replicate the Orient Express experience. They make a very good job of it!Internal view of the Orient Express Experience

Contrasts

It was back in 1883 that the first train left Paris on a seven day trip to Constantinople with just forty passengers.  It’s a journey I’ve done in reverse. In 1970 I had hitchhiked Falkirk to Istanbul over nine days. The return trip was by train. However, that experience was about as far away as it’s possible to get from this. There wasn’t even a buffet car, I had to rely on the generosity of my Turkish travelling companions who knew the ropes and had food and drink with them.

Afternoon tea at the Orient Express ExperienceNo such problems here. First we had to select our sandwiches from the sandwich menu and our champagne was served with a piece of strawberry delicately balanced on the rim of the glass. A three tier plate appeared with the sandwiches we had selected on the bottom, hot pastries in the middle and cakes on top. It was all delicious. As we  watched the vineyards slip by on the approach to Verona we were asked how we would like our scones … plain, fruit or cherry. We both opted for fruit. There was a tea menu and coffee on offer. We were almost in Milan when they asked if they could begin preparing our scones. This is how it should be done!A scone at the Orient Express Experience

Disembarkation

Our scone was accompanied with clotted cream, strawberry jam and bergamot curd. The bergamot curd was unusual … very tangy but delicious. Bergamot is supposed you help you relax … hardly necessary here. The scone wasn’t crunchy on the outside but was still fantastic. Eventually we had to disembark in Innsbruck because we had to get back for a BBQ in Falkirk courtesy of the Scotrail Express. The whole experience only cost us £25 each; great value and highly recommended!Internal view of the Orient Express Experience

Andy Murray has lost his doubles match at the Olympics and announced his retirement. We feel a sense of relief, pretty much the same as when Biden announced his. The modern Olympics is full of sports you only hear of at the Olympics … “race walking” and “quadruple skulls”, “BMX freestyle”, “surfing shortboard”, “golf”. Okay, we put that last one in just for badness but they all sound equally daft and a bit tiring! We’re fine where we are.Internal view of the Orient Express Experience

Queen Charlotte

This restaurant is in Queen Charlotte street. Queen Charlotte was born in Germany in 1744 and became queen of Great Britain and Ireland in 1761. She had fifteen children (two of them future monarchs) but that is not what she should be remembered for. No, she seems to have been responsible for the introduction of the Christmas tree. The first was at a children’s party at Windsor in 1800 … and we’ve all been mindlessly mimicking it ever since. What are we like?

EH6 7EX       Tel: 0131 555 6660          Orient Express

///fishery.object.people

Stockbridge House

If you don’t want to be taken down a wee memory lane, look away now! We’re back where we started over 50 years ago.

In our previous post from The Dean we walked through Dean Village along the Water of Leith and came to Stockbridge where we used to live. If you carry on walking eventually you end up in the Port of Leith and the open sea. When we started our married life Stockbridge was relatively cheap compared to the rest of Edinburgh. However, even back then it was termed “up and coming” and now it’s well and truly “up”. With its cafés and bars it is seen as one of the trendiest locations in the city. At that time I worked along the road at the Western General hospital and Pat worked in Stockbridge House.

Plaque commemorating the opening of Stockbridge House
I just happened to be standing there but the Queen Mum shook my hand … haven’t washed it since
Get it right!

In some of our flights of fancy we like to think that we played some small part in the rise of Stockbridge’s desirability. Adding a sense of style and that certain ‘je ne sais quoi’. Seriously though, we lived round the corner from the notorious Madam Dora’s establishment in Danube Street. Covered in pictures of the local Tory candidate her handsome Georgian townhouse was very easy to spot at election time. Famously she paid her fines in cash from her handbag during her almost monthly court appearances and used the witness box to publicise her service. She implored the journalists to get her address exactly right. After a spell in prison, aged 76, she died and the business died with her.

Respectability restored

Now, Danube Street with its £1-2 million houses is the epitome of  respectability again, Even in our more modest little street, Leslie Place, our one bedroom flat would now cost about £300,000. A far cry from the £4,500 we paid for it. Nowadays, if we were starting over again we probably wouldn’t be able to do it here. From our flat, we could look out the back window and see Stockbridge House where Pat worked.  We thought we should see if it was still there.

LifeCare logoIt was always a facility for the elderly but now it has been renamed LifeCare. Apparently something to do with going from charitable status to a public limited company.Internal view of Stockbridge House

There’s a cafe called CafeLife where they were just finishing an afternoon tea event when we arrived. We were welcomed in, however, and shown to a table where they gave us tea and a cheese scone to share.CafeLife logo

It was nice to see it still operating for the benefit of the elderly and they obviously felt that we now qualified to receive some of these benefits.  No topscone but great to explore the place again and chat to the  wonderful staff.A scone at Stockbridge House

Don’t Pisco Me Off

After that we thought we should check out what used to be our local pub, the Rag Doll. Back then we were well embedded here. On occasions we even held the keys for the owner if he was away on business elsewhere. Trusting or what?External view of the Rag DollHowever, after we moved to Northern Ireland the pub was sold and over the years has had many many incarnations under different names. Imagine our surprise to find it called the Rag Doll again. We were delighted.Internal view of the Rag Doll

Like the area, it has gone upmarket as well and is probably more of a cocktail bar than a pub now. We arrived just as it was opening and had a great chat with the new owner. When he took it over a few months ago he wisely decided to reinstate the Rag Doll name. To celebrate, we had to have a couple of drinks.

Cocktails in the Rag Doll
In the tall glass Pat had a ‘Lothian’s Calling’ (Edinburgh gin, Fino sherry, Lemon,Sugar syrup,Orange bitters) and I had a ‘Don’t Pisco Me Off’ (Pisco, GB Peche,JerezXeres sherry, Acid, Sugar syrup, Plum bitters, White wine)

In case you’re wondering Pisco is an unaged brandy obtained from the distillation of fermented Peruvian grape musts; we didn’t know either. Great fun, we wish the Rag Doll a massive amount of luck going forward. We did warn you it was a trip down memory lane!

Washing our hair

We’re on tenterhooks waiting for the first TV Leader’s Debate later this evening … NOT! A Sunak/Starmer debacle for which we could probably write the questions and, although there won’t be any meaningful ones, we could probably write the answers as well. The only surprise is that Nigel Farage isn’t taking part. He doesn’t represent anyone but the media seem to love giving him airtime. Who knows, we might have to wash our hair when it’s on.

EH4 1JB        tel: 0131 343 0940              CafeLife

///mash.found.burns

The Dean

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

Cafe Portrait

A few months ago we visited Cafe Portrait in late afternoon only to be told that if we wanted any of their “absolutely delicious” scones we would have to be there much earlier in the day. The manner in which we were told sounded almost like a challenge, throwing down the gauntlet, even!

External view of the National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh
Opened in 1889 at a cost of £70,000, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery on Queen Street
Scones versus lunch

Never ones to shirk a scone challenge we set about it today. Rather conveniently the Portrait Gallery is on the same street as the Whisky Society where we were to have lunch. Suffice to say we were there early enough and they had scones … fruit and cheese and mustard. Mindful of our lunch date later we decided to share one of the cheese and mustard scones … unexplored territory for us!  But first we spent some time going round the exhibits.

Internal view of the National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh
The Foyer. The Gallery was built in 1889 at a cost of £70,000 funded by John Ritchie Findlay, owner of The Scotsman newspaper.

Scotland certainly had its fair share of heroes and scoundrels. Here’s a random selection.

Robert Burns
Robert Burns, reproduced on shortbread tins the world over, this is the first time we have seen the original by Alexander Nasmyth in 1787
Gregor MacGregor
Gregor MacGregor painted in 1804. Scotland’s greatest scoundrel through selling packets of useless land in a semi fictitious Kingdom in Central America. Somehow he managed to be buried with full military honours in Venezuela
Portraits of Flora MacDonald and Bonnie Prince Charlie
Flora Macdonald who famously helped Bonnie Prince Charlie escape to France (painted by Richard Wilson in 1747) and the Bonnie Prince himself (painted by William Mosman in 1750)
Execution of Charles I
The rather jolly looking beheading of Charles I. Perhaps we have progressed after all … Charles III shouldn’t have to worry too much nowadays (painted by Jan Wessop in 1649)

Okay, but what about the scones? Cafe Portrait is big and airy and busy.  We might discover whether or not their rather immodest claims for their scones were justified or not.Internal view of the National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh

A first

There’s lots of delicious looking food on offer but, mindful of our lunch date, we only wanted a scone to share. A scone at the National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh The fruit scones looked good but we decided to be adventurous and try their cheese and mustard offering. We hadn’t come across that combination before. No need for jam and cream, butter was all that was required. It was delicious with a lovely textured crunch and soft interior that tasted like nothing we had tasted before. Probably more cheesy than mustardy but the two together formed a very savoury treat! We had to admit that their original bragging was entirely justified and we felt slightly chastened for having even doubted it … topscone.

Illogical

The only downside to our visit was that the lift wasn’t working.

Painting of photographer with a plate camera
I started my career on plate cameras like this. Now, just fifty years later, I only ever use my phone … incredible.

Turned out that it hasn’t worked for the whole of this year. Apparently it’s the only one of its type in the world and they are currently waiting for technicians to come from Italy to try and fix it. Only the directors of an art gallery could get into a situation where a completely unique lift is required. Hopefully it will be sorted soon because there are a lot of stairs.

Talking of illogical decisions It would appear that this year the world reached an all time spending high of £2.6 trillion on arms manufacturing. Surely this is an indictment on all of us. Just think for a second on what that vast amount of money could have done had we not directed it towards death and destruction. The world needs a ‘reset’ button where it can return to original settings. But were the original settings any better? Aaaargh!

And today Humza Yousaf stepped down as First Minister of Scotland in a very graceful speech. Probably too nice a man for politics, it will be interesting to see what happens now.

Robert Moffat missionary
Robert Moffat missionary with John Mokoteri and Sarah Roby. Mokoteri and Roby were supposedly his adopted children but were more akin to servants

In case you’re worried, we hadn’t spoiled our appetite and managed a fantastic lunch at the Whisky Society, helped down by a few glasses of the amber nectar.

EH2 1JD         tel: 0131 624 6200          Cafe Portrait

///supporter.united.emerge

The Dome

This post from the Dome in Edinburgh may be shocking for many readers! We apologise in advance if that is the case. Everyone knows what afternoon tea is … goodness, we’ve reviewed quite a few on this blog.

Internal view of the Dome
It used to be the Royal Bank of Scotland, famous for its glass dome

In 1840 the 7th Duchess of Bedford got into the habit of having tea, sandwiches and cake in the afternoon to tide her over to the evening meal which wasn’t served until 8pm. She started to invite friends who would change into long gowns and hats to take tea in the drawing room at Woburn Abbey. It became a social occasion for polite discourse and tea sipped from fine china with one’s little finger delicately raised! Henry James said “There are few hours more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea“. All well and good, however, this post is not about ‘afternoon tea’, it’s about ‘morning tea’ here at the Dome in Edinburgh. “Sacré bleu, what sort of abomination is that?” we hear you cry!

Internal view of the Dome
the entrance
How it all began

Back in 2016 we had afternoon tea upstairs in the Georgian Tea Room … and very nice it was! Recently, however, we became aware that, against all the laws of nature, they were now offering morning tea. Has to be the work of the Devil. We felt that it would have to be checked out on our reader’s behalf so in the spirit of Marco Polo and Ernest Shackleton we set out to investigate. Turns out that morning tea is served downstairs in the Club Room.

Caledonian Heritable Limited own the Dome along with more than 300 other pubs and restaurants. By a happy coincidence they also own the Woodside, our local and our weekly haunt at 5pm every Friday. If you think the Dome is a bit fancy you should see the Woodside! No morning tea or even afternoon tea but it does have a range of potato crisps.

Morning Tea at the DomeSo here we are in the Club Room drinking champagne and it’s not even midday! Told you it was the Devil’s work. Surely you don’t get lots cakes with a morning tea? No, what you get is two mini breakfast rolls with link sausage and bacon. There’s also lemon and blueberry muffins and an oatmeal thingy with berries. Oh, and scones … obviously! We hadn’t had any breakfast so it was all very welcome. The mini breakfast rolls were nicely toasted and the sausage and the bacon cooked to perfection. I asked for some tomato sauce so they brought brown  … heyho! The service was typically efficient if a little cavalier about sauce. The oats and berries thingy was also nice though maybe a little on the heavy side.Scone and muffin at the Dome

The scones were unusually uniform in shape but with a lovely sprinkling of  crystallised sugar on top. Crisp on the outside and soft in the middle, it couldn’t be anything else but a topscone.

The Club Room at the Dome
Part of the Club Room
Verdict
As if things weren’t confusing enough they serve morning tea until 2pm … so it’s perfectly possible to have morning tea in the afternoon … but not, we hasten to add, the other way round. So what’s with this morning tea thing? Is it really such an abomination? Well, we should probably apologise to the Dome for casting aspersions. It was all rather nice and we would recommend it to those of an adventurous disposition who are willing to get out of bed a little earlier.
George Street, Edinburgh
George Street from the Dome
Apart from morning tea what other miracles are there today? Wimbledon has started heralding the start of that miracle of television abuse by respectable old ladies. My mother had never held a racket in her life, however, during Wimbledon she was transmogrified into a tennis expert who would scream abuse at the tv when her favourite players missed a ‘simple’ shot.  King Charles is in Scotland today continuing that age old tradition of plundering Scotland’s Crown Jewells. The miracle is that he is able to do it in broad daylight aided and abetted by the police. Today is also the 75th anniversary of the NHS. Given successive government’s attempts to privatise it, it’s a miracle that it’s still around, albeit in need of some TLC.The Club Room at the Dome
 
This was a lovely day out in Old Reekie and our morning breakfast at the Dome will probably last us the rest of the day … another miracle?
 

EH2 2PF        tel:  0131 624 8624        The Dome

///incomes.noble.dream

Prestonfield House

 
As “Priestfield” its history dates back to the 12th century but in 1681 it was burned to the ground by anti-Catholic rioters who objected to the name. What are folk like? It was rebuilt six years later and the name changed to “Prestonfield.” It became a hotel in the 1960s and in 2003 it was bought by restaurateur, James Thomson. He owns the atmospheric Witchery by the Castle restaurant and much of the sumptuousness of Prestonfield is largely due to him.
External view of Prestonfield House
one half of the Rhubarb restaurant
It started with a post
This is the quintessential Edinburgh place to indulge and celebrate. So what are you two doing there you’re wondering?
Rhubarb logo
Rhubarb was introduced to Scotland here and now adornes their plates
Well, we can hardly believe it ourselves, but this is our 500th post on allabouttthescones.com. How mad is that? Perhaps, even madder, is that so many of you have been with us as budding bloggers right from the start. That was at Palmerston’s Coffee Shop in Dunkeld back in early 2015 … incredible! We are sure you would agree that such an auspicious occasion deserves to be marked  in some way. Why not a scone at Prestonfield House eased down with some Billecart Salmon champagne? We can do decadent!
 
Good company
Drawing room at Prestonfield House
one of the drawing rooms
We decided to have our afternoon tea in one of the drawing rooms rather than the famous Rhubarb restaurant.  A good decision as it happens because we had the company of three lovely Scandinavian girls on their first trip to Scotland … talk about doing it in style!
Eating rotten things
We don’t normally like the sort of formal subservient service you can sometimes get in places such as this however the young chap who was looking after us was delighfult. Afternoon tea at Prestonfield HouseHe was Spanish and had been here six years. He explained everything we were getting in great detail but with such  a strong accent that we really didn’t catch much of it. No matter it all looked fantabulous, the sight of it was quite enough, . One three tier stand with sandwiches on the bottom, cakes on top and scones in the middle. In addition there was a separate plate of savoury goods which included some haggis treats. Only one of our new found Scandinavian friends dared take a little nibble. Goodness, did they not know the celebrated status of haggis in Scotland … and these Viking types eat rotten fish, don’t they?
 
Scones at Prestonfield HouseAnyway it probably will come as no surprise to all you sconeys to learn that this was a topscone. We weren’t able to eat all of them because we felt they were a bit on the large side for an afternoon tea, but that was our only criticism. They were beautifully soft with that crunchy exterior we love. lots of jam and clotted cream as well.
 
Barefoot
We didn’t think we would ever mention Thatcher twice in one post but she dined here, as did Churchill and a host of other celebrities. More importantly perhaps, Sandie Shaw once strode barefoot across these marble floors.
 
Deluded as Trump

Boris says that he will be back as PM within a year … we’ll have a pint of whatever he’s drinking! Folks who worked alongside him when he was with the Telegraph say he just made stuff up for his column. Who would have thought it? And although they knew what he was writing was completely false, the newspaper never once offered a retraction. Says it all about British politicians and media. 

Colin for PM
The last time we were here they had a lot of peacocks roosting in the trees however we were told there is only one left now … Colin. We went to look for Colin to tell him that we would rather see him running the country than any of the current contenders. We couldn’t find him…opportunity missed!
path leading to stables at Prestonfield House
The path leading to the Stables … no horses these days, it’s an events venue

Can we do another 500 scones? We’ll see!

 

EH16 5UT       tel: 0131 225 7800       Prestonfield House

///lance.civil.notice

Dakota Edinburgh

It’s ten years since we were last here. Back then we were staying here for our daughter’s wedding which was held at nearby Hopetoun House. This time we were just on our way to the airport to do a pick-up. From the outside Dakota Edinburgh looks like a rather austere black box but inside it’s opulent interior tells a completely different story.

Internal view of Dakota Hotel
the Bar/Grille

It’s the creation of Ken McCulloch and his wife, interior designer Amanda Rosa. In the past they have been responsible for such iconic places as One Devonshire Gardens in Glasgow, the Columbus Hotel in Monaco and the Malmaison hotel group.

A shaggy dog sculpture at Dakota Hotel
This  had us fooled for a minute. Just a life size ornament!

More recently they made the first  Dakota Deluxe Hotel in Glasgow and now there are three in Scotland and two in England. Why Dakota? The name was inspired by the revolution that took place after the first flight of the Dakota airliner between New York and Chicago in 1936. It provided sophisticated style and impeccable service at prices people could afford. That’s what this place is all about. But could they provide a half decent scone? That was the question on everyone’s lips. Okay, maybe not everyone!

It all kicked off beautifully when they came to explain that their scones were all made to order so it might take a wee while. No problem, we weren’t going anywhere and we had to get rid of a light lunch in the meantime. A scone at Dakota HotelWhen they did arrive it was all presented as you would expect at the Dakota. A little bowl of clotted cream, an individually wrapped pat of butter and a pot of jam for each scone.  But, of course, it’s all in the tasting. No disappointments here, they were delicious. Lovely and warm with that slightly crunchy exterior we are so fond of. No hesitation … topscone!

What would they give?

Sometimes on our scone adventures it makes us ponder on how fortunate we are. While we sit here in the lap of luxury there are fathers loading their families into tiny rubber boats to try and sail across the Channel. Families at the Belarus/Polish border that have travelled from the Middle East and Africa in search of a better life and are left freezing and hungry. Unable to go forwards or backwards. It’s hellish. By comparison we lead completely charmed lives. Do we feel guilty? Not personally but it’s hard to escape the fact that our wonderful Britain has usually played a major role in creating the misery from which these poor folks are trying to escape. What would they give for a scone at Dakota?Internal view of Dakota Hotel

Discretionary?

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Dakota Edinburgh even though it’s not exactly the cheapest … £13 for two coffees and two scones. The only downside came when a 10% ‘discretionary’ service charge was added to the bill. A candle at Dakota HotelPresumably because it’s ‘discretionary’ you can ask for it to be removed but how many people do that? There’s a note at the bottom of the bill saying it will be passed on to the staff. Is this an admission that they don’t pay the staff enough? The service we received was excellent but we would prefer they didn’t do it this way. Just saying! But then we remember, with our charmed lives, that we actually have absolutely nothing to complain about.

EH30 9QZ        tel: 0131 319 3690      Dakota Hotel

///lifts.kind.unlocking

The Royal Garden Party

theroyalfamily's profile picture

We know that this may come as a shock to readers of our humble blog who had assumed over the years that we were just ordinary people. You know that we go to great lengths to expand your sconological knowledge but you probably thought that that was about as special as we could get. However, rest assured, when the Queen requested our company at the Royal Garden Party at the Palace of Holyroodhouse we didn’t see it as some sort of high faluting privilege but rather a simple scone opportunity? While we were there we ended up being introduced and chatting to HRH, Elizabeth I of Scotland (we call her Ma’am for short) for ten minutes or so. It was all very polite and interesting but it went so quickly we completely forgot to ask her for the scone recipe … remiss of us we know. We didn’t get round to sheds either! A bit of a wasted opportunity. Thank goodness she never asked if we were Royalists! However, we are about to make amends with a Garden Party recipe.

We know that you are all thinking “That pair never got an invitation from the Queen! If they got to a Royal Garden Party they must have climbed over the gates”! Well, we did get an invite and just to prove it there’s no way we could have climbed the gates dressed like this.Royal Garden Party

Special

That was almost a decade ago, of course, and the only reason for bringing it up now is that HRH, has just released her scone recipe for Garden Parties and we thought we should place it in some sort of context. It was before our scone blogging days so the scones didn’t get critiqued but we are sure they would have been topscones … especially if there’s a chance of a knighthood!

We should add that having met many members of the Royal Family; the Queen Mum, Charles, Diana, Anne etc, the Queen was definitely the best. We’re not sucking up it’s just that yes, we are so special we are able to make such judgements! And that knighthood!

Recipe

Actually, you may be surprised to hear that HRH does not actually bake the scones for her Garden Parties. This is the recipe for fruit scones used by the Royal Pastry Chefs so presumably, it has been “approved”.

???????????:
-500g Plain Flour
-28g Baking Powder
-94g Butter
-86g Sugar
-2 Whole Eggs
-140ml Butter Milk
-100g Sultanas – a type of raisin (Cover in hot water and leave to soak for 30 minutes)
??????:
-Preheat oven to 180 C
-Mix the flour, baking powder, butter and sugar together in a bowl, until a crumb is formed
-In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and buttermilk together
-Add the liquid to the crumb mixture
-Continue to mix the dough, until it is smooth
-(Optional) Add the sultanas, and mix until evenly distributed
1Remove the dough from the bowl, flatten the dough and cover
-Leave to rest for approximately 30 minutes
-Roll out the dough to a thickness of 2.5 cm and cut to desired shape
-Rest the scones for another 20 minutes
-Gently egg was the top of the scones
-Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes until golden brown
-Cool before serving with jam and clotted cream

There is even a short video, just click here! Royal Garden Party scones

Leadership

Many thanks to HRH for the invite and a very interesting day. Actually, it was interesting just walking through the streets of Edinburgh dressed like a couple of people going to a Royal Garden Party …. many photos of us must now be adorning mantlepieces all over the world. And now you have the recipe you can have your very own garden party!

After George Floyd, Trump has bunkered down in the White House and threatened to use the army against his own people. Meanwhile, Boris has gone AWOL as UK becomes the most unstable it’s been in living memory. A world with Garden Parties suddenly seems a little bit surreal!

We could give you the postcode etc of the Palace of Holyroodhouse but what’s the point if you’re not special?

We’ll keep you posted on the knighthood thingy …services to scones! Will the investiture be at Scone Palace?

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